International Journal of Marine Science, 2017, Vol.7, No.26, 260-271
261
Fjords can be considered as one of the most important ecosystems which can indicate the changes in Arctic
environment. As the glacial melting and permafrost thawing increases, transboundary and highly persistent
pollutants are deposited into the sedimentary environment of these fjords. The presence of mercury in the Arctic
marine environment including fjords was already revealed (Gobeil et al., 1999; Sprovieri et al., 2005; Lu et al.,
2012; Liu et al., 2015). The terrestrially deposited mercury as well as historic mercury from the ice reservoir and
permafrost may finally reaches Fjords through streams/rivers (Amyot et al., 2009). Fjords are important link
between the terrestrial environment and Arctic Ocean and most of the released mercury may retain by the fjords
(Faganelli et al., 2003; Ruelas-Inzunza et al., 2009).
The environmental mobility and toxicological effects of mercury are high for organomercury species compared
with inorganic mercury forms in aquatic ecosystems (Lacerda and Fitzgerald, 2001). Besides the
physico-chemical conditions like pH, temperature, organic carbon etc., the formation of organic mercury are
influenced by the availability of inorganic mercury which in turn depends on the strength of bonding between
mercury and other elements (Hlodák et al., 2015). Hence fractionation and partitioning of mercury, become
significant as the total mercury concentration alone does not help in understanding the risk to organisms (Fytianos
and Lourantou, 2004; Rao et al., 2008; Sarica and Türker, 2012; Ramasamy et al., 2012; Frohne and Rinklebe,
2013). Selective extraction can therefore differentiate mercury compounds into fractions such as (a) water soluble
(F1), (b) ‘human stomach acid’ soluble (F2), (c) organo-chelated (F3), (d) elemental Hg (F4), and (e) mercuric
sulphide (F5) (Bloom et al., 2003; Kot, 2004; Boszke et al., 2006; Boszke et al., 2008). The present study assessed
the bioavailability of mercury by fractionation and distribution in the sediments in an Arctic fjord.
1 Materials and Methods
1.1 Study area
Kongsfjorden, an Arctic fjord in the North West coast of Spitsbergen in the Svalbard archipelago was selected for
the study. It is an established reference site for Arctic marine studies. The hydrography of Kongsfjorden is
influenced by Atlantic/Arctic waters and is an important feeding ground for marine mammals and seabirds. The
research activities are high in Kongsfjorden and have received a lot of research attention in the recent past as it is a
suitable site for exploring the impacts of possible climate changes, with the Atlantic water influx and melting of
tidal glaciers both linked to climate variability.
1.2 Sample collection and preservation
32 Sediment samples were collected from the Kongsfjorden using grab sampler (Figure 1). The sediments were
stored in pre cleaned glass bottles at -20
o
C in the marine lab, Ny-Ålesund and then transferred to India by cold
shipment for further analysis.
Figure 1 Sampling locations
