Characterization of organic matter in bottom sediments of Ivashkina Lagoon, Laptev Sea

Abstract

Here we present lithological and geochemical characteristics of the core drilled in coastal part of the Laptev Sea (Ivashkina Lagoon, Bykovsky Peninsula). It is shown that for sediments accumulated in specific lagoon conditions the increased content of organic carbon is confined to fine-grained lacustrine and lagoonal sediments in the uppermost layers. Pyrolytic analysis results indicate a sharp variability in the content of total organic carbon and volatile organic compounds across the studied horizons. The distribution of n-alkanes is characterized by the dominance of high molecular weight homologues, which indicates the ubiquitous contribution of higher terrestrial vegetation discharged with river and coastal thermo abrasion fluxes to the organic matter of bottom sediments.