A meromicticlake has layers of water which do not intermix. The deepest layer of water in such a lake does not contain any dissolved oxygen. The layers of sediment at the bottom of a meromictic lake remain relatively undisturbed because there are no living organisms to stir them up.
This type of lake may form for a number of reasons:
the basin is unusually deep and steep-sided compared to the lake's surface area
the lower layer of the lake is highly saline and so denser than the higher levels of water
He defined a meromictic lake as one in which part of the deep sea water is stabilized, as opposed to a holomictic lake, i.e.
With reference to a lake, a period is meromictic if it is longer then one seasonal cycle; it begins with the onset of stable stratification and terminates with the first overturn.
During the same period, the salinity of the meromictic upper layer increased dramatically and, in summer 1995, it overshot the salinity of the deep water.
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