PARTICULATE MATERIAL COMPOSITION IN THE LENA RIVER-LAPTEV SEA SYSTEM: SCALES OF HETEROGENEITIES

Abstract

Values of particulate material parameters (VPP) are among the main factors determining the scale of terrigenous material alteration in the river–sea system, because they are extremely sensitive to the specificity of provenance rocks, exogenous transformations, and anthropogenic effects during mobilization and transfer. To study in detail the spatiotemporal heterogeneities of the VPP, the interdisciplinary expedition of the Vinogradov Institute of Geochemistry (Irkutsk) was carried out in summer 2003. The study region included for the first time a large area of the major course of the Lena River extending from its upper reaches (660th km from the mouth) to the prodelta in the Laptev Sea.