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Mercury in Frozen Quaternary Sediments of the Spitsbergen Archipelago

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Abstract

The climate warming–related degradation of permafrost can lead to the entry of climatically and biologically active substances, including mercury, into the biosphere; this work focuses on the analysis of the total content of mercury and organic carbon in 15 cores drilled in frozen Quaternary deposits of the Arctic Archipelago of Spitsbergen. The mercury content was additionally analyzed in bedrock samples, because the studied Quaternary deposits are formed by the weathering of the bedrock of the area. The results show that mercury concentrations in 157 studied samples of frozen Quaternary deposits range from 21 to 94 ng/g, with an average value of 40 ng/g. The expected correlation of mercury content with organic carbon content is not revealed. There are no trends in the accumulation of mercury depending on the lithological facies, geomorphological position, the time of sedimentation, or the freezing conditions. The average content of mercury in bedrock is relatively low, with a mean value of 8 ng/g. This means that the main source of mercury in frozen Quaternary deposits is not bedrock, but the formation of organic matter complexes or sorption on clay particles. In terms of the ongoing discussion about mercury input from permafrost to ecosystems, the results obtained from boreholes can be considered preindustrial background values.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We express our gratitude to the RAE-Sh logistics center for supporting field work and to the staff of the RAE-Sh chemical analytical laboratory in Barentsburg, namely, N.N. Fateev, V.M. Mikhailova, and V.V. Boyko for determining the mercury content in the samples, as well as specialists from the Carbon and Nitrogen Laboratory of the Alfred Wegener Institute of the Center for Polar and Marine Research (Potsdam, Germany) for analyzing the organic carbon content.

Funding

This work was supported by ongoing institutional funding. No additional grants to carry out or direct this particular research were obtained.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Scientific Center Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute, 199397, St. Petersburg, Russia

    N. E. Demidov, A. V. Guzeva & A. L. Nikulina

  2. Institute of Limnology, Russian Academy of Sciences–St. Petersburg Federal Research Center, Russian Academy of Sciences, 196105, St. Petersburg, Russia

    A. V. Guzeva

  3. Wegener Institute, Center for Polar and Marine Research, Helmholtz, Department of Permafrost Research, 14401, Potsdam, Germany

    S. Wetterich & L. Schirrmeister

  4. Technical University of Dresden, Institute of Geography, 01069, Dresden, Germany

    S. Wetterich

Authors
  1. N. E. Demidov
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  2. A. V. Guzeva
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  3. A. L. Nikulina
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  4. S. Wetterich
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  5. L. Schirrmeister
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Correspondence to N. E. Demidov.

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Translated by A. Ivanov

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Demidov, N.E., Guzeva, A.V., Nikulina, A.L. et al. Mercury in Frozen Quaternary Sediments of the Spitsbergen Archipelago. Izv. Atmos. Ocean. Phys. 59, 982–989 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1134/S0001433823080054

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