Chemical Elements Concentration, Variations in Mineral Composition, and Current Rate of Sedimentation in Sapropel Deposits of Small Lakes in the Taiga Zone of Southern Siberia

Abstract

––We studied the bottom sediments of lake systems located in the taiga landscape of Siberia. In the south of Western Siberia, there are 11 lakes in the subzone of the south taiga and 9 lakes in the subtaiga subzone. On the territory of the south of Eastern Siberia in the taiga zone there are 10 lakes on the southern coast of Lake Baikal, 5 lakes on its east coast and 6 lakes are located on the territory of the national park “Alkhanai” in Transbaikalia. Studies of the chemical composition of water, soil, and sediment samples were conducted at the Analytical Center for Multi-Elemental and Isotope Research SB RAS, Novosibirsk. The use of a complex of modern analytical methods in the study of the same lake samples made it possible to obtain more reliable information (1861 samples of bottom sediment were studied). Quartz and feldspars of pelitic dimension dominate in the mineral composition of the terrigenous fraction, organic matter and authigenic minerals (opal, pyrite, illite and sometimes calcite) are added to them during the bottom sediments formation. The absolute contents of the studied elements in the bottom sediments of all lakes are lower than their concentrations in the upper continental crust and sedimentary rocks of the Russian Plate, with the exception of Si, Hg, Cd. In the lakes of the subtaiga of the south of Western Siberia, an exception was established for Ca in the bottom sediments of which carbonates predominate. Contents variations of a number of elements in the bottom sediments of taiga lakes in different regions do not significantly differ. The dispersion of their concentrations between lakes with a total catchment area and lakes from different regions are comparable (Ca, Sr, Al, Mn, Fe, Cd, Hg, etc.). The current sedimentation rate in natural occurrence in the lakes of the taiga zone (southern Siberia) vary from 1.1 to 2.9 mm/year. Moreover, it is comparable to the current sedimentation rate in the lakes of the forest-steppe and steppe zones of south of Western Siberia.