Sandimirov S.S. Catalogue of lakes in the Russian, Finnish and Norwegian Border Area. Finland, Jyvaskyla: Kopijyva Oy, 2008.

due to the high concentrations of humus material. Annual precipitation in the area is 450-500 mm, and evaporation about 200 mm. Most of the precipitations fall during the winter period in the form of snow. The ice cover period of the lakes is long and, as a result, the oxygen concentrations in the water at the end of the winter can be extremely low, especially in small, shallow lakes. The small lakes usually freeze over in late October, and the ice cover melts at the beginning ofJune. Most of the land is covered by forest. In Finland most of these forests are in nature reserves and forestry plays only a minor role. In Russia and Norway, on the other hand, the protected area is much smaller and commercial forestry is more common. Agri­ culture is of only minor importance in Finland and Russia, and there are no industrial plants in the Finnish part of the area. A few small companies (farms) are operating along the Norwegian side of the River Paz.The population density in the region is not high, apart from the towns of Nikel and Zapolyarny in Russia along the lower reach of the River Paz. The largest town in the Norwegian part of the region, Kirkenes, is located close to the Varanger Fjord. There are also some small settlements along the River Paz.The largest Finnish settlements are the towns of Inari and Ivalo, which are located on the western and southern shores of Lake Inari. The region is subjected to serious anthropogenic impacts, including pollution from the Pechenganikel smelter. The main pollutants are sulphur compounds and heavy metals (Ni, Cu, Cd, Cr, Zn, As, Hg etc.). S 0 2emissions from the smelter have caused acidification of the surface water and the pollution of ground water as a result of leach­ ing from the surface soil. The area is also exposed to wide range trans-boundary pollut­ ants influence, as is the case throughout the whole of the Arctic. Structure of the lake catalogue The lake catalogue includes: • A general description of the water body (geographical location, landscape character­ istics, lakes morphometry) • Geochemical description (description of the hydrochemical parameters, assessment of pollution levels in the water and bottom sediments, comparison of the results with quality targets) • Biological description (description of hydrobiological diversity in the lakes, com­ position of the fish population, including the size, weight, age and sex distribution of the predominant fish species, and assessments of pathological changes in fish and the levels of heavy metal accumulation in fish and their individual organs based on the quality targets). Table 1-1. List of fishery standard values - the maximum permissible concentra­ tions in water bodies used for fishing. Water quality Water quality in the lakes is assessed in accordance with the Russian standards for maximum permissible concentrations (MPC) for fishery water bodies (see Table 1-1). Ca2+ Na+ Mg2+ K+ s o / p Al Fe Mn Sr Cu Ni Zn Cr Cd Co Pb mg/I мдЛ 180 120 40 50 100 0 40 100 10 400 1 10 5 1 6 8 Catalogue o f Lakes in the Russian, Finnish and Norwegian BorderArea