Search

Drilling of a 21.8-m-deep borehole on top of the 10.5-m-high Nori pingo that stands at 32 m asl in Grøndalen Valley (Spitsbergen) revealed a 16.1-m-thick massive ice enclosed by frozen sediments. The hydrochemical compositions of both the massive ice and the sediment extract show a prevalence of Na+ and Cl� ions throughout the core. The upper part of the massive ice (stage A) has low mineralization and shows an isotopically closed-system trend in δ18O and δD isotopes decreasing down-core. Stage B exhibits high mineralization and an isotopically semi-open system. The crystallographic structure of Nori pingo’s massive ice provides evidence of several large groundwater intrusions that support the defined formation stages. Analysis of local aquifers leads to suggest that the pingo was hydraulically sourced through a local fault zone by low mineralized sodium–bicarbonate groundwater of a Paleogene strata aquifer. This groundwater was enriched by sodium and chloride ions while filtering through marine valley sediments with residual salinity. The comparison between the sodium–chloride-dominated massive ice of the Nori pingo and the sodium–bicarbonate-dominated ice of the adjacent Fili pingo that stands higher up the valley may serve as an indicator for groundwater source patterns of other Nordenskiöld Land pingos.

This work summarizes the archived data of geocryological and hydrogeological conditions in the west of Nordenskiold Land on the Spitsbergen Archipelago. The historical data obtained in the Soviet period during coal exploration are reviewed together with the results of our own studies performed as part of the Russian Scientific Arctic Expedition on Spitsbergen (RAE-S) in 2016–2020. With respect to geocryology, the region is assigned to the zone of continuous permafrost. The thickness of rocks and sediments with temperatures below zero is about 100 m near the coast and increases to 540 m on watersheds. The mean annual ground temperature near the zero-amplitude depth varies from –3.6 to –2.2°C. Below this layer, the temperature curve in the top part of the section tends to deviate toward positive temperatures, reflecting the modern cycle of climate warming. From the hydrogeological point of view, the area belongs to the marginal zone of the West Spitsbergen cryoadartesian basin. Seawater intrusions near the coast form saline subpermafrost aquifers, including those with temperatures below zero, reflecting the seawater (sodium chloride) composition and hydraulic heads close to sea level. Fresh and slightly saline (sodium bicarbonate on the east coast of Grønfjorden and magnesium–calcium sulfate in gypsum-bearing deposits on the west coast) subpermafrost water with hydraulic heads reaching 100 m above sea level is fed by water-saturated ice in the deep layers of large glaciers.

Continental slopes north of the East Siberian Sea potentially hold large amounts of methane (CH4/in sediments as gas hydrate and free gas. Although release of this CH4 to the ocean and atmosphere has become a topic of discussion, the region remains sparingly explored. Here we present pore water chemistry results from 32 sediment cores taken during Leg 2 of the 2014 joint Swedish-Russian-US Arctic Ocean Investigation of Climate-Cryosphere-Carbon Interactions (SWERUS-C3) expedition. The cores come from depth transects across the slope and rise extending between the Mendeleev and the Lomonosov ridges, north of Wrangel Island and the New Siberian Islands, respectively. Upward CH4 flux towards the seafloor, as inferred from profiles of dissolved sulfate (SO42-), alkalinity, and the delta C-13 of dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC), is negligible at all stations east of 143 degrees E longitude. In the upper 8m of these cores, downward SO42- flux never exceeds 6.2 mol m(-2) kyr(-1), the upward alkalinity flux never exceeds 6.8 mol m(-2) kyr(-1), and delta C-13 composition of DIC (delta C-13-DIC) only moderately decreases with depth (3.6% m 1 on average). Moreover, upon addition of Zn acetate to pore water samples, ZnS did not precipitate, indicating a lack of dissolved H2S. Phosphate, ammonium, and metal profiles reveal that metal oxide reduction by organic carbon dominates the geochemical environment and supports very low organic carbon turnover rates. A single core on the Lomonosov Ridge differs, as diffusive fluxes for SO42- and alkalinity were 13.9 and 11.3 mol m(-2) kyr(-1), respectively, the delta C-13-DIC gradient was 5.6% m(-1), and Mn2+ reduction terminated within 1.3 m of the seafloor. These are among the first pore water results generated from this vast climatically sensitive region, and they imply that abundant CH4, including gas hydrates, do not characterize the East Siberian Sea slope or rise along the investigated depth transects. This contradicts previous mode

Late Quaternary paleoceanographic changes at the Lomonosov Ridge, central Arctic Ocean, were reconstructed from a multicore and gravity core recovered during the 2014 SWERUS-C3 Expedition. Ostracode assemblages dated by accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) indicate changing sea-ice conditions and warm Atlantic Water (AW) inflow to the Arctic Ocean from similar to 50 ka to present. Key taxa used as environmental indicators include Acetabulastoma arcticum (perennial sea ice), Polycope spp. (variable sea-ice margins, high surface productivity), Krithe hunti (Arctic Ocean deep water), and Rabilimis mirabilis (water mass change/AWinflow). Results indicate periodic seasonally sea-ice-free conditions during Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 3 (similar to 57-29 ka), rapid deglacial changes in water mass conditions (15-11 ka), seasonally sea-ice-free conditions during the early Holocene (similar to 10-7 ka) and perennial sea ice during the late Holocene. Comparisons with faunal records from other cores from the Mendeleev and Lomonosov ridges suggest generally similar patterns, although sea-ice cover during the Last Glacial Maximum may have been less extensive at the new Lomonosov Ridge core site (similar to 85.15 degrees N, 152 degrees E) than farther north and towards Greenland. The new data provide evidence for abrupt, large-scale shifts in ostracode species depth and geographical distributions during rapid climatic transitions.

The rates of subsea permafrost degradation and occurrence of gas-migration pathways are key factors controlling the East Siberian Arctic Shelf (ESAS) methane (CH4) emissions, yet these factors still require assessment. It is thought that after inundation, permafrost-degradation rates would decrease over time and submerged thaw-lake taliks would freeze; therefore, no CH4 release would occur for millennia. Here we present results of the first comprehensive scientific re-drilling to show that subsea permafrost in the near-shore zone of the ESAS has a downward movement of the ice-bonded permafrost table of similar to 14 cm year(-1) over the past 31-32 years. Our data reveal polygonal thermokarst patterns on the seafloor and gas-migration associated with submerged taliks, ice scouring and pockmarks. Knowing the rate and mechanisms of subsea permafrost degradation is a prerequisite to meaningful predictions of near-future CH4 release in the Arctic.

It has been suggested that increasing terrestrial water discharge to the Arctic Ocean may partly occur as submarine groundwater discharge (SGD), yet there are no direct observations of this phenomenon in the Arctic shelf seas. This study tests the hypothesis that SGD does exist in the Siberian Arctic Shelf seas, but its dynamics may be largely controlled by complicated geocryological conditions such as permafrost. The field-observational approach in the southeastern Laptev Sea used a combination of hydrological (temperature, salinity), geological (bottom sediment drilling, geoelectric surveys), and geochemical (Ra-224, Ra-223, Ra-228, and Ra-226) techniques. Active SGD was documented in the vicinity of the Lena River delta with two different operational modes. In the first system, groundwater discharges through tectonogenic permafrost talik zones was registered in both winter and summer. The second SGD mechanism was cryogenic squeezing out of brine and water-soluble salts detected on the periphery of ice hummocks in the winter. The proposed mechanisms of groundwater transport and discharge in the Arctic land-shelf system is elaborated. Through salinity vs. Ra-224 and Ra-224/Ra-223 diagrams, the three main SGD-influenced water masses were identified and their end-member composition was constrained. Based on simple mass-balance box models, discharge rates at sites in the submarine permafrost talik zone were 1.7 x 10(6) m(3) d(-1) or 19.9 m(3) s(-1), which is much higher than the April discharge of the Yana River. Further studies should apply these techniques on a broader scale with the objective of elucidating the relative importance of the SGD transport vector relative to surface freshwater discharge for both water balance and aquatic components such as dissolved organic carbon, carbon dioxide, methane, and nutrients.

It has been suggested that increasing freshwater discharge to the Arctic Ocean may also occur as submarine groundwater discharge (SGD), yet there are no direct observations of this phenomenon in the Arctic shelf seas. This study tests the hypothesis that SGD does exist in the Siberian-Arctic shelf seas but its dynamics may be largely controlled by complicated geocryological conditions such as permafrost. The field-observational approach in the southeast Laptev Sea used a combination of hydrological (temperature, salinity), geological (bottom sediment drilling, geoelectric surveys) and geochemical (224Ra, 223Ra and 222Rn) techniques. Active SGD was documented in the vicinity of the Lena River delta with two different operational modes. In the first system, groundwater discharges through tectonogenic permafrost talik zones was registered in both wintertime and summertime seasons. The second SGD mechanism was cryogenic squeezing out of brine and water-soluble salts detected on the periphery of ice hummocks in the wintertime season. The proposed mechanisms of groundwater transport and discharge in the arctic land-shelf system is elaborated. Through salinity versus 224Ra and 224Ra/223Ra diagrams, the three main SGD-influenced water masses were identified and their end-member composition was constrained. Further studies should apply these techniques to a broader scale with the objective to reach an estimate of the relative importance of the SGD transport vector relative to surface freshwater discharge for both the water balance and aquatic components such as dissolved organic carbon, carbon dioxide, methane, and nutrients.

Surface heat flow data in the Arctic Ocean are needed to assess hydrocarbon and methane hydrate distributions, and provide constraints into the tectonic origins and nature of underlying crust. However, across broad areas of the Arctic, few published measurements exist. This is true for the outer continental shelf and slope of the East Siberian Sea, and the adjoining deep water ridges and basins. Here we present 21 new surface heat flow measurements from this region of the Arctic Ocean. On the Southern Lomonosov Ridge, the average measured heat flow, uncorrected for effects of sedimentation and topography, is 574 mW/m(2) (n=4). On the outer continental shelf and slope of the East Siberian Sea (ESS), the average is 5710 mW/m(2) (n=16). An anomalously high heat flow of 20328 mW/m(2) was measured at a single station in the Herald Canyon. With the exception of this high heat flow, the new data from the ESS are consistent with predictions for thermally equilibrated lithosphere of continental origin that was last affected by thermotectonic processes in the Cretaceous to early Cenozoic. Variability within the data likely arises from differences in radiogenic heat production within the continental crust and overlying sediments. This can be further explored by comparing the data with geophysical constraints on sediment and crustal thicknesses.

The hypothesis of a km-thick ice shelf covering the entire Arctic Ocean during peak glacial conditions was proposed nearly half a century ago. Floating ice shelves preserve few direct traces after their disappearance, making reconstructions difficult. Seafloor imprints of ice shelves should, however, exist where ice grounded along their flow paths. Here we present new evidence of ice-shelf groundings on bathymetric highs in the central Arctic Ocean, resurrecting the concept of an ice shelf extending over the entire central Arctic Ocean during at least one previous ice age. New and previously mapped glacial landforms together reveal flow of a spatially coherent, in some regions41-km thick, central Arctic Ocean ice shelf dated to marine isotope stage 6 (similar to 140 ka). Bathymetric highs were likely critical in the ice-shelf development by acting as pinning points where stabilizing ice rises formed, thereby providing sufficient back stress to allow ice shelf thickening.