Chemocline

The chemocline is the abrupt transition between water layers with different content of dissolved solids in meromictic lakes or seas and brackish water zones ( thermocline ). The chemocline is one of the Pyknoklinen.

In meromictic lakes it is caused by an incomplete mixing of the water body so that can accumulate higher levels of degradation products of the sunken remains of the biomass in a deep layer.

In the western part of the Baltic, in deeper areas of a pronounced chemocline because highly saline water from the North Sea makes the brackish waters of the Baltic Sea, and stays there in the valleys.