Alexey A Klyuvitkin

Vertical Fluxes of Dispersed Sedimentary Matter, Absolute Masses of the Bottom Sediments, and Rates of Modern Sedimentation

A new approach using dispersed sedimentary matter of the water column captured by sediment traps in comparison with its consolidated form (surface layer of the bottom sediments) was applied to study sedimentation in the White Sea. The results of long-term investigations in a small sea of the Arctic Ocean served as a basis for revealing new regularities characteristic of the sedimentary process in the Subarctic and Arctic zones. The monthly, seasonal, and multiyear dynamics of the main components of dispersed sedimentary matter fluxes were analyzed by defining the marine sedimentation stage. It was shown that the biogenic constituents of the particle flux while its transition from the dispersed form to consolidated one decreased by an order of magnitude. The average values of the vertical flux were calculated including the total sedimentary flux and the contribution of main biogenic and lithogenic constituents per m2 of the bottom area of the White Sea.

Suspended Particulate Matter as a Main Source and Proxy of the Sedimentation Processes

The material for our study was collected in the White Sea during 22 interdisciplinary expeditions organized by the Shirshov Institute of Oceanology, Russian Academy of Sciences (IO RAS), in 2000–2014. The researches were carried out mostly in June–August; however we have some samples for autumn–winter and early spring seasons. Here, we report the concentration of suspended particulate matter (SPM), its composition and properties, as well as their changes due to natural zoning and local conditions. This paper discusses the features in the distribution of SPM concentration, grain-size, mineral, and major phase composition. As far as possible, we involved our own and other published data on hydrology, bottom morphology, and particulate and dissolved river runoff from the catchment area, abundance and composition of marine phyto- and bacterioplankton. This new knowledge has been used to describe particles dispersion system of the White Sea, which forms a giant reservoir of micro- and nanoparticles, using terms adopted in sedimentology and oceanography.

Vertical Fluxes of Suspended Sedimentary Matter in Arctic Sedimentogenesis of Intracontinental Seas

Based on long-term studies of a small sea in the Arctic Ocean, new regularities in the sedimentary process under the conditions of Arctic sedimentogenesis were established. The quantitative transition of particulate sedimentary materials into the concentrated forms (bottom sediments) in the White Sea follows the linear dependence with a local maximum in the deep nepheloid layer. Marginal filters (Severnaya Dvina River, etc.), which are areas of ultrarapid sedimentation, were distinguished. The long-term data on the concentration of suspension and fluxes of particulate sedimentary material clearly indicate stable annual nepheloid layers, i.e., the distribution of particulate forms of sedimentary material (suspension) in the water column proceeds by new regularities, which may be distinguished ever more clearly.