Hydrogeochemical and Biogeochemical Processes in Kaffiøyra River Catchments (Spitsbergen, Norway)

• Published in: Quaestiones Geographicae
• Main Authors: Borysiak, Janina, Grześ, Marek, Pulina, Marian, Szpikowska, Grażyna
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Walter de Gruyter GmbH 2015
• Subjects: General Earth and Planetary Sciences; Norway; Kaffiøyra; Tundra; Spitsbergen
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/quageo-2015-0010; https://content.sciendo.com/view/journals/quageo/34/1/article-p111.xml; https://www.sciendo.com/article/10.1515/quageo-2015-0010

Abstract The paper presents the results of hydrogeochemical and biogeochemical studies in the area of Kaffiøyra river catchments in the ablation season 2004. Vegetation, hydrological regime, mineralization and ionic composition of circulating waters, rate of annual chemical denudation and biogenic CO 2 content in soil air in relation to the concentration of dissolved and transported HCO3 - ions were documented. The waters represented the type HCO 3 - - SO 4 2- - Ca 2+ - Mg 2+ . Most of ions showed a good correlation with electrical conductivity. A good correlation between dissolved and transported mass and the discharge was shown. The value of the chemical denudation in non-glacierized catchments of the Kaffiøyra plain was 0.07 and 0.13 t km -2 d -1 , in glacierized catchment - 0,21 t km -2 d -1 . The biogenic CO 2 concentrations in tundra soil air ranged from 0.03-0.08%, while the average was 0.046%. The mean rate of CO 2 ionic transport was 3 kg d -1 , while of HCO 3 - - 0.63 t d -1 . A low correlation between the concentration of biogenic CO 2 in soil air and HCO 3 - was found, which indicates the involvement of other, unexamined bio- and physico-chemical processes.