Reemission of inorganic pollution from permafrost? A freshwater hydrochemistry study in the lower Kolyma basin (North-East Siberia)

Danuta Szumińska; Kozioł Krystyna; Sergey R. Chalov; Vasilii A. Efimov; Marcin Frankowski; Sara Lehmann-konera; Żaneta Polkowska

doi:10.1002/ldr.4866

Reemission of inorganic pollution from permafrost? A freshwater hydrochemistry study in the lower Kolyma basin (North-East Siberia)

Abstract

Permafrost regions are under particular pressure from climate change resulting in widespread landscape changes, which impact also freshwater chemistry. We investi- gated a snapshot of hydrochemistry in various freshwater environments in the lower Kolyma river basin (North-East Siberia, continuous permafrost zone) to explore the mobility of metals, metalloids and non-metals resulting from permafrost thaw. Partic- ular attention was focused on heavy metals as contaminants potentially released from the secondary source in the permafrozen Yedoma complex. Permafrost creeks represented the Mg-Ca-Na-HCO3-Cl-SO 4 ionic water type (with mineralisation in the range 600–800 mg L1 ), while permafrost ice and thermokarst lake waters were the HCO 3-Ca-Mg type. Multiple heavy metals (As, Cu, Co, Mn and Ni) showed much higher dissolved phase concentrations in permafrost creeks and ice than in Kolyma and its tributaries, and only in the permafrost samples and one Kolyma tributary we have detected dissolved Ti. In thermokarst lakes, several metal and metalloid dis- solved concentrations increased with water depth (Fe, Mn, Ni and Zn – in both lakes; Al, Cu, K, Sb, Sr and Pb in either lake), reaching 1370 μg L1 Cu, 4610 μg L1 Mn, and 687 μg L1 Zn in the bottom water layers. Permafrost-related waters were also enriched in dissolved phosphorus (up to 512 μg L1 in Yedoma-fed creeks). The impact of permafrost thaw on river and lake water chemistry is a complex problem which needs to be considered both in the context of legacy permafrost shrinkage and the interference of the deepening active layer with newly deposited anthropogenic contaminants.

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Authors (7)

Danuta Szumińska Dr
- Faculty of Geographical Sciences, Kazimierz Wielki University, Bydgoszcz, Poland
Kozioł Krystyna dr
- Faculty of Geographical Sciences, Kazimierz Wielki University, Bydgoszcz, Poland
Sergey R. Chalov Prof.
- Faculty of Geographical Sciences, Kazimierz Wielki University, Bydgoszcz, Poland
Vasilii A. Efimov
- Faculty of Geography, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia
Marcin Frankowski
- Faculty of Chemistry, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznan, Poland
Sara Lehmann-konera Dr
- Faculty of Earth Science and Spatial Management, Maria Curie-Skłodowska University in Lublin, Lublin, Poland
Żaneta Polkowska prof. dr hab. inż.

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Keywords

CLIMATE CHANGE, FRESHWATER, HEAVY METALS, INORGANIC CHEMISTRY, NORTH-EAST SIBERIA, PERMAFROST

Details

Category:

Articles

Type:

artykuły w czasopismach

Published in:

LAND DEGRADATION & DEVELOPMENT no. 34, pages 5591 - 5605,
ISSN: 1085-3278

Language:

English

Publication year:

2023

Bibliographic description:

Szumińska D., Krystyna K., Chalov S. R., Efimov V. A., Frankowski M., Lehmann-Konera S., Polkowska Ż.: Reemission of inorganic pollution from permafrost? A freshwater hydrochemistry study in the lower Kolyma basin (North-East Siberia)// LAND DEGRADATION & DEVELOPMENT -Vol. 34,iss. 17 (2023), s.5591-5605

DOI:

10.1002/ldr.4866

Sources of funding:

INTERACT, H2020-EU.1.4.1.2. (PollAct, grant no. 730938) and by the Project Supporting Maintenance of Research Potential at Kazimierz Wielki University

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