Loch Neldricken is a loch

Loch

Loch is the Irish and Scottish Gaelic word for a lake or a sea inlet. It has been anglicised as lough, although this is pronounced the same way as loch. Some lochs could also be called a firth, fjord, estuary, strait or bay...

 in Galloway

Galloway

Galloway is an area in southwestern Scotland. It usually refers to the former counties of Wigtownshire and Kirkcudbrightshire...

 to the south-east of Merrick

Merrick, Galloway

Merrick is the highest mountain in the Southern Uplands of southern Scotland and is part of the Range of the Awful Hand.The shortest route of ascent is from the car park in Glen Trool...

, south of Craig Neldricken and west of Craignaw

Craignaw

Craignaw is a small but very rocky hill in centre of the Galloway Hills of southern Scotland. Unlike many hills in the Southern Uplands, Craignaw has a complex and rocky summit area, with a long line of crags and rough ground on the east side. The hill is largely composed of granite...

. The loch is almost bisected by a long promontory. It drains via the short Mid Burn into Loch Valley

Loch Valley

Loch Valley is a loch in Galloway Forest Park to the east of Buchan Hill, north of the Rig of the Jarkness and southwest of Craignaw. It drains via Gairland Burn down to Loch Trool....

 and then via Gairland Burn down to Loch Trool

Loch Trool

Loch Trool is a body of water in Galloway, south-west Scotland lying in the valley of Glen Trool. It is the source of the Water of Trool which flows to the Water of Minnoch and the Cree.It was the location, in 1307, of the Battle of Glen Trool....

.

An inlet at the west of the loch is marked on maps as 'Murder Hole' and features in SR Crockett's

Samuel Rutherford Crockett

Samuel Rutherford Crockett was a Scottish novelist, born at Duchrae, Balmaghie, Kirkcudbrightshire, the illegitimate grandson of a farmer....

 The Raiders. However the original 'Murder Hole' was a well on the Glen Trool

Glen Trool

Glen Trool is a glen in the Southern Uplands, Galloway, Scotland. It contains Loch Trool which is fed by several burns and drained by the Water of Trool. North of Glen Trool is Merrick, the highest mountain in the Southern Uplands. The glen has a visitors centre and campsite.In April 1307 it was...

 to Straiton

Straiton

Straiton is a village on the River Girvan in South Ayrshire in Scotland, mainly built in the 18th century, but with some recent housing.It was the main location for the film The Match, where two rival pubs played an annual football match as a challenge...

 road where the bodies of travellers who had been robbed and murdered were dumped and Crockett moved the location for his book.

The loch has suffered from acidification but has recovered to some extent, with the pH

PH

In chemistry, pH is a measure of the acidity or basicity of an aqueous solution. Pure water is said to be neutral, with a pH close to 7.0 at . Solutions with a pH less than 7 are said to be acidic and solutions with a pH greater than 7 are basic or alkaline...

 increasing from around 4.4 in 1978 to 5.4 in 2003. Between 1983 and 2003 the loch's DOC levels increased.

Water Analysis

Concentrations of different elements in samples from June 2006

Element	Concentration μg/l
CaCO3 Calcium carbonate Calcium carbonate is a chemical compound with the formula CaCO3. It is a common substance found in rocks in all parts of the world, and is the main component of shells of marine organisms, snails, coal balls, pearls, and eggshells. Calcium carbonate is the active ingredient in agricultural lime,...	0.20
Li Lithium Lithium is a soft, silver-white metal that belongs to the alkali metal group of chemical elements. It is represented by the symbol Li, and it has the atomic number 3. Under standard conditions it is the lightest metal and the least dense solid element. Like all alkali metals, lithium is highly...	0.403
Al Aluminium Aluminium or aluminum is a silvery white member of the boron group of chemical elements. It has the symbol Al, and its atomic number is 13. It is not soluble in water under normal circumstances....	131
V Vanadium Vanadium is a chemical element with the symbol V and atomic number 23. It is a hard, silvery gray, ductile and malleable transition metal. The formation of an oxide layer stabilizes the metal against oxidation. The element is found only in chemically combined form in nature...	0.300
Cr Chromium Chromium is a chemical element which has the symbol Cr and atomic number 24. It is the first element in Group 6. It is a steely-gray, lustrous, hard metal that takes a high polish and has a high melting point. It is also odorless, tasteless, and malleable...	0.191
Fe FE Fe or FE may refer to:* Iron * Fe , the f-rune of the Younger Futhark* Fe * Fe * "Fe" , a song by Jorge González...	52.0
Fe DRC	49.8
Mn Manganese Manganese is a chemical element, designated by the symbol Mn. It has the atomic number 25. It is found as a free element in nature , and in many minerals...	9.1
Co Cobalt Cobalt is a chemical element with symbol Co and atomic number 27. It is found naturally only in chemically combined form. The free element, produced by reductive smelting, is a hard, lustrous, silver-gray metal....	0.059
Ni Nickel Nickel is a chemical element with the chemical symbol Ni and atomic number 28. It is a silvery-white lustrous metal with a slight golden tinge. Nickel belongs to the transition metals and is hard and ductile...	0.442
Cu Copper Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu and atomic number 29. It is a ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. Pure copper is soft and malleable; an exposed surface has a reddish-orange tarnish...	0.272
Zn Zinc Zinc , or spelter , is a metallic chemical element; it has the symbol Zn and atomic number 30. It is the first element in group 12 of the periodic table. Zinc is, in some respects, chemically similar to magnesium, because its ion is of similar size and its only common oxidation state is +2...	3.48
As Arsenic Arsenic is a chemical element with the symbol As, atomic number 33 and relative atomic mass 74.92. Arsenic occurs in many minerals, usually in conjunction with sulfur and metals, and also as a pure elemental crystal. It was first documented by Albertus Magnus in 1250.Arsenic is a metalloid...	0.289
Se Selenium Selenium is a chemical element with atomic number 34, chemical symbol Se, and an atomic mass of 78.96. It is a nonmetal, whose properties are intermediate between those of adjacent chalcogen elements sulfur and tellurium...	0.232