Limnology is the study of the biological, physical, and geological properties of fresh water. Fresh water is only able to occur inland, as the oceans are made up of vast salt waters. This includes lakes, ponds, rivers, springs, streams, and wetlands. It is a branch of ecology, but is also considered a branch of environmental science.

Limnology was first created by François-Alphonse Forel, a Swiss scientist. He was a professor of medicine at the University of Lausanne, but his true passion was Lake Geneva. He would study the lake on a biological and chemical scale, as well as monitoring water circulation and sedimentation.

Forel would focus mostly on the interactions between them all, and in his primary work, Le Léman, published between 1892 and 1904 in three volumes, he would create the term limnology. He would go on to discover density currents, which is a current influenced by gravity horizontally flowing.

With the assistance of Wilhelm Ule, the two developed the Fore-Ule scale. This scale was used to figure out the color of a body of water. Through mixing chemicals and using a color palette of 21 vials which is then compared to the body of water. This color index helps figure out the transparency of water, and can help indicate the amount of biological activity happening within the water. This scale is not just used in fresh water studies, but also ocean and sea studies, as it goes between the two seamlessly.

The classification of lakes is one of the main things a limnologist will do. This is not just limited to lakes, and could be any body of water, as stated in the trophic state index. One of the types of lakes is called an oligotrophic lake, which has a low level of primary productivity due to an overabundance of nutrients.

Dystrophic lakes is another classification of lakes, and they have a high level of humic matter. Humic matter is a fraction of organic soil matter that doesn't have the cellular structure of normal plants and organisms. This results in the color of the water turning yellow-brown, like tea. These classifications are not rigid, and the class system is more of a spectrum allowing for a range to be gauged on the lake more than a specific classification.

Eutrophication, or the slow release of oxygen from a body of water, can lead to algal blooms. Algal blooms are when algae accumulate in large populations in the water. They are identified by massive discoloration in certain parts of the water.

While Limnology stems back only a couple hundred years, the usefulness of it cannot be overstated. It allows us to understand why some waters get depleted and why others are so rich with life. Limnology will help preserve the little amount of fresh water on our planet, as well as keep information gathering on the unique systems occurring in fresh water areas.

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