Coastal dynamics at the Barents and Kara Sea key sites

The results of permafrost and coastal dynamics investigations at four key sites on the shores of the Kara and Barents Seas are discussed. Three ACD key sites, Marre-Sale, Shpindler, and Kolguev, characterize areas with active thermal erosion; key site Cape Bolvansky is found on a relatively stable coast. It is found that the coastal retreat rate has spatial and temporal variability, which is typical of the entire Arctic coast. Coastal deposits on the Kara and Barents Seas have a low organic carbon content. Annual input of material into the Kara Sea resulting from coastal degradation reaches 35–40 million t, including about 7.5 million t of ice, 0.35 million t of organic carbon, and 0.3 million t of soluble salts

Permafrost distribution offshore of West Yamal : extended abstract

The results of seismic studies in the near-shore, shallow waters of the south-western Kara Sea - at the Shpindler, Kharsavey and Mare-Sale sites - showed the presence of a seismic interface which can be interpreted as a submarine permafrost table. The proposed permafiost exhibits a continuous distribution and a strongly dissected top surface overlain by unfrozen sediments. The permafrost table is located at a depth of 4-6 m and 5-10 m below the sea floor at the Shpindler and Mare-Sale sites, respectively. Three dimensional modeling of the permafrost table suggests the presence of relict buried thermodenudational depressions (up to 2 km across) at a minimum sea depth of 40-45 m at the Shpindler and Mare-Sale sites. The depressions may be considered as paragenetic to thermocirques found in cliffs at the Shpindler site. At the Kharasavey site, the permafrost table has an elongated depression parallel to the modern shoreline. The maximum depression depth is 20 m below the seafloor. At present, the relict therrnocirques (Shpindler and Mare-Sale) and the elongated depression (Kharasavey) are completely filled in with sediment and are not evident in modern bottom topography

Arctic Coastal Dynamics (ACD): an introduction

Background and rationale The coastal zone is the interface through which land-ocean exchanges in the Arctic are mediated and it is the site of most of the human activity that occurs at high latitudes. Arctic coastlines are highly variable and their dynamics are a function of environmental forcing (wind, waves, sea-level changes, sea-ice, etc.), geology, permafrost and its ground-ice content and coastline morphometry. Environmental forcing initiates coastal processes, such as the sediment transport by waves, currents and sea-ice and the degradation of coastal permafrost. The coastal response (erosion or accretion) results in land and habitat loss or gain and thus affects biological and human systems. Figure 1 schematically illustrates the major processes involved in Arctic coastal dynamics. Coastal processes in the Arctic are strongly controlled by Arctic-specific phenomena, i.e. the sea-ice cover and the existence of onshore and offshore permafrost. ... (Excerpt

In situ produced branched glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraethers in suspended particulate matter from the Yenisei River, Eastern Siberia

Soil-derived branched glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraethers (brGDGTs) in marine river fan sediments have a potential use for determining changes in the mean annual temperature (MAT) and pH of the river watershed soils. Prior to their incorporation in marine sediments, the compounds are transported to the marine system by rivers. However, emerging evidence suggests that the brGDGTs in freshwater systems can be derived from both soil run-off and in situ production. The production of brGDGTs in the river system can complicate the interpretation of the brGDGT signal delivered to the marine system. Therefore, we studied the distribution of brGDGT lipids in suspended particulate matter (SPM) of the Yenisei River. Chromatographic improvements allowed quantification of the recently described hexamethylated brGDGT isomer, characterized by having two methyl groups at the 6/6 ' instead of the 5/5 ' positions, in an environmental dataset for the first time. This novel compound was the most abundant brGDGT in SPM from the Yenisei. Its fractional abundance correlated well with that of the 6-methyl isomer of the hexamethylated brGDGT that contains one cyclopentane moiety. The Yenisei River watershed is characterized by large differences in MAT (>11 degrees C) as it spans a large latitudinal range (46-73 degrees N), which would be expected to be reflected in brGDGT distributions of its soils. However, the brGDGT distributions in its SPM show little variation. Furthermore, the reconstructed pH values are high compared to the watershed soil pH. We, therefore, hypothesize that the brGDGTs in the Yenisei River SPM are predominantly produced in situ and not primarily derived from erosion of soil. This accounts for the absence of a change in the temperature signal, as the river water temperature is more stable. Using a lake calibration, the reconstructed temperature values agree with the mean summer temperatures (MST) recorded. The brGDGTs delivered to the sea by the Yenisei River during this season are thus not soil-derived, possibly complicating the use of brGDGTs in marine sediments for palaeoclimate reconstructions

Role of subsea permafrost and gas hydrate in postglacial Arctic methane releases

The papers of this thesis are not available in Munin.<br>Paper I: 'Offshore permafrost decay and massive seabed methane escape in water depths > 20 m at the South Kara Sea shelf.' Alexey Portnov, Andrew J. Smith, Jürgen Mienert, Georgy Cherkashov, Pavel Rekant, Peter Semenov, Pavel Serov, Boris Vanshtein. Available in <a href=http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/grl.50735> Geophysical Research Letters, vol. 40, 1–6</a><br>Paper II: 'Modeling the evolution of climate-sensitive Arctic subsea permafrost in regions of extensive gas expulsion at the West Yamal shelf.' Alexey Portnov, Jurgen Mienert, Pavel Serov. Available in <a href=http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/2014JG002685> Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences, vol. 119, issue 11, 2014</a> <br>Paper III: 'Methane release from pingo-like features across the South Kara Sea shelf, an area of thawing offshore permafrost'. Pavel Serov, Alexey Portnov, Jurgen Mienert, Peter Semenov, Polina Ilatovskaya. (Manuscript). Published version available in <a href=http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/2015JF003467> Journal of Geophysical Research: Earth Surface, vol. 120, issue 8, 2015</a> <br>Paper IV: 'Ice-sheet driven methane storage and release in the Arctic.' Alexey Portnov, Sunil Vadakkepulyambatta, Jurgen Mienert, Alun Hubbard. (Manuscript)Greenhouse gas methane is contained as gas hydrate, an icy structure, under the seabed in enormous amounts of Arctic regions. West Svalbard continental margin, which we investigated here, is one of these regions. Also, in the Russian Kara Sea the subsea permafrost is acting as a cap for the gas to be released in the future. But continuous expulsions of methane have been already observed in both places. This study shows how the subsea permafrost in the Kara Sea, and gas hydrate systems offshore West Svalbard, have evolved from the last ice age to the present day. The conclusions are based on integrated field geophysical and gas-geochemical studies as well as modeling of permafrost, gas hydrate reservoirs and Barents Sea ice sheet dynamics. It shows that continuous permafrost of the Kara Sea is more fragile than previously thought. It is likely to be limited to the shallow water depths of 20 meters on this Arctic shelf region, allowing expulsions of methane from an area of 7500 sq km. Offshore Svalbard almost 2000 active and inactive gas expulsion sites are associated with melting of gas hydrate and thawing of shallow permafrost from past to present. Our research approach shows that natural climate drivers such as methane release can change and that they are connected to the ice sheet retreat since the last ice age. These processes triggered widespread seafloor gas discharge, observed in Arctic shelf and upper continental margins to this day

Drastic changes in the distribution of branched tetraether lipids in suspended matter and sediments from the Yenisei River and Kara Sea (Siberia): Implications for the use of brGDGT-based proxies in coastal marine sediment

The distribution of branched glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraethers (brGDGTs) in soils has been shown to correlate with pH and mean annual air temperature. Because of this dependence brGDGTs have found an application as palaeoclimate proxies in coastal marine sediments, based on the assumption that their distribution is not altered during the transport from soils to marine systems by rivers. To study the processes acting on the brGDGT distributions, we analysed the full suite of brGDGTs, including the recently described 6-Me brGDGTs, in both the suspended particulate matter (SPM) of the Siberian Yenisei River and the SPM and sediments of its outflow in the Kara Sea. The brGDGT distribution in the SPM of the Yenisei River was fairly constant and characterized by high abundances of the 6-Me brGDGTs, reflecting their production at the neutral pH of the river water. However, the brGDGT distribution showed marked shifts in the marine system. Firstly, in the Yenisei River Mouth, the fractional abundance of the 6-Me brGDGTs decreases sharply. The brGDGT signature in the Yenisei River Mouth possibly reflects brGDGTs delivered during the spring floods that may carry a different distribution. Also, coastal cliffs were shown to contain brGDGTs and to influence especially those sites without major river inputs (e.g. Khalmyer Bay). Further removed from the river mouth, in-situ production of brGDGTs in the marine system influences the distribution. However, also the fractional abundance of the tetramethylated brGDGT Ia increases, resulting in a distribution that is distinct from in-situ produced signals at similar latitudes (Svalbard). We suggest that this shift may be caused by preferential degradation of labile (riverine in-situ produced) brGDGTs and the subsequent enrichment in less labile (soil) material. The offshore distribution indeed agrees with the brGDGT distribution encountered in a lowland peat. This implies that the offshore Kara Sea sediments possibly carry a soil-dominated signal, indicating potential for palaeoclimate reconstructions at this site.Both in the river system and coastal cliffs, brGDGTs were much more abundant than crenarchaeol, an archaeal isoprenoid GDGT, resulting in high (>0.93) Branched and Isoprenoid Tetraether (BIT) index values. Moving downstream in the marine sediments, a decrease in brGDGT concentrations, coeval with an increase in crenarchaeol, resulted in decreasing BIT index values. This decrease correlates with changes in bulk proxies for terrigenous input (d13Corg, C/N), confirming the use of the BIT index to trace the delivery of river-transported and coastal cliff-derived terrigenous organic matter

Composition and Formation of Gabbro-Peridotite Hosted Seafloor Massive Sulfide Deposits from the Ashadze-1 Hydrothermal Field, Mid-Atlantic Ridge

This paper presents mineralogical and geochemical data on seafloor massive sulfides (SMS) from the Ashadze-1 hydrothermal field at the Mid-Atlantic Ridge (MAR). The Ashadze-1 deposit is associated with the uplifted lower crust and upper mantle (oceanic core complex, OCC) of the MAR segment characterized by asymmetric mode of accretion. The OCC is represented by deep-seated gabbro-peridotite rocks exhumed on the rift valley slope along the detachment fault, during seafloor spreading. Hydrothermal processes in OCC environments result in different deposit composition and morphology compared to basalt-hosted systems. Abundant chimneys and enrichment in particular metals, including copper, zinc, gold, cobalt and tin are typical for this type of SMS deposit. The Ashadze-1 deposit is considered an example of a hydrothermal system in the initial stage of evolution marked by the young age of the sulfides (<7.2 kyr). The mineralogy of Ashadze-1 reflects primary ore-forming processes unaffected by post formation alteration. We propose a model for the primary ore-forming hydrothermal process in an ultramafic-hosted environment on the modern seafloor

Arctic deep water ferromanganese-oxide deposits reflect the unique characteristics of the Arctic Ocean

Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2017. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems 18 (2017): 3771–3800, doi:10.1002/2017GC007186.Little is known about marine mineral deposits in the Arctic Ocean, an ocean dominated by continental shelf and basins semi-closed to deep-water circulation. Here, we present data for ferromanganese crusts and nodules collected from the Amerasia Arctic Ocean in 2008, 2009, and 2012 (HLY0805, HLY0905, and HLY1202). We determined mineral and chemical compositions of the crusts and nodules and the onset of their formation. Water column samples from the GEOTRACES program were analyzed for dissolved and particulate scandium concentrations, an element uniquely enriched in these deposits. The Arctic crusts and nodules are characterized by unique mineral and chemical compositions with atypically high growth rates, detrital contents, Fe/Mn ratios, and low Si/Al ratios, compared to deposits found elsewhere. High detritus reflects erosion of submarine outcrops and North America and Siberia cratons, transport by rivers and glaciers to the sea, and distribution by sea ice, brines, and currents. Uniquely high Fe/Mn ratios are attributed to expansive continental shelves, where diagenetic cycling releases Fe to bottom waters, and density flows transport shelf bottom water to the open Arctic Ocean. Low Mn contents reflect the lack of a mid-water oxygen minimum zone that would act as a reservoir for dissolved Mn. The potential host phases and sources for elements with uniquely high contents are discussed with an emphasis on scandium. Scandium sorption onto Fe oxyhydroxides and Sc-rich detritus account for atypically high scandium contents. The opening of Fram Strait in the Miocene and ventilation of the deep basins initiated Fe-Mn crust growth ∼15 Myr ago.National Science Foundation Grant Numbers: 1434493, 1713677; NSF-OCE Grant Number: 15358542018-05-0