Lithogeochemistry of Silty–Pelitic Bottom Sediments in the Southwestern Kara Sea

Abstract

Lithogeochemical characteristics of the pelitic and silty–pelitic bottom sediment samples, collected during Cruise 89 of the R/V Akademik Mstislav Keldysh (September 2022), from several areas in the southwestern Kara Sea (Baidaratsk Bay, Pukhuchansk Depression, West Kara Step, and Novaya Zemlya Depression) are discussied. It has been established that the muds contain a significant proportion of the lithogenic component. This conclusion agrees well with the localization of sediment data points on various discriminant diagrams near the reference points of average Paleozoic graywackes and PAAS. Such component could be sourced either from the fine-grained suspended particulates of the Ob River or from the sedimentary rocks and friable sediments of the Yamal and Yugra Peninsulas, Vaigach, and Novaya Zemlya. Although the upper layer of bottom sediments in the southwestern Kara Sea contains a noticeable amount of the mafic igneous rock fragments from Novaya Zemlya, which should make a significant contribution to their erosion products in the mud composition, parameters of the chondrite-normalized REE distribution in the sediments are inconsistent with such assumption.