Lough Furnace

Lough Furnace (Irish: Loch na Foirnéise) is a tidally-influenced, meromictic, saline lagoon in County Mayo, Ireland, located south of Lough Feeagh.[1] It receives freshwater inflow from the upstream Lough Feeagh at the base of the Burrishoole Catchment and tidal input of saline water from Clew Bay, through the Burrishoole Estuary.

Lough Furnace
Lough Furnace
LocationCounty Mayo, Ireland
Coordinates53.916698°N 9.570908°W / 53.916698; -9.570908
Lake typeSaline Lagoon
Native nameLoch na Foirnéise  (Irish)
Primary inflowsLough Feeagh, Yellow River
Primary outflowsBurrishoole Channel, to Clew Bay
Catchment areaBurrishoole
Basin countriesIreland
Surface area1.5 km2 (0.58 sq mi)
Max. depth20 metres (66 ft)
Surface elevation4 m (13 ft)
IslandsInishower, Illanroe, Saint's Island

The lagoonal estuary is notable for the perennially anoxic deep water in the main inner basin.[2] Tidal currents transport salty, dense oceanic water from Clew Bay into the inner basin and river inflows form a buoyant seaward surface layer. The large density contrast between these two water layers limits vertical mixing and the salty, dense bottom water becomes isolated and develops stagnant, anoxic conditions. Given the highly unusual physical environment, Furnace has served as a model system for important ecologically-motivated research including the population dynamics of euryhaline invertebrates,[3] a paleolimnological reconstruction of its evolution toward anoxic conditions, which appears to have occurred at ca. 3400 calendar years before present,[4] divergent evolution in fish ecotypes,[5] bio-physical interactions between benthic fish and internal waves[6] and dynamics of sub-surface chlorophyll maxima.[7]

Lough Furnace is the lower part of the Burrishoole fishery. It contains salmon, grilse and sea trout.[8][9]

See also
  • List of loughs in Ireland

References
  1. "Burrishoole Fishery".
  2. Kelly, S.; Eyto, E. de; Dillane, M.; Poole, R.; Brett, G.; White, M. (12 December 2017). "Hydrographic maintenance of deep anoxia in a tidally influenced saline lagoon". Marine and Freshwater Research. doi:10.1071/MF17199.
  3. Parker, M.; West, B. (February 1979). "The natural history of Neomysis integer (Leach) in Lough Furnace, Co. Mayo, a brackish lough in the west of Ireland". ScienceDirect. doi:10.1016/0302-3524(79)90071-9.
  4. Cassina, F.; Dalton, C.; Dillane, M.; Eyto, E. de; Poole, R.; Sparber, K. (August 2013). "A multi-proxy palaeolimnological study to reconstruct the evolution of a coastal brackish lake (Lough Furnace, Ireland) during the late Holocene". ScienceDirect. doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2013.04.016.
  5. Ravinet, M.; Hynes, R.; Poole, R.; Cross, T.F.; McGinnity, P.; Harrod, C.; Prodöhl, P.A. (14 April 2015). "Where the Lake Meets the Sea: Strong Reproductive Isolation Is Associated with Adaptive Divergence between Lake Resident and Anadromous Three-Spined Sticklebacks". PLOS one. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0122825.
  6. Kelly, S.; Eyto, E. de; Poole, R.; White, M. (17 September 2018). "Ecological consequences of internal seiches in a semi-enclosed, anoxic coastal basin". Inter-Research Science Publisher. doi:10.3354/meps12727.
  7. Eyto, E. de; Kelly, S.; Ryder, E.; Dillane, M.; Archer, L.; et al. (5 March 2019). "High frequency monitoring reveals fine scale spatial and temporal dynamics of the deep chlorophyll maximum of a stratified coastal lagoon". ScienceDirect. doi:10.1016/j.ecss.2018.12.010.
  8. "Lough Furnace".
  9. "Fishing in Ireland. An angler's guide to the best fishing in Ireland".
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