Fate and transport of nitrogen in soils, sediment and water of the Lena Delta, Northeast Siberia

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tina Sanders ◽  
Matthias Fuchs ◽  
Kirstin Dähnke
Keyword(s):  
Organic Matter ◽  
Arctic Ocean ◽  
Inorganic Nitrogen ◽  
Organic Matter Content ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Nitrous Oxide Emissions ◽  
Reactive Nitrogen ◽  
Particulate Nitrogen ◽  
Incubation Experiments ◽  
Lena Delta

<p>Soils and sediments in the Lena Delta in Northeast Siberia store large amounts of organic matter including organic bound nitrogen. This nitrogen is not directly available for plants and primary production, but can be remineralised in the soils or in sediments after erosion to the Lena River. Our study aims to estimate the load of reactive nitrogen from terrestrial sources into the Arctic Ocean. Therefore, water and sediment samples were collected along a transect (~200 km) from the centre of the Delta to the open Laptev Sea in summer 2019. On the collected samples, we will measure dissolved organic and inorganic nitrogen, particulate nitrogen and CN ratio. In addition, the <sup>15</sup>N stable isotope values of these components will be determined to identify nitrogen sources, sinks and processes of nitrogen transformation. Additionally, we carried out incubation experiments in the field to determine the potential remineralisation rates of various soil types in Lena water and nutrients fluxes of the sediments. The load of dissolved inorganic nitrogen in the Lena water in the delta was very low and low nitrate and silicate concentration indicate uptake by phytoplankton. Outside the Lena Delta, a lens of nutrient depleted freshwater covered the salty Arctic Ocean water, which had higher loads of reactive nitrogen. The organic matter content of the soils and sediment is highly variable and ranges from 1 to 45 %. This organic matter is the source of reactive nitrogen, which is determined in incubation experiments and using nitrogen stable isotopes. We found that especially the unvegetated soils and sediment are sources of reactive nitrogen in the end of vegetation period, and are potentially sources of nitrous oxide emissions.</p>

Seasonal variations in the transport and biogeochemical turnover of mainly dissolved organic nitrogen from the Lena Delta to the nearshore Laptev Sea

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tina Sanders ◽  
Claudia Fiencke ◽  
Matthias Fuchs ◽  
Charlotte Haugk ◽  
Gesine Mollenhauer ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Arctic Ocean ◽  
Coastal Waters ◽  
Dissolved Organic Nitrogen ◽  
Organic Nitrogen ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Laptev Sea ◽  
Particulate Nitrogen ◽  
The Arctic Ocean ◽  
The Laptev Sea ◽  
Lena Delta

<p>Pan-arctic rivers transport a huge amount of nitrogen to the Arctic Ocean. The permafrost-affected soils around the Arctic Ocean containe a large reservoir of organic matter including carbon and nitrogen, which partly reach the river after permafrost thaw and erosion.</p><p>Our study aims to estimate the load of nitrogen supplied from terrestrial sources into the Arctic Ocean. Therefore, water, suspended particulate matter (SPM) and sediment samples were collected in the Lena Delta along a (~200 km) transect from the center of the Lena Delta to the open Laptev Sea in late winter (April) and in summer (August) 2019. In winter, 21 sample from 13 stations and in summer, 51 samples from 18 stations were taken. 9 of these sampling stations in the outer delta region were sampled in both seasons.</p><p>We measured organic and inorganic nitrogen and the <sup>15</sup>N stable isotopes composition of all three sample types to determine sources, sinks and processes of nitrogen transformation during transport.</p><p>In winter, the nitrogen transported from the delta to the Laptev Sea were mainly dissolved organic nitrogen (DON) and nitrate, which occur in similar amounts. The load of nitrate increased slightly in the delta, while no changes to the isotope values of DON and nitrate were observe indicating a lack of biological activity in the winter season. However, lateral transport from soils was a likely source. In summer, nitrogen was mainly transported as DON and particulate nitrogen in the SPM fraction, including phytoplankton.</p><p>The nitrogen stable isotope values of the different nitrogen components ranges between 0.5 and 4.5 ‰, and were subsequently enriched from the soils via SPM/sediment and DON to nitrate. This indicates that nitrogen in the soils mainly originates from nitrogen fixation from the atmosphere. During transport and remineralisation, biogeochemical recycling via nitrification and assimilation by phytoplankton led to an isotopic enrichment in summer from organic to inorganic components. In the coastal waters of the Laptev Sea, the river waters are slowly mixed with marine nitrate containing waters from the Arctic Ocean, and a part of the riverine organic nitrogen is buried in the sediments.</p><p>We assume that the ongoing permafrost thawing and erosion will intensify and increase the transport of reactive nitrogen to coastal waters and will affect the biogeochemical cycling, e.g. the primary production.</p>

scholarly journals Seasonal nitrogen fluxes of the Lena River Delta

AMBIO ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tina Sanders ◽  
Claudia Fiencke ◽  
Matthias Fuchs ◽  
Charlotte Haugk ◽  
Bennet Juhls ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Nitrous Oxide ◽  
Arctic Ocean ◽  
Organic Nitrogen ◽  
Inorganic Nitrogen ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Nitrous Oxide Emissions ◽  
Sampling Station ◽  
Lena River ◽  
The Arctic Ocean ◽  
One Year

AbstractThe Arctic is nutrient limited, particularly by nitrogen, and is impacted by anthropogenic global warming which occurs approximately twice as fast compared to the global average. Arctic warming intensifies thawing of permafrost-affected soils releasing their large organic nitrogen reservoir. This organic nitrogen reaches hydrological systems, is remineralized to reactive inorganic nitrogen, and is transported to the Arctic Ocean via large rivers. We estimate the load of nitrogen supplied from terrestrial sources into the Arctic Ocean by sampling in the Lena River and its Delta. We took water samples along one of the major deltaic channels in winter and summer in 2019 and sampling station in the central delta over a one-year cycle. Additionally, we investigate the potential release of reactive nitrogen, including nitrous oxide from soils in the Delta. We found that the Lena transported nitrogen as dissolved organic nitrogen to the coastal Arctic Ocean and that eroded soils are sources of reactive inorganic nitrogen such as ammonium and nitrate. The Lena and the Deltaic region apparently are considerable sources of nitrogen to nearshore coastal zone. The potential higher availability of inorganic nitrogen might be a source to enhance nitrous oxide emissions from terrestrial and aquatic sources to the atmosphere.

Bacteriohopanepolyol biomarker composition of organic matter exported to the Arctic Ocean by seven of the major Arctic rivers

2009 ◽  
Vol 40 (11) ◽  
pp. 1151-1159 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin P. Cooke ◽  
Bart E. van Dongen ◽  
Helen M. Talbot ◽  
Igor Semiletov ◽  
Natalia Shakhova ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Organic Matter ◽  
Arctic Ocean ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
The Arctic Ocean ◽  
Arctic Rivers

Seasonality in Lena River biogeochemistry and dissolved organic matter

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bennet Juhls ◽  
Pier Paul Overduin ◽  
Colin Andrew Stedmon ◽  
Anne Morgenstern ◽  
Hanno Meyer ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Organic Matter ◽  
Dissolved Organic Matter ◽  
Arctic Ocean ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Research Station ◽  
Lena River ◽  
Continuous Sampling ◽  
The Arctic Ocean ◽  
Frequency Sampling ◽  
Sampling Program

<p>The carbon export by rivers to the Arctic Ocean is expected to increase in response to the rapidly changing climate in the Arctic (Camill, 2005; Freeman et al., 2001; Frey and Smith, 2005). This is in part due to thawing permafrost and mobilization of particulate and dissolved organic matter (DOM). The Lena River delivers approximately one fifth of the total river discharge to the Arctic Ocean and is the main source of DOM in the Laptev Sea shelf (Thibodeau et al., 2014). To date river fluxes of DOM have been based on sparse coverage of sample across the hydrograph about 700 km upstream (Cooper et al 2005; Raymond et al 2007; Stedmon et al 2011; Amon et al 2012). The effects of low frequency sampling on load estimates are unknown and potentially large for systems such as these where there are considerable changes across the hydrograph.   Here we present results from a unique high frequency sampling program and evaluate its viability to monitor export fluxes of DOM and its biogeochemistry in the Lena River. The sampling takes place close to the river mouth at the research station Samoylov in the central Lena River Delta. The Samoylov research station allows a unique chance for continuous sampling since it operates throughout the year. The sampling program includes measurements of several water parameters, such as temperature, electric conductivity, dissolved organic carbon (DOC), spectral CDOM absorption (aCDOM), fluorescent dissolved organic matter (FDOM) and water stable isotopes.<br>The data facilitated the identification of the main drivers behind the seasonality of DOM concentration and biogeochemistry of the Lena River. Three main water sources could be identified (1) (snow) melt water, (2) rain water and (3) subsurface water. Melt and rain water are found to be the prevailing water sources that combined transport 5.8 Tg C dissolved organic matter (~ 85 % of annual flux (6.8 Tg C)) into the Lena River. The high number of samples throughout the whole year allowed flux calculations that are independently from load models that likely lead to a large variation of earlier studies.<br>The absorption properties of DOM revealed changing composition and sources of DOM throughout the year. Decreasing SUVA values during the summer point towards an increasing fraction of old DOM which potentially originates from degrading permafrost. In contrast, during the spring freshet, high SUVA indicate mostly fresh organic matter with high molecular weight and high aromaticity.<br>This dataset represents the first year of a planned long-term monitoring program at the Research Station Samoylov Island and provides a baseline data set against which future change of this large integrative system may be measured. A continuous sampling of Arctic River water will facilitate to identify intra and inter-annual trends with ongoing climate change.</p>

Seasonal and Annual Fluxes of Nutrients and Organic Matter from Large Rivers to the Arctic Ocean and Surrounding Seas

2011 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
pp. 369-382 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Max Holmes ◽  
James W. McClelland ◽  
Bruce J. Peterson ◽  
Suzanne E. Tank ◽  
Ekaterina Bulygina ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Organic Matter ◽  
Arctic Ocean ◽  
Large Rivers ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
The Arctic Ocean

scholarly journals High-resolution bathymetry models for the Lena Delta and Kolyma Gulf coastal zones

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthias Fuchs ◽  
Juri Palmtag ◽  
Bennet Juhls ◽  
Pier Paul Overduin ◽  
Guido Grosse ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
High Resolution ◽  
Arctic Ocean ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Coastal Zones ◽  
Gulf Region ◽  
Validation Data ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Near Shore ◽  
High Resolution Bathymetry ◽  
Lena Delta

Abstract. Arctic river deltas and deltaic near-shore zones represent important land-ocean transition zones influencing sediment dynamics and nutrient fluxes from permafrost-affected terrestrial ecosystems into the coastal Arctic Ocean. To accurately model fluvial carbon and freshwater export from rapidly changing river catchments, as well assessing impacts of future change on the Arctic shelf and coastal ecosystems, we need to understand the sea floor characteristics and topographic variety of the coastal zones. To date, digital bathymetrical data from the poorly accessible, shallow and large areas of the eastern Siberian Arctic shelves are sparse. We have digitized bathymetrical information for nearly 75,000 locations from large-scale current and historical nautical maps of the Lena Delta and the Kolyma Gulf Region in Northeast Siberia. We present the first detailed and seamless digital models of coastal zone bathymetry for both delta/gulf regions. We validated the resulting bathymetry layers using a combination of our own water depth measurements and a collection of available depth measurements, which showed a strong correlation (r > 0.9). Our bathymetrical models will serve as an input for a high-resolution coupled hydrodynamic-ecosystem model to better quantify fluvial and coastal carbon fluxes to the Arctic Ocean but may be useful for a range of other studies related to Arctic delta and near-shore dynamics such as modelling of submarine permafrost, near-shore sea ice, or shelf sediment transport. The new digital high-resolution bathymetry products are available on the PANGAEA data set repository (Fuchs et al. 2021a, b). Likewise the depth validation data is available on PANGAEA as well (Fuchs et al., 2021c).

scholarly journals Characterization of particulate organic matter in the Lena River delta and adjacent nearshore zone, NE Siberia – Part I: Radiocarbon inventories

2015 ◽  
Vol 12 (12) ◽  
pp. 3769-3788 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Winterfeld ◽  
T. Laepple ◽  
G. Mollenhauer
Keyword(s):  
Organic Matter ◽  
Carbon Isotope ◽  
Particulate Organic Matter ◽  
Coastal Erosion ◽  
Stable Carbon Isotope ◽  
Mixing Model ◽  
Transport Pathways ◽  
Particulate Nitrogen ◽  
Lena River ◽  
Lena Delta

Abstract. Particulate organic matter (POM) derived from permafrost soils and transported by the Lena River represents a quantitatively important terrestrial carbon pool exported to Laptev Sea sediments (next to POM derived from coastal erosion). Its fate in a future warming Arctic, i.e., its remobilization and remineralization after permafrost thawing as well as its transport pathways to and sequestration in marine sediments, is currently under debate. We present one of the first radiocarbon (14C) data sets for surface water POM within the Lena Delta sampled in the summers of 2009–2010 and spring 2011 (n = 30 samples). The bulk Δ14C values varied from −55 to −391 ‰ translating into 14C ages of 395 to 3920 years BP. We further estimated the fraction of soil-derived POM to our samples based on (1) particulate organic carbon to particulate nitrogen ratios (POC : PN) and (2) on the stable carbon isotope (δ13C) composition of our samples. Assuming that this phytoplankton POM has a modern 14C concentration, we inferred the 14C concentrations of the soil-derived POM fractions. The results ranged from −322 to −884 ‰ (i.e., 3060 to 17 250 14C years BP) for the POC : PN-based scenario and from −261 to −944 ‰ (i.e., 2370 to 23 100 14C years BP) for the δ13C-based scenario. Despite the limitations of our approach, the estimated Δ14C values of the soil-derived POM fractions seem to reflect the heterogeneous 14C concentrations of the Lena River catchment soils covering a range from Holocene to Pleistocene ages better than the bulk POM Δ14C values. We further used a dual-carbon-isotope three-end-member mixing model to distinguish between POM contributions from Holocene soils and Pleistocene Ice Complex (IC) deposits to our soil-derived POM fraction. IC contributions are comparatively low (mean of 0.14) compared to Holocene soils (mean of 0.32) and riverine phytoplankton (mean of 0.55), which could be explained with the restricted spatial distribution of IC deposits within the Lena catchment. Based on our newly calculated soil-derived POM Δ14C values, we propose an isotopic range for the riverine soil-derived POM end member with Δ14C of −495 ± 153 ‰ deduced from our δ13C-based binary mixing model and δ13C of −26.6 ± 1 ‰ deduced from our data of Lena Delta soils and literature values. These estimates can help to improve the dual-carbon-isotope simulations used to quantify contributions from riverine soil POM, Pleistocene IC POM from coastal erosion, and marine POM in Siberian shelf sediments.

Mercury and methylmercury along a transect from the Lena river estuary across the Laptev Sea Shelf

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Van Liem Nguyen ◽  
Birgit Wild ◽  
Örjan Gustafsson ◽  
Igor Semiletov ◽  
Oleg Dudarev ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Organic Matter ◽  
Continental Shelf ◽  
Arctic Ocean ◽  
River Delta ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Laptev Sea ◽  
Terrestrial Organic Matter ◽  
Lena River ◽  
The Arctic Ocean ◽  
The Laptev Sea

<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>

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