Carbon, nutrient and metal controls on phytoplankton concentration and biodiversity in thermokarst lakes of latitudinal gradient from isolated to continuous permafrost

Author(s):  
Oleg S. Pokrovsky ◽  
Rinat M. Manasypov ◽  
Oksana A. Pavlova ◽  
Liudmila S. Shirokova ◽  
Sergey N. Vorobyev
2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rinat Manasypov ◽  
Oleg Pokrovsky ◽  
Liudmila Shirokova

<p>Despite high importance of macrophytes in shallow thaw lakes for control of major and trace nutrients in lake water, the chemical composition of different aquatic plants and trace element (TE) partitioning between macrophytes and lake water and sediments in the permafrost regions remain totally unknown. Here we sampled dominant macrophytes of thermokarst (thaw) lakes of discontinuous and continuous permafrost zones in Western Siberia Lowland (WSL) and we measured major and trace elements in plant biomass, lake water, lake sediments and sediment porewater. All 6 studies plants (Hippuris vulgaris L., Glyceria maxima (Hartm.) Holmb., Comarum palustre L., Ranunculus spitzbergensis Hadac, Carex aquatilis Wahlenb s. str., Menyanthes trifoliata L.), sizably accumulate macronutrients (Na, Mg, Ca), micronutrients (B, Mo, Nu, Cu, Zn, Co) and toxicants (As, Cd) relative to lake sediments. The accumulation of other trace elements including rare earth elements (REE) in macrophytes relative to pore waters and sediments was strongly species-specific. Under climate warmings scenario and the propagation of southern species northward, the accumulation of trace metals in aquatic plants of thermokarst lakes will produce preferential uptake of Cd, Pb, Ba from thermokarst lake water and sediments by the biomass of aquatic macrophytes. This may eventually diminish the transport of metal micronutrients from lakes to rivers and further to the Arctic Ocean.</p><p>Support from the RSF (RNF) grant 19-77-00073 “Experimental modeling of the formation mechanisms for elemental composition of water in thermokarst lakes of Western Siberia: vegetation effect”.</p>


2015 ◽  
Vol 12 (8) ◽  
pp. 6637-6688 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Boike ◽  
C. Georgi ◽  
G. Kirilin ◽  
S. Muster ◽  
K. Abramova ◽  
...  

Abstract. The thermal regimes of five lakes located within the continuous permafrost zone of northern Siberia (Lena River Delta) have been investigated using hourly water temperature and water level records covering a three year period (2009–2012), together with bathymetric survey data. The lakes included thermokarst lakes located on Holocene river terraces that may be connected to Lena River water during spring flooding, and a thermokarst lake located on deposits of the Pleistocene Ice Complex. The data were used for numerical modeling with FLake software, and also to determine the physical indices of the lakes. The lakes vary in area, depths and volumes. The winter thermal regime is characterized by an ice cover up to 2 m thick that survives for more than 7 months of the year, from October until about mid-June. Lake-bottom temperatures increase at the start of the ice-covered period due to upward-directed heat flux from the underlying thawed sediment. The effects of solar radiation return prior to ice break-up, effectively warming the water beneath the ice cover and inducing convective mixing. Ice break-up starts the beginning of June and takes until the middle or end of June for completion. Mixing occurs within the entire water column from the start of ice break-up and continues during the ice-free periods, as confirmed by the Wedderburn numbers. Some of the lakes located closest to the Lena River are subjected to varying levels of spring flooding with river water, on an annual basis. Numerical modeling using FLake software indicates that the vertical heat flux across the bottom sediment tends towards an annual mean of zero, with maximum downward fluxes of about 5 W m−2 in summer and with heat released back into the water column at a~rate of less than 1 W m−2 during the ice-covered period. The lakes are shown to be efficient heat absorbers and effectively distribute the heat through mixing. Monthly bottom water temperatures during the ice-free period range up to 15 °C and are therefore higher than the associated monthly air or ground temperatures in the surrounding frozen permafrost landscape. The investigated lakes remain unfrozen at depth, with mean annual lake-bottom temperatures of between 2.7 and 4 °C. The data are available in the Supplement for this paper and through the PANGAEA website (http://www.pangaea.de/).


2015 ◽  
Vol 12 (20) ◽  
pp. 5941-5965 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Boike ◽  
C. Georgi ◽  
G. Kirilin ◽  
S. Muster ◽  
K. Abramova ◽  
...  

Abstract. Thermokarst lakes are typical features of the northern permafrost ecosystems, and play an important role in the thermal exchange between atmosphere and subsurface. The objective of this study is to describe the main thermal processes of the lakes and to quantify the heat exchange with the underlying sediments. The thermal regimes of five lakes located within the continuous permafrost zone of northern Siberia (Lena River Delta) were investigated using hourly water temperature and water level records covering a 3-year period (2009–2012), together with bathymetric survey data. The lakes included thermokarst lakes located on Holocene river terraces that may be connected to Lena River water during spring flooding, and a thermokarst lake located on deposits of the Pleistocene Ice Complex. Lakes were covered by ice up to 2 m thick that persisted for more than 7 months of the year, from October until about mid-June. Lake-bottom temperatures increased at the start of the ice-covered period due to upward-directed heat flux from the underlying thawed sediment. Prior to ice break-up, solar radiation effectively warmed the water beneath the ice cover and induced convective mixing. Ice break-up started at the beginning of June and lasted until the middle or end of June. Mixing occurred within the entire water column from the start of ice break-up and continued during the ice-free periods, as confirmed by the Wedderburn numbers, a quantitative measure of the balance between wind mixing and stratification that is important for describing the biogeochemical cycles of lakes. The lake thermal regime was modeled numerically using the FLake model. The model demonstrated good agreement with observations with regard to the mean lake temperature, with a good reproduction of the summer stratification during the ice-free period, but poor agreement during the ice-covered period. Modeled sensitivity to lake depth demonstrated that lakes in this climatic zone with mean depths > 5 m develop continuous stratification in summer for at least 1 month. The modeled vertical heat flux across the bottom sediment tends towards an annual mean of zero, with maximum downward fluxes of about 5 W m−2 in summer and with heat released back into the water column at a rate of less than 1 W m−2 during the ice-covered period. The lakes are shown to be efficient heat absorbers and effectively distribute the heat through mixing. Monthly bottom water temperatures during the ice-free period range up to 15 °C and are therefore higher than the associated monthly air or ground temperatures in the surrounding frozen permafrost landscape. The investigated lakes remain unfrozen at depth, with mean annual lake-bottom temperatures of between 2.7 and 4 °C.


Water ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (6) ◽  
pp. 1830 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rinat M. Manasypov ◽  
Artem G. Lim ◽  
Ivan V. Kriсkov ◽  
Liudmila S. Shirokova ◽  
Sergey N. Vorobyev ◽  
...  

Thermokarst lakes and ponds formed due to thawing of frozen peat in high-latitude lowlands are very dynamic and environmentally important aquatic systems that play a key role in controlling C emission to atmosphere and organic carbon (OC), nutrient, and metal lateral export to rivers and streams. However, despite the importance of thermokarst lakes in assessing biogeochemical functioning of permafrost peatlands in response to climate warming and permafrost thaw, spatial (lake size, permafrost zone) and temporal (seasonal) variations in thermokarst lake hydrochemistry remain very poorly studied. Here, we used unprecedented spatial coverage (isolated, sporadic, discontinuous, and continuous permafrost zone of the western Siberia Lowland) of 67 lakes ranging in size from 102 to 105 m2 for sampling during three main hydrological periods of the year: spring flood, summer baseflow, and autumn time before ice-on. We demonstrate a systematic, all-season decrease in the concentration of dissolved OC (DOC) and an increase in SO4, N-NO3, and some metal (Mn, Co, Cu, Mo, Sr, U, Sb) concentration with an increase in lake surface area, depending on the type of the permafrost zone. These features are interpreted as a combination of (i) OC and organically bound metal leaching from peat at the lake shore, via abrasion and delivery of these compounds by suprapermafrost flow, and (ii) deep groundwater feeding of large lakes (especially visible in the continuous permafrost zone). Analyses of lake water chemical composition across the permafrost gradient allowed a first-order empirical prediction of lake hydrochemical changes in the case of climate warming and permafrost thaw, employing a substituting space for time scenario. The permafrost boundary shift northward may decrease the concentrations and pools of dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC), Li, B, Mg, K, Ca, Sr, Ba, Ni, Cu, As, Rb, Mo, Sr, Y, Zr, rare Earth elements (REEs), Th, and U by a factor of 2–5 in the continuous permafrost zone, but increase the concentrations of CH4, DOC, NH4, Cd, Sb, and Pb by a factor of 2–3. In contrast, the shift of the sporadic to isolated zone may produce a 2–5-fold decrease in CH4, DOC, NH4, Al, P, Ti, Cr, Ni, Ga, Zr, Nb, Cs, REEs, Hf, Th, and U. The exact magnitude of this response will, however, be strongly seasonally dependent, with the largest effects observable during baseflow seasons.


2017 ◽  
Vol 21 (11) ◽  
pp. 5725-5746 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vladimir P. Shevchenko ◽  
Oleg S. Pokrovsky ◽  
Sergey N. Vorobyev ◽  
Ivan V. Krickov ◽  
Rinat M. Manasypov ◽  
...  

Abstract. In order to better understand the chemical composition of snow and its impact on surface water hydrochemistry in the poorly studied Western Siberia Lowland (WSL), the surface layer of snow was sampled in February 2014 across a 1700 km latitudinal gradient (ca. 56.5 to 68° N). We aimed at assessing the latitudinal effect on both dissolved and particulate forms of elements in snow and quantifying the impact of atmospheric input to element storage and export fluxes in inland waters of the WSL. The concentration of dissolved+colloidal (< 0.45 µm) Fe, Co, Cu, As and La increased by a factor of 2 to 5 north of 63° N compared to southern regions. The pH and dissolved Ca, Mg, Sr, Mo and U in snow water increased with the rise in concentrations of particulate fraction (PF). Principal component analyses of major and trace element concentrations in both dissolved and particulate fractions revealed two factors not linked to the latitude. A hierarchical cluster analysis yielded several groups of elements that originated from alumino-silicate mineral matrix, carbonate minerals and marine aerosols or belonging to volatile atmospheric heavy metals, labile elements from weatherable minerals and nutrients. The main sources of mineral components in PF are desert and semi-desert regions of central Asia. The snow water concentrations of DIC, Cl, SO4, Mg, Ca, Cr, Co, Ni, Cu, Mo, Cd, Sb, Cs, W, Pb and U exceeded or were comparable with springtime concentrations in thermokarst lakes of the permafrost-affected WSL zone. The springtime river fluxes of DIC, Cl, SO4, Na, Mg, Ca, Rb, Cs, metals (Cr, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, Cd, Pb), metalloids (As, Sb), Mo and U in the discontinuous to continuous permafrost zone (64–68° N) can be explained solely by melting of accumulated snow. The impact of snow deposition on riverine fluxes of elements strongly increased northward, in discontinuous and continuous permafrost zones of frozen peat bogs. This was consistent with the decrease in the impact of rock lithology on river chemical composition in the permafrost zone of the WSL, relative to the permafrost-free regions. Therefore, the present study demonstrates significant and previously underestimated atmospheric input of many major and trace elements to their riverine fluxes during spring floods. A broader impact of this result is that current estimations of river water fluxes response to climate warming in high latitudes may be unwarranted without detailed analysis of winter precipitation.


2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 59-69
Author(s):  
Pratima Pandey ◽  
S. Nawaz Ali ◽  
Vikram Sharma ◽  
Prashant K. Champati Ray

Thermokarst (Thaw) lakes are landforms found in topographic depressions created by thawing ground ice in permafrost zones. They play an important role in the regulation of climatic functions. These lakes are a manifestation of warming surface temperatures that accelerates the ice-rich permafrost to degrade by creating marshy hollows/ponds. In the current global warming scenario, the thermokarst lakes in the high mountain regions (Himalaya) are expected to grow further. This accelerate permafrost thawing which will affect the carbon cycle, hydrology and local ecosystems. This phenomenon has attracted huge scientific attention because it has led to a rapid mass change of glaciers in the region, including extensive changes occurring on peri-glacial environments. The most striking fact is the release of an enormous amount of greenhouse gases, including methane, carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide that is locked in these lakes. The present study delves into the thermokarst lakes in the upper reaches of Chandra Valley and Western Himalaya. The study also aims at designating the impact of their changes on the ecosystem, particularly their influence on the atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations.


Author(s):  
Elvira A. Zinnatova, Larisa A. Frolova ◽  
Larisa A. Frolova

The Northern lakes are good objects for paleoclimatic reconstructions. One of the sources of information about changes in the ecosystems of lakes are diatoms. The study of diatom complexes revealed 133 taxa belonging to 49 genera, 24 families, 13 orders and 3 classes in the bottom sediments of the thermokarst lake of the Pechora Delta. Dominated by the Holarctic representatives of benthic and fouling organisms giving preference to the alkaline environmental conditions.


2018 ◽  
Vol 52 (2) ◽  
pp. 519-534 ◽  
Author(s):  
V. E. Fedosov

Recent studies on Orthotrichoid mosses in Russia are summarized genus by genus. Orthotrichum furcatum Otnyukova is synonymized with Nyholmiella obtusifolia. Orthotrichum vittii is excluded from the Russian moss flora. Description of O. dagestanicum is amended. Fifty four currently recognized species from 9 genera of the Orthotrichaceae are presently known to occur in Russia; list of species with common synonyms and brief review of distribution in Russia is presented. Numerous problematic specimens with unresolved taxonomy were omitted for future. Revealed taxonomical inconsistencies in the genera Zygodon, Ulota, Lewinskya, Nyholmiella, Orthotrichum are briefly discussed. Main regularities of spatial differentiation of the family Orthotrichaceae in Russia are considered. Recently presented novelties contribute to the certain biogeographic pattern, indicating three different centers of diversity of the family, changing along longitudinal gradient. Unlike European one, continental Asian diversity of Orthotrichaceae is still poorly known, the Siberian specimens which were previously referred to European species in most cases were found to represent other, poorly known or undescribed species. North Pacific Region houses peculiar and poorly understood hot spot of diversity of Orthotrichoid mosses. Thus, these hot spots are obligatory to be sampled in course of revisions of particular groups, since they likely comprise under-recorded cryptic- or semi-cryptic species. Latitudinal gradient also contributes to the spatial differentiation of the revealed taxonomic composition of Orthotrichaceae.


2020 ◽  
Vol 54 (2) ◽  
pp. 263
Author(s):  
Alejandro A. Schaaf ◽  
Cecilia G. Garcia ◽  
Harold F. Greeney
Keyword(s):  

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document