Mere and tarn.

I saw this quote the other day…

Jordan Pond is an oligotrophic tarn in Acadia National Park near the town of Bar Harbor, Maine.

And wondered, what the heck is a tarn?

The great and powerful Internet Oracle rose from his cloistered warren and spake to me thusly: “0111000001111010100011111…” oh wait that is his *native* language. <translation begins…>

Another name for a tarn is a corrie loch, from the Scottish Gaelic coire, or “pot,” and loch, “lake.” A tarn is usually found in higher elevations and is clear, cold and relatively deep. A mere on the other hand is a wide shallow lake, like a small sea.

For those of you still interested, an oligotrophic tarn in the quote above refers to a deep water lake with low levels of nutrients like nitrates, iron and phosphate. An oligotroph is an organism that has adapted to live and grow in such environs.