Minor and trace element chemistry of Lake Baikal, its tributaries, and surrounding hot springs

Abstract

A Russian-American fieldwork effort on Lake Baikal, its tributaries, and surrounding hot springs was undertaken in June-July 1991. Here we report on aspects of major ion (Ca 2+, Mg2+, Na+, K+, Alk, Cl-, SOJ2-) and several minor and trace element (Li isotopes, Sr isotopes, Ba, Al, V, Cr, Ni, Cu, Ge, Cd, Hg, U) cycles. Our riverine data for major ions generally concur with the more extensive, time-averaged Russian database; for the most part the homogeneously distributed major ions appear to be at steady state and dominated by riverine throughputs in the lake. Exceptions include Mg2+, which may be removed to a small extent (I 15% of its riverine flux) by hydrothermal activity, and Na+ and Cl-, which seem to be impacted by pollution. Of the minor and trace elements, V also seems subject to anthropogenic disturbance. Other elements for which reliable data are available show conservative steadystate distributions (Li, Cr, Sr) or are subject to redistribution and removal within the lake (Ge, Al, Cu, Ni, Ba, U) as a result of involvement in a variety of particle cycling processes that tend to obscure non-natural influences. Chemical geothermometers for the four hot springs sampled (Smeyney, Khakuci, Kotelnikovski, Davsha) indicate subsurface reaction temperatures ranging from 70 to 150°C and converging to smaller ranges (5 15°C) for a given spring. Both depletions (Mg, Ba, Cu, Ni, Sr, U) and enrichments (Na, K, Cl, Li, Al, Gc, Sr, U) with respect to lake water were observed. Ge levels in spring waters are sufficiently enriched over lake waters that Ge could serve as a useful tracer of subaquatic hydrothermal waters. AcknowledgmentsWe thank E. Carmack, F! Salameh, R. Weiss, R. Williams, and N. Williams for assistance with sample collection and hydrographic work. We are grateful to the officers and crew of the RV Vereshchagin and RV Obruchev for help with all aspects of the fieldwork. Logistical support in Russia was provided by the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences with the invaluable help of M. Grachev and other members of the Limnological Institute of Irkutsk.

Determination of 56 Elements in Lake Baikal Water by High-Resolution ICP-MS with the Aid of a Tandem Preconcentration Method

“…It can be seen in Table 3 that the present results for most of the elements were coincident with reference data. However, the present results concerning the concentrations of Al, Pb, and Se were much higher than all of the reference data, while those of Cs, Zr, and Th were much lower than the results report by Grosheva et al 6 It is noted that the results concerning Al by Suturin et al 5 were higher than those by Falkner et al 4 …”

“…Variations of the concentrations of Fe, Zn, Cu, Pb, and Cd among different samples can be observed in Tables 1 and 2. However, the variations are still in the range of those reported by Falkner et al, 3,4 Suturin et al, 5 Grosheva et al 6 and Sugiyama et al 7 A comparison of the present results with reference data is summarized in Table 3. It can be seen in Table 3 that the present results for most of the elements were coincident with reference data.…”

“…However, the present results concerning Th were lower than that reported by Grosheva et al 6 by a factor of almost two orders of magnitude, which indicates that the result of Grosheva et al 6 might be affected by some contamination of Th. On the other hand, the maximum concentration of Cd observed by Falkner et al 4 was much higher than the minimum and those observed by other researchers. This could be attributed to the Cd contamination of some samples in the experiment by Falkner et al, 4 as mentioned in their paper.…”

“…The differences could be attributed to the different pretreatments of water samples. Falkner et al 4 measured Al after filtration with a filter of 0.2 mm pore size (no filtration for determination of other elements), while Suturin et al 5 used a filter of 0.45 mm pore size for filtration; filtration was not performed on the present samples. At the same time, the data of Sugiyama et al 7 showed that the concentration of Al in suspended particles was quite high.…”

Diurnal variations of trace metals and heterotrophic bacterioplankton concentration in a small boreal lake of the White Sea basin

“…Less in known about the fate of trace metals, except those involved in redox cycles linked to photoreduction that has been extensively investigated (McMahon, 1969;Emmenegger et al, 2001). There is a large body of literature on trace element geochemistry in temperate lakes (e.g., Hamilton-Taylor and Willis, 1990;Noel et al, 1990;Balistrieri, 1992;Viollier et al, 1995Viollier et al, , 1997Hamilton-Taylor et al, 1996Nriagu et al, 1996;Falkner et al, 1997;Albe´ric et al, 2000), including detailed seasonal observations. However the diurnal patterns of trace metal concentration remain poorly investigated.…”