Major, Trace and Rare Earth Element Distribution in Water, Suspended Particulate Matter and Stream Sediments of the Ob River Mouth

Ongoing climatic changes are influencing the volume and composition of the river waters that enter the Arctic Basin. This hydrochemical study was conducted within the mouth of the Ob River, which is one of the world’s largest rivers, providing 15% of the Arctic Ocean’s total intake. Concentrations o...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Published in:Water
Main Authors: Andrei Soromotin, Dmitriy Moskovchenko, Vitaliy Khoroshavin, Nikolay Prikhodko, Alexander Puzanov, Vladimir Kirillov, Mikhail Koveshnikov, Eugenia Krylova, Aleksander Krasnenko, Aleksander Pechkin
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2022
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.3390/w14152442
https://doaj.org/article/d3eef1b079dd4430a61b6994585f3862
Description
Summary:Ongoing climatic changes are influencing the volume and composition of the river waters that enter the Arctic Basin. This hydrochemical study was conducted within the mouth of the Ob River, which is one of the world’s largest rivers, providing 15% of the Arctic Ocean’s total intake. Concentrations of suspended and dissolved elements were determined using ICP–MS and ICP–AES. As compared to the world average values, the Ob river water had higher concentrations of dissolved P, As, Cu, Zn, Pb and Sb, i.e., the elements that form soluble organo-mineral complexes. The composition of suspended matter was characterized by low concentrations of most trace elements (Cd, Cr, Co, Cu, Mo, Al, Ni, Pb, V) due to their low contents in peat soils within the river drainage basin. Concentrations of dissolved forms were many times lower than concentrations of suspended forms in Al, Fe, Mn, Zn, Cr, Co, Ti, Sc, and all rare earth elements. Total concentrations of Ni, Cu, Bi, Pb, W in the river water increased by 2.5 to 4.2 times during the summer. The effects of climate change, which can cause an increase in the discharge of solid particles from thawing permafrost, are likely to lead to an increase in the discharge of certain elements into the Ob River estuary.