Hydrochemical Conditions at the Lena River in August 2018

Георгиади, А. Г.; Tananaev, Nikita; Dukhova, L. A.

doi:10.1134/s0001437019050072

Cited by 4 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 5 publications

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“…For the Lena River main stem, there are several occasional measurements of the major river solutes in the middle course obtained during summer baseflow. During spring flood in June, we observed generally lower concentrations of Si (less than a factor of 2) compared to July-August period [27], and also lower (less than x 2) concentrations of Ca, Mg, Sr, SO4 but comparable concentrations of Na and Cl to those reported in the Yakutks-Kyusur region [29]. The Kyusur gauging state average Ba concentration 18 µg L -1 , [57]) is comparable with our data for the Lena main stem in the Yakutsk region.…”

Section: Comparison With Other Data On Element Concentration In the Lena River And Its Tributariessupporting

confidence: 51%

“…The Lena River of Central and Eastern Siberia is located almost entirely within a permafrost zone, exhibits the highest seasonal variation in water flow, and demonstrates annual discharge increase over past decades [7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15]. Among all the solutes transported by the Lena River water, organic carbon received most attention [16][17][18][19][20][21][22] although some information on general hydrochemistry is also available [23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30]. Most recently, novel isotopic approaches were applied for nutrients [31] and trace metals such as Li [32] and Fe [33].…”

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confidence: 99%

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Testing Landscape, Climate and Lithology Impact on Carbon, Major and Trace Elements of the Lena River and Its Tributaries During a Spring Flood Period

Vorobyev¹,

Kolesnichenko²,

Korets³

et al. 2021

Preprint

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Transport of carbon, major and trace element by rivers in permafrost-affected regions is one of the key factor of circumpolar aquatic ecosystem response to climate warming and permafrost thaw. While seasonal and annual export fluxes (yields) of carbon (C) and inorganic solutes are fairly well known for all large Arctic rivers, spatial variations in elementary concentration along the river length and among its tributaries remain poorly understood. Moreover, the landscape factors controlling riverine element concentration in permafrost-affected regions are still poorly constrained. This is especially true for the largest river of Eastern Siberia, the Lena River, which drains through continuous permafrost zones with highly variable lithology and vegetation. Here we present the results of C, major and trace element measurements over a 2600-km transect of the Lena River main stem (upper and middle reaches) including its 30 tributaries, conducted at the peak of the spring flood. There were two main group of solutes in the main stem depending on their spatial pattern: i) elements that decreased their concentrations downstream, from SW to NE (Cl, SO4, DIC, Li, B, Na, Mg, K, Ca, As, Sr, Mo, Sb, Ba and U), which probably reflected a decrease in the proportion of carbonate rocks in the watershed and the degree of groundwater feeding, and ii) elements that increased their concentrations downstream (Al, Ti, Cr, Fe, Ga, Rb, Y, Zr, Nb, Cs, REEs, Hf and Th), which was tentatively linked to an increase in organic C stock in soils, larch forest coverage and enhanced mobilization of lithogenic elements from silicate soil minerals. Based on landscape parameters of Lena tributaries, we tested the impact of major environmental factors on major and trace element spatial pattern. Among all the variables, the proportion of sporadic permafrost on the watershed strongly controlled concentrations of soluble highly mobile elements (Cl, B, DIC, Li, Na, K, Mg, Ca, Sr, Mo, As and U). Another important factor of element concentration control in the Lena River tributaries was the coverage of watershed by light (B, Cl, Na, K, U) and deciduous (Fe, Ni, Zn, Ge, Rb, Zr, La, Th) needle-leaf forest (pine and larch). The latter, however, could also reflect the DOC-enhanced transport of low-soluble trace elements in the NW part of the basin. This part of the basin is dominated by silicate rocks and continuous permafrost, as compared to carbonate rock-dominated and groundwater-affected SW part of the Lena River basin. Overall, the impact of rock lithology and permafrost on major and trace solutes of the Lena River basin during the peak of spring flood was mostly detected at the scale of the main stem. Such an impact for tributaries was much less pronounced, because of the dominance of surface flow and lower hydrological connectivity with deep groundwater in the latter. Future changes in the river water chemistry linked to climate warming and permafrost thaw at the scale of the whole river basin are likely to be linked to changes in spatial pattern of dominant vegetation, rather than to the permafrost regime. We argue that comparable studies of large, permafrost-impacted rivers during most contrasting seasons, including winter baseflow, should allow efficient prediction of future changes in riverine ‘inorganic’ hydrochemistry induced by permafrost thaw.

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Section: Comparison With Other Data On Element Concentration In the Lena River And Its Tributariessupporting

confidence: 51%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Testing Landscape, Climate and Lithology Impact on Carbon, Major and Trace Elements of the Lena River and Its Tributaries During a Spring Flood Period

Vorobyev¹,

Kolesnichenko²,

Korets³

et al. 2021

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…As for the Lena River main stem, there are several occasional measurements of the major river solutes in the middle course obtained during summer baseflow. During spring flood in June, we observed generally lower concentrations of Si (less than a factor of 2) compared to the July-August period [26], and also lower (less than × 2) concentrations of Ca, Mg, Sr, SO 4 but comparable concentrations of Na and Cl to those reported in the Yakutks-Kyusur region [28]. The Kyusur gauging state average Ba concentration 18 µg L −1 , [56]) is comparable with our data for the Lena main stem in the Yakutsk region.…”

Section: Comparison With Other Data On Element Concentration In the Lena River And Its Tributariessupporting

confidence: 50%

“…Note that such a difference in Si concentration between two seasons is not observed for the main stem, presumably due to lower transparency of the water column and lower availability of solid surfaces, required for siliceous plankton and periphyton development in the summer. A nutrient limitation of the big river relatively to headwater streams may also contribute to lower uptake of Si in the main steam during the baseflow [16,28,30]. Additional sources of dissolved Si in the main stem could be dissolution of river suspended matter, which is highest during the high flow, as is known from other permafrost settings [41].…”

Section: Comparison With Other Data On Element Concentration In the Lena River And Its Tributariesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The Lena River of Central and Eastern Siberia is located almost entirely within a permafrost zone; it exhibits the highest seasonal variation in water flow, and demonstrates an annual discharge increase over recent decades [7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15]. Among all the solutes transported by the Lena River water, organic carbon has received most attention [16][17][18][19][20][21][22] although information on general hydrochemistry is also available [23][24][25][26][27][28][29]. Most recently, novel isotopic approaches were applied for nutrients [30] and trace metals such as Li [31] and Fe [32].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Testing Landscape, Climate and Lithology Impact on Carbon, Major and Trace Elements of the Lena River and Its Tributaries during a Spring Flood Period

Vorobyev

Kolesnichenko

Korets

et al. 2021

Water

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Transport of carbon, major and trace elements by rivers in permafrost-affected regions is one of the key factors in circumpolar aquatic ecosystem response to climate warming and permafrost thaw. A snap-shot study of major and trace element concentration in the Lena River basin during the peak of spring flood revealed a specific group of solutes according to their spatial pattern across the river main stem and tributaries and allowed the establishment of a link to certain landscape parameters. We demonstrate a systematic decrease of labile major and trace anion, alkali and alkaline-earth metal concentration downstream of the main stem of the Lena River, linked to change in dominant rocks from carbonate to silicate, and a northward decreasing influence of the groundwater. In contrast, dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and a number of low-soluble elements exhibited an increase in concentration from the SW to the NE part of the river. We tentatively link this to an increase in soil organic carbon stock and silicate rocks in the Lena River watershed in this direction. Among all the landscape parameters, the proportion of sporadic permafrost on the watershed strongly influenced concentrations of soluble highly mobile elements (Cl, B, DIC, Li, Na, K, Mg, Ca, Sr, Mo, As and U). Another important factor of element concentration control in the Lena River tributaries was the coverage of the watershed by light (for B, Cl, Na, K, U) and deciduous (for Fe, Ni, Zn, Ge, Rb, Zr, La, Th) needle-leaf forest (pine and larch). Our results also suggest a DOC-enhanced transport of low-soluble trace elements in the NW part of the basin. This part of the basin is dominated by silicate rocks and continuous permafrost, as compared to the carbonate rock-dominated and groundwater-affected SW part of the Lena River basin. Overall, the impact of rock lithology and permafrost on major and trace solutes of the Lena River basin during the peak of spring flood was mostly detected at the scale of the main stem. Such an impact for tributaries was much less pronounced, because of the dominance of surface flow and lower hydrological connectivity with deep groundwater in the latter. Future changes in the river water chemistry linked to climate warming and permafrost thaw at the scale of the whole river basin are likely to stem from changes in the spatial pattern of dominant vegetation as well as the permafrost regime. We argue that comparable studies of large, permafrost-affected rivers during contrasting seasons, including winter baseflow, should allow efficient prediction of future changes in riverine ‘inorganic’ hydrochemistry induced by permafrost thaw.

show abstract