Hydrocarbons in Water and Bottom Sediments of the Norwegian–Barents Sea Basin

Abstract

The distribution of hydrocarbons (HCs): aliphatic–AHCs and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons–PAHs is examined in waters and bottom sediments sampled during cruises 75 and 80 of the R/V Akademik Mstislav Keldysh in 2019 and 2020 in the Norwegian–Barents Sea Basin: Mohns Ridge, shelf of the Svalbard Archipelago, Storfjord, Medvezhinsky trench, central part of the Barents Sea, Novaya Zemlya shelf, and Franz Victoria Trough. An increase in AHCs content, on average, up to 20–23 μg/L in the suspended particulate matter (SPM) in surface waters compared to those of 2016–2017 is caused by phytoplankton bloom near the ice edge. In bottom sediments, the distribution of AHCs (3–186 μg/g) and PAHs (3–9934 ng/g) depends not only on the sedimentation conditions and particle size composition of sediments, but also on the variability of redox conditions in the sedimentary sequence and molecular diffusion of HCs from productive horizons.