Arctic catchment as a sensitive indicator of the environmental changes: distribution and migration of metals (Svalbard)

Abstract

Arctic regions experience metal pollution, despite their remote location, and the distribution and migration of those metals determine their potential impact on the local environment. Here, a High-Arctic catchment (Revelva, Svalbard) located remotely from human-induced pollution sources is studied with respect to the distribution and migration of chosen trace elements (Ag, Al, As, B, Ba , the highest mean-weighted concentration noted for Sr (42.5 lg L -1 ). The concentrations in the river water were likely influenced by both natural and human-activity-related processes. These factors can produce substances of the same chemical composition (e.g. carbon dioxide, sulphur dioxide and metals may be emitted both by a volcanic eruption and by industrial sources). Therefore, chemometric techniques were used in the current paper to distinguish the multiple sources of pollution in the Revelva catchment. The authors were seeking to determine whether there is indeed evidence for contamination, sufficient to cause environmental damage in polar region. As a result, it was shown that the long-range transport could play an important role in shaping the metal concentration profile of this Arctic tundra environment, capturing both the influence of volcanic eruptions within the region and the human activity in a range of distances from the study site.

Spatial Differences in the Chemical Composition of Surface Water in the Hornsund Fjord Area: A Statistical Analysis with A Focus on Local Pollution Sources

“…The dataset used in this paper consists of both already published and unpublished data. The already published parts of this dataset were described in [8,10,11,16]. Kozak and others have elaborated on the pH, EC, and the concentrations of metals and metalloids, as well as the total organic carbon (TOC), measured as non-purgeable organic carbon (NPOC), in the catchments of Fuglebekken [10] and Revelva [11].…”

“…The already published parts of this dataset were described in [8,10,11,16]. Kozak and others have elaborated on the pH, EC, and the concentrations of metals and metalloids, as well as the total organic carbon (TOC), measured as non-purgeable organic carbon (NPOC), in the catchments of Fuglebekken [10] and Revelva [11]. Ntougias et al [8] report the data on metals and metalloids, surfactants, TOC, formaldehyde and total phenols concentrations in a subset of samples, the EC and pH of those, as well as the ion chemistry of those samples and their bacterial community (for both Fuglebekken and Revelva catchments, but only pertaining to eight samples with the full set of parameters measured).…”

“…Revelva is 5.3 km long (including the lake it passes through), and is predominantly fed by left tributaries, including the proglacial Ariebekken. Both catchments, in their lower parts, form an elevated marine terrace [10,11].…”

“…The vicinity of the Polish Polar Station (PSP) has been subject to multiple chemical studies of the surface waters [6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16]. Two streams in the vicinity of the PSP (Fuglebekken and Ariebekken in the Revelva catchment) are regularly monitored by the station crew for inorganic ion concentrations, pH and electrical conductivity (EC) (supervised by A. Nawrot; https://hornsund.igf.edu.pl/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Wykaz-monitoringu-geosystemuprowadzonego-w-Polskiej-Stacji-Polarnej-Hornsund.pdf).…”

Aluminium in glacial meltwater demonstrates an association with nutrient export (Werenskiöldbreen, Svalbard)

“…The maximal estimated Al yield delivered along with precipitation constituted 3–7% of the total Al yields from the Werenskiöldbreen basin (Table ). At the beginning of the ablation season, the concentration of Al in snow may be higher, and hence, the early melt season may contribute a slightly higher proportion of Al from precipitation (Kozak et al, ). A similar range of Al concentrations in precipitation was observed by (Lehmann et al, ) at Bellsund Fjord (Svalbard), which is situated ∼ 50 km to the north.…”