Optical properties of the Laptev Sea near the Lena River delta

Author(s):  
Vladimir I. Burenkov
2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 15-28
Author(s):  
S. S. Barinova ◽  
V. A. Gabyshev ◽  
A. P. Ivanova ◽  
O. I. Gabysheva

The Lena River in the Laptev Sea forms a vast delta, one of the largest in the world. The Ust-Lensky State Nature Reserve saves biodiversity on the Lena Delta territory beyond the Arctic Circle, in the zone of continuous permafrost. In recent years, large-scale plans for the development of extractive industries are implemented in this Russian Arctic sector. In this regard, the study of biodiversity and bioindication properties of aquatic organisms in the Lena River estuary area is becoming more and more relevant. This study aims to identify the species composition of microalgae in lotic and lentic water bodies of the Lena River Delta and use their indicator property for water salinity. It was a trace indicator of species distribution over the delta and their dynamics along the delta main watercourses to assess the impact of river waters on the Laptev Sea coastal areas. For this, all previously published materials on algae and chemical composition of the region waters as well as data obtained in recent years for the waters of the lower Lena reach were involved. In total, 700 species considered to 10 phyla were analyzed: Cyanobacteria (83), Euglenozoa (13), Ochrophyta (Chrysophyta, Xanthophyta) (41), Eustigmatophyta (4), Bacillariophyta (297), Miozoa (20), Cryptophyta (3), Rhodophyta (1), Chlorophyta (125), and Charophyta (111). The available materials of the field and reference observations were analyzed using several statistical methods. The study results indicate that hydrological conditions are the main factor regulating the spatial structure of the species composition of the microalgae communities in the Lena River Delta. The distribution of groups of salinity indicators across flowing water bodies reflects the effect of water salinity, and this allows suggesting possible sources of this effect. The mechanism of tracking the distribution of environmental indicators itself is a sensitive method, that reveals even their subtle changes in them; therefore, as an integral method, it can be helpful for further monitoring.


2020 ◽  
Vol 540 ◽  
pp. 109502
Author(s):  
Оlga Rudenko ◽  
Еkaterina Taldenkova ◽  
Yaroslav Ovsepyan ◽  
Аnna Stepanova ◽  
Henning A. Bauch

2020 ◽  
Vol 590 ◽  
pp. 125515
Author(s):  
Alexander N. Charkin ◽  
Irina I. Pipko ◽  
Galina Yu. Pavlova ◽  
Oleg V. Dudarev ◽  
Andrei E. Leusov ◽  
...  

2014 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 4085-4122 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Bolshiyanov ◽  
A. Makarov ◽  
L. Savelieva

Abstract. The Lena River Delta, the largest delta of the Arctic Ocean, differs from other deltas because it consists mainly of organomineral sediments, commonly called peat, that contain a huge organic carbon reservoir. The analysis of Delta sediment radiocarbon ages showed that they could not have formed as peat during floodplain bogging, but accumulated when Laptev Sea water level was high and green mosses and sedges grew and were deposited on the surface of flooded marshes. The Lena River Delta formed as organomineral masses and layered sediments accumulated during transgressive phases when sea level rose. In regressive phases, the islands composed of these sediments and other, more ancient islands were eroded. Each new sea transgression led to further accumulation of layered sediments. As a result of alternating transgressive and regressive phases the first alluvial-marine terrace formed, consisting of geological bodies of different ages. Determining the formation age of different areas of the first terrace and other marine terraces on the coast allowed the periods of increasing (8–6 Ka, 4.5–4 Ka, 2.5–1.5 Ka, 0.4–0.2 Ka) and decreasing (5 Ka, 3 Ka, 0.5 Ka) Laptev Sea levels to be distinguished in the Lena Delta area.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Van Liem Nguyen ◽  
Birgit Wild ◽  
Örjan Gustafsson ◽  
Igor Semiletov ◽  
Oleg Dudarev ◽  
...  

<p>Widespread accelerated permafrost thawing is predicted for this century and beyond. This threatens to remobilize the large amounts of Mercury (Hg) currently ‘locked’ in Arctic permafrost soils to the Arctic Ocean and thus potentially lead to severe consequences for human and wildlife health. Future risks of Arctic Hg in a warmer climate are, however, poorly understood. One crucial knowledge gap to fill is the fate of Hg once it enters the marine environment on the continental shelves. Arctic rivers are already today suggested to be the main source of Hg into the Arctic Ocean, with dissolved and particulate organic matter (DOM and POM, respectively) identified as important vectors for the land to sea transport.</p><p>In this study, we have investigated total Hg (HgT) and monomethylmercury (MeHg) concentrations in surface sediments from the East Siberian Arctic Shelf (ESAS) along a transect from the Lena river delta to the Laptev Sea continental slope. The ESAS is the world’s largest continental shelf and receives large amounts of organic carbon by the great Arctic Russian rivers (e.g., Lena, Indigirka and Kolyma), remobilized from continuous and discontinuous permafrost regions in the river catchments, and from coastal erosion. Data on HgT and MeHg levels in ESAS sediments is however limited. Here, we observed concentrations of Hg ranging from 30 to 96 ng Hg g<sup>-1</sup> d.w. of HgT, and 0.03 to 9.5 ng Hg g<sup>-1</sup> d.w. of MeHg. Similar concentrations of HgT were observed close to the river delta (54 ± 19 ng Hg g<sup>-1</sup> d.w.), where >95 % of the organic matter is of terrestrial origin, and the other section of the transect (42 ± 7 ng Hg g<sup>-1</sup> d.w.) where the terrestrial organic matter is diluted with carbon from marine sources. In contrast, we observed higher concentrations of MeHg close to the river delta (0.72 ± 0.71 ng Hg g<sup>-1</sup> d.w. as MeHg) than further out on the continental shelf (0.031 ± 0.71 ng Hg g<sup>-1</sup> d.w. as MeHg). We also observed a positive correlation between the MeHg:Hg ratio and previously characterized molecular markers of terrestrial organic matter (Bröder et al. Biogeosciences (2016) & Nature Com. (2018)). We thus suggest riverine inputs, rather than in situ MeHg formation, to explain observed MeHg trends.</p>


Trudy VNIRO ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 175 ◽  
pp. 153-166
Author(s):  
A.F. Kirillov ◽  
◽  
E.V. Burmistrov ◽  
Yu.A. Sveshnikov ◽  
◽  
...  

2015 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 579-593 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Bolshiyanov ◽  
A. Makarov ◽  
L. Savelieva

Abstract. The Lena River delta, the largest delta of the Arctic Ocean, differs from other deltas because it consists mainly of organomineral sediments, commonly called peat, that contain a huge organic carbon reservoir. The analysis of delta sediment radiocarbon ages showed that they could not have formed as peat during floodplain bogging; rather, they accumulated when Laptev Sea water level was high and green mosses and sedges grew and were deposited on the surface of flooded marshes. The Lena River delta formed as organomineral masses and layered sediments accumulated during transgressive phases when sea level rose. In regressive phases, the islands composed of these sediments and other, more ancient islands were eroded. Each new sea transgression led to further accumulation of layered sediments. As a result of alternating transgressive and regressive phases, the first alluvial-marine terrace formed, consisting of geological bodies of different ages. Determining the formation age of different areas of the first terrace and other marine terraces on the coast allowed the periods of increasing (8000–6000 BP (years before present), 4500–4000, 2500–1500, and 400–200 BP) and decreasing (5000, 3000, and 500 BP) Laptev Sea levels to be distinguished in the Lena Delta area.


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