Abstract
River discharge has an important influence on the chemistry of Arctic shelf seas and surface waters. In this study, we examined the changes in nutrient, trace metal, dissolved organic matter, dissolved inorganic carbon, alkalinity, and radium isotope distributions across the Mackenzie River delta and estuary in June 2016, and estimated trace element and isotopes fluxes from the Mackenzie River to the Western Arctic Ocean. While inorganic nutrient, dissolved inorganic carbon, alkalinity, trace metal, and radium levels remained fairly constant through the delta, dissolved organic matter concentrations were 2–3.5 times higher at the mouth of the river, reflecting inputs from the delta. In the estuarine mixing zone, radium isotope ratios indicated that both desorption from suspended sediments and benthic inputs affected solute concentrations. Similarly, most of the measured trace metals (Ba, Co, Cu, Mn, Ni) exhibited non-conservative addition in the freshwater-saltwater transition zone, while Pb was removed and U was mixed conservatively. Inorganic nutrients were affected by both addition and removal processes in the estuary. Dissolved inorganic carbon and alkalinity exhibited net removal, likely due to a combination of biological uptake, gas exchange, CaCO3 precipitation, and surface ion exchange processes. Approximately 45% and 60% of dissolved organic carbon and nitrogen, respectively, were removed rapidly at low salinities, in contrast with previous studies suggesting conservative mixing through Arctic estuaries. This study highlights the need to take deltaic and estuarine processes into account when determining the flux of riverine solutes to the coastal ocean.
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Acknowledgments
This work could not have been completed without the sampling assistance of Les Kutny in Tsiigehtchic, the sampling assistance of James Keevik in Tukoyaktuk, and the logistical support of the Aurora Research Institute. We appreciate the support of the members of the Arctic Great Rivers Observatory, and we thank Les Kutny for collecting time series samples at Tsiigehtchic and Edda Mutter for collecting time series samples at Pilot Station. We thank the WHOI Nutrient Analytical Facility for nutrient analyses; Gretchen Swarr and the WHOI Plasma Mass Spectrometry Facility for trace metal analyses; Anya Suslova and the Woods Hole Research Center for analyzing DOC and DON; Kate Morkeski, Eyal Wurgaft, and Shuzhen Song for measuring DIC and alkalinity; David Wellwood for measuring salinity; and Elvira Delgado and the UC Davis Stable Isotope Facility for water isotope analyses. Thanks to Jessica Dabrowski for assistance with ICP analyses and for creating the ArcGIS maps, Tristan Horner and Maureen Auro for sharing the trace element ICP standard and for helpful advice on ICP procedures, and Bernhard Peucker-Ehrenbrink for lending us the equipment used to collect suspended sediment samples, sharing his SLRS-6 CRM, and for thoughtful discussions. This project was funded by a Graduate Student Research Award from the North Pacific Research Board and a Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Ocean Ventures Fund Award to L.E.K, and NSF award OCE-1458305 to M.A.C. This research was conducted with Government support under and awarded by DoD, Air Force Office of Scientific Research, National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate (NDSEG) Fellowship awarded to L.E.K., 32 CFR 168a.
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Kipp, L.E., Henderson, P.B., Wang, Z.A. et al. Deltaic and Estuarine Controls on Mackenzie River Solute Fluxes to the Arctic Ocean. Estuaries and Coasts 43, 1992–2014 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12237-020-00739-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12237-020-00739-8