Russian-German Cooperation: The Expedition TAYMYR 1 SEVERNAYA ZEMLYA 1996 Edited by Martin Melles, Birgit Hagedorn and Dmitri Yu. Bolshiyanov with contributions of the participants Ber. Polarforsch. 237 (1997) ISSN 01 76 - 5027 RUSSIAN-GERMAN COOPERATION: THE EXPEDITION TAYMYRISEVERNAYA ZEMLYA 1996 Edited by M. Melles. B . Hagedorn and D . Yu . Bolshiyanov Content Page 1 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................ 3 1.1 Objectives ............................................................................................... 3 1.2 Itinerary ................................................................................................... 5 1.2.1 Taymyr Peninsula ............................................................................ 5 1.2.2 Severnaya Zemlya Archipelago ................................................... 7 2 INVESTIGATIONS ON THE TAYMYR PENINSULA ........................... 9 2.1. Radioecological Studies ..................................................................... 9 2.2 Pedological and Biological Studies .................................................. 10 2.2.1 Mapping of Soils and Patterened Grounds ................................. 10 2.2.1. 1 Soils ............................................................................................... 10 2.2.1.2 Patterned Ground ........................................................................14 2.2.2 Carbon Pools and Soil Organic Matter ........................................ 22 2.2.2.1 Primary Production...................................................................... 22 2.2.2.2 Decomposition of Plant Residues and Soil Organic Matter 25 2.2.3 Mapping for Remote Sensing of Vegetation Coverage ............ 28 2.2.4 Microbial Activity ...............................................................................30 2.2.4.1 Aerob Carbon Fluxes ..................................................................30 2.2.4.2 Methane Emissions .....................................................................35 2.2.4.3 Microbial Habitat ..........................................................................44 2.2.5 Soil Micromycetes ............................................................................46 2.2.5.1 Micromycetes at Levinson-Lessing Lake ................................47 2.2.5.2 Micromycetes at Khatanga River ..............................................49 2.2.6 Further Planning ...............................................................................50 2.3 Hydrological and Sedimentological Studies ................................... 50 2.3.1 Microrelief and Temporal Variations in Active Layer Depths ... 52 2.3.2 Hydrological Processes in the Active Layer .................................57 2.3.3 Hydrology and Suspension Transport in the Krasnaya River .. 58 2.3.4 Hydrology of Surface Waters and of Levinson-Lessing Lake .. 61 2.3.5 Modern Sedimentation in Levinson-Lessing Lake .....................64 2.3.6 Methane Biogeochemistry in Levinson-Lessing Lake ............... 67 2.4 Sub-bottom Profiling in Levinson-Lessing and Taymyr Lakes ..... 70 2.4.1 Objectives ...........................................................................................70 2.4.2 Methodology ......................................................................................71 2.4.3 Field Work ...........................................................................................72 2.4.4 Preliminary Results ...........................................................................75 Studies of Late Quaternary Sediments and Geocryology .......... 79 Introduction ......................................................................................79 Sedimentological and Stratigraphical Studies ......................... 80 Reconnaissance Tour in the Byrranga Mountains .............. 80 The Ledyanaya Marine Sections ........................................... 81 Sedimentology and Stratigraphy of Cape Sabler ............... 86 Permafrost Landscapes and Geocryology of Cape Sabler .... 89 Methode ....................................................................................... 89 Investigation Area ...................................................................... 90 Cryolithology Features of the Sequences ............................. 93 Preliminary Results .................................................................... 97 Geomorphological Studies ................................................................ 97 Route from Schel' Lake to Bolshaya Bootankaga River ......... 97 Bank Dynamics in the Krasnaya River Estuary ......................... 99 Studies of Terrace Levels at Levinson-Lessing Lake .............. 102 Archaeological Survey in the Upper Taymyr River Area .............. 105 A Gas-Mercury Survey in the Levinson-Lessing Lake Area ........ 107 3 INVESTIGATIONS ON SEVERNAYA ZEMLYA .................................. 111 3.1 Pedological and Biological Studies ................................................. 111 3.1.1 Introduction ....................................................................................... 111 3.1.2 Soil-Plant-Complexes on Bolshewik Island ............................... 113 3.1.2.1 Soils and Patterned Grounds .................................................. 114 3.1.2.2 Vegetation on Typical Patterned Grounds ............................ 127 3.1.3 Soils and Patterned Grounds on October Revolution Island .. 130 3.2 Lake Morphology, Hydrology, and Sedimentation ....................... 134 3.2.1 Changeable Lake ........................................................................... 134 3.2.2 Fjord Lake ........................................................................................ 138 3.3 Lake Sediment Sampling .................................................................. 140 3.3.1 Sampling Technique and Attendent Investigations ................. 140 3.3.2 Changeable Lake ........................................................................... 142 3.3.3 Fjord Lake ........................................................................................ 144 4 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ...................................................................... 146 5 REFERENCES ......................................................................................... 146 APPENDIX ................................................................................................ Additional Lists of Samples, Stations, and Data ........................... Soil and Plant Samples ................................................................ Permafrost Samples ...................................................................... Water Samples from the Levinson-Lessing Lake Area .......... Lake Sediment Samples from the Tayrnyr Peninsula ............. Hydrological Measurements On Severnaya Zemlya ............... Lists of Participating Institutions and Scientists ............................. 1 INTRODUCTION (M. Melles, B. Hagedorn, D. Yu. Bolshiyanov) 1.1 Objectives The field work On the Taymyr Peninsula and Severnaya Zemlya Archipelago in summer 1996 was carried out within the scope of the joint Russian-German research project "Taymyr", which had been established in 1993. Following a pilot phase, fundings were provided for the project in 1994 by the German Ministery of Education, Science and Technology (BMBF) and by the Russian Ministery of Science and Technical Policy. Financial support will be available until the end of 1997. The project is carried out along a transect of Ca. 1400 km length from the Northern Taiga in the surroundings of the town Norilsk, via different tundra zones on the Taymyr Peninsula, to the High-arctic Tundra on Severnaya Zemlya (Fig. 1-1). The main objective is a contribution to the understanding of the climatic and environmental history of northern Central Siberia during Late Quaternary time. Special emphasis is put on (1) the glacial history, (2) the relative influences of the West Siberian marine and East Siberian continental climates, (3) the position and extension of vegetation zones, and (4) the land- ocean-atmosphere interaction in dependence on the Late Quaternary climatic variations. For these purposes, geomorphological and paleogeographical investigations are carried out and different natural data archives of the paleoenvironmental conditions are studied, including permafrost profiles, ground-ice bodies, and lake sediment sequences. The different archives gather individual Information concerning the kind of paleoenvironmental evidence, and the length, com- pleteness, and resolution of the documented time interval. The paleoenviron- mental reconstructions, deduced from the composition of the natural data archives, are supported by investigations of seasonal dynamic processes taking place in the different climatic and environmental settings of the study area (Fig. 1-1). Research focuses on the water and sediment transport in the active layer, surface runoffs, and lake water column. Furthermore, biological and pedological processes, methane and carbon dioxide production in permafrost deposits and unfrozen lake sediments, and anthropogenic influ- ences on the environment are studied. These investigations lead to a better understanding of the climatic and environmental influence On the archive formation and composition, and thus to a more substantiated interpretation of the proxy data from ancient deposits. Hence, from the multi-disciplinary geo- scientific research carried out in the project