Input of terrestrial organic matter linked to deglaciation increased mercury transport to the Svalbard fjords

Deglaciation has accelerated the transport of minerals as well as modern and ancient organic matter from land to fjord sediments in Spitsbergen, Svalbard, in the European Arctic Ocean. Consequently, such sediments may contain significant levels of total mercury (THg) bound to terrestrial organic mat...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Scientific Reports
Main Authors: KWON, SAE YUN, KIM, HARYUN, LEE, KITACK, LIM, DHONGIL, HAN, SEUNGHEE, KIM, TAE-WOOK, JOO, YOUNG JI, LIM, JAESOO, KANG, MOO-HEE, NAM, SEUNG-IL
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP 2020
Subjects:
ATMOSPHERIC MERCURY
ARCTIC FJORD
ANTHROPOGENIC MERCURY
ISOTOPIC COMPOSITION
METAL CONTAMINATION
TIDEWATER GLACIER
STABLE-ISOTOPES
LAKE-SEDIMENTS
CARBON BURIAL
MARINE
Arctic
Arctic Ocean
Dicksonfjorden
Hornsund
Svalbard
Wijdefjorden
glacier
Tidewater
Wijdefjord*
Spitsbergen
Online Access:https://oasis.postech.ac.kr/handle/2014.oak/101768
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-60261-6
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Summary:Deglaciation has accelerated the transport of minerals as well as modern and ancient organic matter from land to fjord sediments in Spitsbergen, Svalbard, in the European Arctic Ocean. Consequently, such sediments may contain significant levels of total mercury (THg) bound to terrestrial organic matter. The present study compared THg contents in surface sediments from three fjord settings in Spitsbergen: Hornsund in the southern Spitsbergen, which has high annual volume of loss glacier and receives sediment from multiple tidewater glaciers, Dicksonfjorden in the central Spitsbergen, which receives sediment from glacifluvial rivers, and Wijdefjorden in the northern Spitsbergen, which receive sediments from a mixture of tidewater glaciers and glacifluvial rivers. Our results showed that the THg (52 +/- 15 ng g(-1)) bound to organic matter (OM) was the highest in the Hornsund surface sediments, where the glacier loss (0.44 km(3) yr(-1)) and organic carbon accumulation rates (9.3 similar to 49.4 g m(-2) yr(-1)) were elevated compared to other fjords. Furthermore, the delta C-13 (-27 similar to -24 parts per thousand) and delta S-34 values (-10 similar to 15 parts per thousand) of OM indicated that most of OM were originated from terrestrial sources. Thus, the temperature-driven glacial melting could release more OM originating from the meltwater or terrestrial materials, which are available for THg binding in the European Arctic fjord ecosystems. 1 1 Y scie scopus

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