Distribution, source and transportation of glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraethers in surface sediments from the western Arctic Ocean and the northern Bering Sea

Abstract

Isoprenoid and branched glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraethers (GDGTs) and grain size distribution were investigated in surface sediments from the western Arctic Ocean including the Chukchi Sea and the adjacent northern Bering Sea to understand their source and transportation in the Arctic region and test environmental proxies derived from the GDGT composition. Coarse sediments such as sand and silty sand are distributed in the Yukon and Mackenzie River estuaries, the northern Bering Sea near Bering Strait, and some areas of the outer shelf of the Bering Sea. In the Chukchi Sea, silt, grading fromsandy to clayey silt, predominates and becomes finer northward towards the deep Arctic Ocean Isoprenoid GDGTs are abundant on the outer shelf and slope of the Chukchi Sea and the upper slope of the Bering Sea. The higher abundances are attributed to a combination of higher production of marine Archaea (Thaumarchaeota) at the shelf edge, redeposition of GDGT-carrying fine particles, and better preservation of GDGTs at sites with higher sedimentation rates. The TEX_86- and TEX_86-^L derived temperatures are not consistent with sea surface temperatures in the study area, with unrealistically high TEX_86- and TEX_86-^L derived temperatures in samples north of 73 °N probably biased by factors other than temperature. Branched GDGTs are abundant on the Chukchi shelf and in the Yukon and Mackenzie River estuaries. At the shelf edge of the Chukchi Sea, both branched and isoprenoid GDGTs are abundant, indicating common concentration processes such as sediment redeposition and efficient preservation at sites with high sedimentation rates. Sediments from the western Arctic Ocean north of 75 °N, the Yukon and Mackenzie River estuaries, and the Yukon River have higher cyclization ratio of branched tetraethers (CBT) than sediments from the Chukchi and Bering Seas, suggesting two different sources of branched GDGTs inferred as soil and marine bacteria.