Seasonal and interannual variability of sedimentation and organic matter distribution in the Buor-Khaya Gulf: The primary recipient of input from Lena River and coastal erosion in the southeast Laptev Sea ...

• Main Authors: Charkin, Alexander, Dudarev, Oleg V., Semiletov, Igor P., Kruhmalev, A.V., Vonk, Jorien, Sánchez-García, Laura, Karlsson, Emma, Gustafsson, Örjan
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: ETH Zurich 2011
• Subjects: Arctic; Ice; laptev; Laptev Sea; lena river; permafrost
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.3929/ethz-b-000041947; http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11850/41947

Climate warming is amplified in the land-sea system of the East Siberian Arctic, which also holds large pools of vulnerable carbon in permafrost. This coastal area is strongly influenced by sediment and carbon transport from both its large rivers and extensive erosion of Pleistocene permafrost along its coastline. This study is investigating the coastal fate of the sediment and organic carbon delivered to the Buor-Khaya Gulf, which is the first recipient of the overwhelming fluvial discharge from the Lena River and is additionally receiving large input from extensive erosion of the coastal ice-complex (permafrost a.k.a. Yedoma; loess soil with high organic carbon content). Both water column suspended particulate matter (SPM) and surface sediments were sampled at about 250 oceanographic stations in the Gulf in this multi-year effort, including one winter campaign, and analyzed for the distribution and sorting of sediment size, organic carbon content, and stable carbon isotope signals. The composition of the ... : Biogeosciences, 8 (9) ...