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Sediments from cryoconite holes and dirt cones on the surface of Svalbard glaciers: main chemical and physicochemical properties

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Abstract

The paper discussed the influence of the forms of sediment accumulation on the surface of glaciers on their chemical and physicochemical properties. The materials sampled from the surface of five glaciers of the Svalbard Archipelago was analyzed. We studied such forms of sediment accumulation as dirt cones - the ice core covered with sediments and cryoconite holes - hollows on the glacier surface containing cryoconite material. Parameters such as total organic carbon content, microbiological activity, pH, the content of mobile forms of potassium and phosphorus, and concentrations of heavy and trace metals were studied. Also, mesomorphological studies were carried out and the polydisperse composition of the sediments was determined. According to the results of this work, it was found that the content of organic carbon in the material selected from dirt cones and cryoconite holes can be up to 2.5%, but the content of clay particles in it is mainly at the 10–15% level. Potassium concentrations are up to 250 mg/kg, and phosphorus is up to 800 mg/kg. The content of metals is typical or lower than in the previously published data. The main influence on the chemical composition of materials has a geographical factor of the sampling site, rather than the form of material accumulation.

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Acknowledgements

The article is in honor of the 300th anniversary of St. Petersburg State University. Authors would also like to acknowledge Alena Lakhtionova for her help with the laboratory research.

Funding

This work was supported by Russian Foundation for Basic Research (project No 19-05-50107) “The role of microparticles of organic carbon in degradation of ice cover of polar regions of the Earth and in the process of soil-like bodies formation”.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Applied Ecology, Faculty of Biology, St. Petersburg State University, 16th Liniya V.O., 29, St. Petersburg, Russia, 199178

    Timur Nizamutdinov, Vyacheslav Polyakov & Evgeny Abakumov

  2. Russian Academy of Sciences, Institute of Geography, Moscow, Russia, 119017

    Bulat Mavlyudov

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  1. Timur Nizamutdinov
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  2. Bulat Mavlyudov
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  3. Vyacheslav Polyakov
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  4. Evgeny Abakumov
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Timur Nizamutdinov: Investigation, Formal analysis, Writing - Original Draft, Visualization. Bulat Mavlyudov: Resources, Data Curation, Investigation, Writing—Review & Editing. Vyacheslav Polyakov: Writing—Original Draft, Visualization. Evgeny Abakumov: Conceptualization, Methodology, Writing— Review & Editing, Supervision, Funding acquisition.

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Nizamutdinov, T., Mavlyudov, B., Polyakov, V. et al. Sediments from cryoconite holes and dirt cones on the surface of Svalbard glaciers: main chemical and physicochemical properties. Acta Geochim 42, 346–359 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11631-022-00586-3

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