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Arctic freshwater ostracods from modern periglacial environments in the Lena River Delta (Siberian Arctic, Russia): geochemical applications for palaeoenvironmental reconstructions

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Abstract

The aim of this study is to describe ostracods from freshwater habitats in the Siberian Arctic in order to estimate the present-day relationships between the environmental setting and the geochemical properties of ostracod calcite. A special focus is on the element ratios (Mg/Ca, Sr/Ca), and the stable isotope composition (δ18O, δ13C), in both ambient waters and ostracod calcite. The most common species are Fabaeformiscandona pedata and F. harmsworthi with the highest frequency in all studied waters. Average partition coefficients D(Sr) of F. pedata are 0.33 ± 0.06 (1σ) in females, and 0.32 ± 0.06 (1σ) in males. A near 1:1 relationship of δ18O was found, with a mean shift of Δmean = 2.2‰ ± 0.5 (1σ) to heavier values in ostracod calcite of F. pedata as compared to ambient waters. The shift is not dependent on δ18Owater, and is caused by metabolic (vital) and temperature effects. Temperature-dependence is reflected in the variations of this shift. For ostracod calcite of F. pedata a vital effect as compared to inorganic calcite in equilibrium was quantified with 1.4‰. Results of this study are valuable for the palaeoenvironmental interpretation of geochemical data of fossil ostracods from permafrost deposits.

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Acknowledgments

Fieldwork was performed in summer 2002 between 2nd of August and 3rd of September during the course of the LENA 2002 expedition of the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research under the auspices of the German–Russian Cooperation SYSTEM LAPTEV SEA, which was financially supported by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, Germany.

The authors thank the laboratory teams of the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) in Potsdam and Bremerhaven for general assistance during sample preparation and analysis, especially Ute Bastian, Antje Eulenburg and Beate Hollmann. Element analyses on ostracod calcite were performed at the Research Centre for Geosciences Potsdam (GFZ) with the support of Sabine Tonn and Jörg Erzinger. We also thank Claude Meisch (National Museum of Natural History Luxembourg) for guidance in taxonomical matters and his valuable comments on the manuscript, and Nicole Couture (McGill University, Montreal), who improved the readability of the manuscript. The paper benefited from constructive critics and suggestions made by David Horne (Queen Mary University of London) and one anonymous reviewer.

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  1. Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, Research Unit Potsdam, Telegrafenberg A43, 14473, Potsdam, Germany

    Sebastian Wetterich, Lutz Schirrmeister & Hanno Meyer

  2. Laboratoire de Paléolimnologie-Paléoecologie, Université Laval, Centre d’Études Nordique, Pavillon Abitibi-Price, G1K 7P4, Sainte-Foy, QC, Canada

    Finn Andreas Viehberg

  3. Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research Bremerhaven, Am Alten Hafen 26, 27568, Bremerhaven, Germany

    Andreas Mackensen

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Wetterich, S., Schirrmeister, L., Meyer, H. et al. Arctic freshwater ostracods from modern periglacial environments in the Lena River Delta (Siberian Arctic, Russia): geochemical applications for palaeoenvironmental reconstructions. J Paleolimnol 39, 427–449 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10933-007-9122-1

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