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Reemission of inorganic pollution from permafrost? – a freshwater hydrochemistry study in the lower Kolyma basin (North-East Siberia)
  • +4
  • Danuta Szumińska,
  • Krystyna Koziol,
  • Sergiej R. Chalov,
  • Vasilii A. Efimov,
  • Marcin Frankowski,
  • Sara Lehmann-Konera,
  • Żaneta Polkowska
Danuta Szumińska
Uniwersytet Kazimierza Wielkiego w Bydgoszczy Instytut Geografii

Corresponding Author:[email protected]

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Krystyna Koziol
Uniwersytet Kazimierza Wielkiego w Bydgoszczy Instytut Geografii
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Sergiej R. Chalov
Uniwersytet Kazimierza Wielkiego w Bydgoszczy Instytut Geografii
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Vasilii A. Efimov
Moskovskij gosudarstvennyj universitet imeni M V Lomonosova
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Marcin Frankowski
Uniwersytet im Adama Mickiewicza w Poznaniu Wydzial Chemii
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Sara Lehmann-Konera
Uniwersytet Marii Curie-Sklodowskiej w Lublinie Wydzial Nauk o Ziemi i Gospodarki Przestrzennej
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Żaneta Polkowska
Politechnika Gdanska Wydzial Chemiczny
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Abstract

Permafrost regions are under particular pressure from climate change resulting in widespread landscape changes, which impact also freshwater chemistry. We investigated 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. Particular 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-HCO 3-Cl-SO 4 ionic water type (with mineralisation in the range 600-800 mg/L), 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 have we detected dissolved Ti or Hg. In thermokarst lakes, several metal and metalloid dissolved 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/L Cu, 4610 µg/L Mn, and 687 µg/L Zn in the bottom water layers. Permafrost-related waters were also enriched in dissolved phosphorus (up to 512 µg/L 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.
01 Dec 2022Submitted to Land Degradation & Development
20 Dec 2022Submission Checks Completed
20 Dec 2022Assigned to Editor
05 Feb 2023Review(s) Completed, Editorial Evaluation Pending
13 Feb 2023Reviewer(s) Assigned
02 May 2023Editorial Decision: Revise Major
24 Jun 20231st Revision Received
24 Jun 2023Submission Checks Completed
24 Jun 2023Assigned to Editor
24 Jun 2023Review(s) Completed, Editorial Evaluation Pending
30 Jul 2023Editorial Decision: Accept