Input of terrestrial organic matter linked to deglaciation increased mercury transport to the Svalbard fjords

Abstract

Deglaciation has accelerated the transport of minerals as well as modern and ancient organic matter from land to fjord sediments in Spitsbergen, Svalbard in the European Arctic Ocean. Consequently, such sediments may contain significant levels of total mercury (THg) bound to terrestrial organic matter. The present study compared THg contents in surface sediments from three fjord settings in Spitsbergen: Hornsund in the southern Spitsbergen, which has high annual volume of loss glacier and receives sediment from multiple tidewater glaciers, Dicksonfjorden in the central Spitsbergen, which receives sediment from glacifluvial rivers, and Wijdefjorden in the northern Spitsbergen, which receive sediments from a mixture of tidewater glaciers and glacifluvial rivers. Our results suggested that the THg (52 ± 15 ng g-1) bound to organic matter (OM) was the highest in the Hornsund surface sediments, where the glacier loss (0.44 km3 yr-1) and organic carbon accumulation rates (9.3 ~ 49.4 g m-2 yr-1) were elevated compared to other fjords. Furthermore, the δ13C (27 ~ 24‰) and δ34S values (10 ~ 15‰) of OM indicated that most of OM were originated from terrestrial sources. Thus, the temperature-driven glacial melting could release more OM originating from the meltwater or terrestrial materials, which are available for THg binding in the European Arctic fjord ecosystems.