ON THE PRESENCE OF AGGREGATES IN THE BASINS OF LAKE-BANYOLES

Suspension of sediment by subterranean springs is a very common phenom ena in the karstic, multibasin Lake Banyoles. The flow of groundwater into the lake introduces a suspension of marry and argilaceous materia ls. The temperature of this slurry is nearly constant throughout the y ear, around 19 degrees C. The lake is formed by 6 basins and at the bo ttom of these basins there are 12 sources where the presence of suspen ded material signifies entering groundwater (Figure 1). Suspension of bottom lake sediment by groundwater is a feature of Lake Banyoles that has not been described elsewhere. Here we present experimental result s which show that the maximum height that the sediment can rise to is affected by the formation of aggregates.