Nutrient-Abundant Natural Waters of Arctic Mountain Tundra, North-Eastern Siberia
Natural waters of the spacious Arctic regions of Russia are studied insufficiently and they are still opened to the most important questions. This paper presents the results of in situ hydrochemical study of a small catchment in Arctic mountain tundra of the Koryak Highland, north-eastern Siberia, situated far from industrial centres and populated territories. The results showed a surprisingly high content of inorganic nutrients in natural waters— stream, swampy and rainy. For the basin main water collector—the Levtyrinyvayam River—it was as following (mM): NO3 – -N (134±66), NO2 – -N (1.1±0.4), NH4 + -N (11.1±5.6), PO4 3–-P (2.42±1.79) and K+ (31±36), indicating the intensive organic matter decomposition and the nutrient saturation in the local terrains. Specific conditions of the mountain ecosystem, i.e. contrast soils, and influence from shallow-lying permafrost resulted in the rate of the nutrients’ saturation of the waters. The results prove the great importance of organic matter and its derivatives in investigation of natural waters.
APHA (1992). Standard Methods for the Examination of Water and Wastewater, 18th ed. American Public Health Association, Washington D.C.
Baron, J.S., Caine, N., Sommerfield, R. and R. Sauford Jr. (1996). Nitrogen saturation in the Rocky Mountains. Environ. Sci. Technol., 30: 640-646.
Burns, D.A. (2004). The effects of atmospheric nitrogen deposition in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado and southern Wyoming, USA—A critical review. Environ. Poll., 127: 257-269.
Campbell, D.H., Kendall, C., Chang, C.C.Y., Silva, S.R. and K.A. Tonnessen (2002). Pathways for nitrate release from an alpine watershed: Determination using 15N and 18O. Wat. Resour. Res., 38: 2600-2612.
Gundersen, P. and V.N. Bashkin (1994). Nitrogen cycling. In: Moldan B., J. Èerný (eds), Biogeochemistry of Small Catchments, SCOPE 51. Wiley & Sons, 229-254 p.
Dittmar, T.H. and G. Kattner (2003). The biogeochemistry of the river and shelf ecosystem of the Arctic Ocean: A review. Mar. Chem., 83: 103-120.
Fenn, M.E., Poth, M.A., Aber, J.D., Baron, J.S., Bormann, B.T., Johnson, D.W., Lemly, A.D., McNulty, S.G., Ryan, D.F. and R. Stotlemyer (1998). Nitrogen excess in North American ecosystems: Predisposing factors, ecosystem responses, and management strategies. Ecol. Appl., 8: 706-733.
Hobbie, S.E. and F.S. Chapin III (1996). Winter regulation of tundra litter carbon and nitrogen dynamics. Biogeochemistry, 35: 327-338.
Holmes, A.M., Peterson, B.J., Gordeev, V.V., Zhulidov, A.V., Meybeck, M., Lammers R.B. and C.J. Vörösmarty (2000). Flux of nutrients from Russian rivers to the Arctic Ocean: Can we establish a baseline against which to judge future changes? Wat. Resour. Res., 36: 2309-2320.
Hood, E.W., Williams, M.W. and N. Caine (2003). Landscape controls on organic and inorganic nitrogen leaching across an Alpine/Subalpine Ecotone, Green Lakes Valley, Colorado Front Range. Ecosystems, 6: 31-45.
Gundersen, P., Emmett, B.A., Kjønaas, O.J., Koopmans, C. and A. Tietema (1998). Impact of nitrogen deposition on nitrogen cycling: A synthesis of NITREX data. For. Ecol. Manage., 101: 37-55.
Kendall, C. (1998). Tracing nitrogen sources and cycles in catchments. In: Kendall, C., J.J. McDonnell (eds), Isotope Tracers in Catchment Hydrology. Elsevier Science, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 519-576 p.
Lara, R.J., Rachold, V., Kattner, G., Hubberten, H.W., Guggenberger, G., Skoog, A. and D.N. Thomas (1998). Dissolved organic matter and nutrients in the Lena River, Siberian Arctic: characteristic and distribution. Mar. Chem., 59: 301-309.
Ley, R.E., Williams, M.W. and S.K. Schmidt (2004). Microbial population dynamics in an extreme environment: Controlling factors in talus soils at 3750 m in the Colorado Rocky Mountains. Biogeochemistry, 68: 313-335.
Meybeck, M. (1979). Concentrations des euax fluviales en éléments majeurs et apports en solution aux océans. Rev. Géol. Dynamique Géographie Physique, 21(3): 215-246.
Meybeck, M. (1993). Natural sources of C, N, P and S. In: Wollast, R., F.T. Mackenzie and L. Chou (eds), Interactions of C, N, P and S. Biogeochemical Cycles and Global Change. NATO ASI Ser. 14. Springer, Berlin-Heidelberg, 163-193 p.
Perelman, A.I. (1975). Geochemistry of Landscapes. 2nd ed. Vysshaya Shkola, Moscow (in Russian).
Perelman, A.I. (1982). Geochemistry of Natural Waters. Nauka, Moscow (in Russian).
Persson, T., Rudebeck, A., Jussy, J.H., Colin-Belgrand, M., Prieme, A., Dambrine, E., Karlsson, P.S. and R.M. Sjoberg (2000). Soil Nitrogen Turnover - Mineralisation, Nitrification and Denitrification in European forest soils. In: Schultze, E.-D. (ed.), Carbon and Nitrogen Cycling in European Forest Ecosystems. Ecol. Stud., 142. Springer, 332-342 p.
Post, W.M., Emanuel, W.R., Zinke, P.J. and A.G. Stangenberger (1982). Soil carbon pools and world life zones. Nature, 298: 156-159.
Project of Geo-Ecological Investigations in Catchments of the Rivers of Vetvey and Latyrinvayam for 1994-2004 (1994). AO Koryakgeoldobycha, Korf, 27 p.
Sickman, J.O., Leydecker, A., Chang, C.C.Y., Kendall, C., Melack, J.M., Lucero, D.M. and J. Scimel (2003). Mechanism underlying export of N from high-elevation catchments during seasonal transitions. Biogeochemistry, 64: 1-24.
Stottlemyer, R. (1992). Nitrogen mineralization and streamwater chemistry, Rock Creek Watershed, Denali National Park, Alaska, USA. Arctic Alpine Research, 24: 291-303.
Targulian, V.O. (1971). Formation of Soil and Weathering in Cold Humid Regions. Nauka, Moscow (in Russian).
Tsirkunov, V.V. (1998). Water quality monitoring system. In: Kimstach, V., M. Meybeck and E. Baroudy (eds.), A Water Quality Monitoring Assessment of the Former Soviet Union. Routledge, NY, 95-112 p.
USEPA (1983). Methods for Chemical Analysis of Water and Wastes. USEPA, EPA 6000/4-79-020.
Van Miegroet, H., Cole, D.W. and N.W. Foster (1992). Nitrogen distribution and cycling. In: Atmospheric Deposition and Forest Nutrient Cycling. Ecol. Stud., 91. Springer-Verlag, NY, 178-196 p.
Williams, M.W., Baron, J.S., Vaine, N., Sommerfeld, R. and R. Sanford Jr. (1996). Nitrogen saturation in the Rocky Mountains. Environ. Sci. Technol., 30: 640-646.
Zuboirova, Ye.V. and A.P. Neudachin (2001). Biogeochemical characterization of water streams of the Ket-Kap Range. In: Ivashov, P.V. (ed.), Biogeochemical and Hydrologic-Ecological Features of Ecosystems of the Amur River Catchment. 11. Dalnauka, Vladivostok, 131-138 p (in Russian).