Luossajärvi is a small lake in Kiruna in northern Sweden beside

Luossavaara Luossavaara (Northern Sami: ''Luossavárri'') is a mountain in Kiruna, Sweden. It is the site of a now-inactive iron ore mine formerly operated by the Swedish mining company LKAB Luossavaara-Kiirunavaara Aktiebolag (LKAB) is a government owned ...

. The mining company

LKAB Luossavaara-Kiirunavaara Aktiebolag (LKAB) is a government owned Swedish mining company. The company mines iron ore at Kiruna and at Malmberget in northern Sweden. The company was established in 1890, and has been 100% state-owned since the 195 ...

has gradually emptied the southern part of the lake in 2007–8 to allow mining of iron ore in the peat bog.Dewatering of the southern part of Lake Luossajärvi, Kiruna

These drained areas today consist of mostly marshes.

Environmental problems

The remaining portion of the lake has a chemical composition which shows the influence of mining activities. The lake has high concentrations of

sulphate The sulfate or sulphate ion is a polyatomic anion with the empirical formula . Salts, acid derivatives, and peroxides of sulfate are widely used in industry. Sulfates occur widely in everyday life. Sulfates are salts of sulfuric acid and many ar ...

and nitrite. The high sulfate concentrations indicate extensive weathering processes of mainly carbonate and sulphurous materials.

Fishing

Every winter ice fishing contests are held out on the ice. The name Luossajärvi derives from the rich number of trout that were in the lake. The original stocks consisted of perch, trout and pike (fish), pike, but these are now depleted to the point that now only perch naturally remain. The spawning ground for the natural brown trout populations has disappeared due to mining. However, other fish species have been introduced, including Freshwater whitefish, whitefish, Thymallus, grayling, Salvelinus, char, rainbow trout and splake.

References

*''Kiruna, 100-årsboken'' Kiruna Lakes of Norrbotten County {{Sweden-geo-stub