Trace Elements and Organic Carbon in Benthic Organisms and Bottom Sediments of the East-Siberian Sea

Abstract

First data on the concentrations of a number of trace elements and carbon (organic and carbonate) in the components of the bottom ecosystem of the East Siberian Sea have been obtained. The distribution of a large group of trace elements (Sc, Ti, V, Cr, Mn, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, As, Cd, Mo, Ag, Ba, Tl, Pb, Bi, Th and U) in mass taxa of benthic organisms, including bivalvia Portlandia arctica; crustacean Isopod (Saduria sibirica, Saduria sabini), echinoderms Ophiuroidea Ophiocten sericeum, and Holothuroidea Myriotrochus rinkii, was studied. The role of abiotic and biotic factors in the accumulation of chemical elements in benthic organisms was estimated. The lithological and geochemical characteristics of host bottom sediments, primarily, the organic carbon content and the grain-size composition, reflect the influence of abiotic factors. The biotic factor is responsible for the geochemical properties of trace elements, the level of organic carbon in organisms, and their feeding type. For the first time, a comparative assessment of the levels of organic carbon accumulation in mass taxa and host bottom sediments was made, and an important sedimentological function of detritophages and deposit feeders organisms was shown.