Publications Repository - Gdańsk University of Technology

Permafrost regions are under particular pressure from climate change resulting in widespread landscape changes, which impact also freshwater chemistry. We investi- gated 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. Partic- ular 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-HCO3-Cl-SO 4 ionic water type (with mineralisation in the range 600–800 mg L1 ), 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 we have detected dissolved Ti. In thermokarst lakes, several metal and metalloid dis- solved 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 L1 Cu, 4610 μg L1 Mn, and 687 μg L1 Zn in the bottom water layers. Permafrost-related waters were also enriched in dissolved phosphorus (up to 512 μg L1 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.

Authors

• Dr Danuta Szumińska,
• dr Kozioł Krystyna,
• Prof. Sergey R. Chalov,
• Vasilii A. Efimov,
• Marcin Frankowski link open in new tab ,
• Dr Sara Lehmann-konera,
• prof. dr hab. inż. Żaneta Polkowska link open in new tab