Geochemical Features of the Diagenesis of the Holocene Deposits
in the Area of the Spitsbergen Archipelago

A. Yu. Lein*, N. V. Pimenov**, A. S. Savvichev**, G. A. Pavlova*,
I. I. Rusanov**, Yu. M. Miller**, and M. V. Ivanov**

*Shirshov Institute of Oceanology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia
** Institute of Microbiology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia

Received December 16, 1998

Abstract—Quantitative characteristics for the rates of diagenetic processes in the upper (0–30 cm) layer of the
sedimentary deposits in the area of the Spitsbergen Archipelago (78°–80°N) were obtained by lithologo-
geochemical, radioisotopic (³⁵S, ¹⁴C), and stable-isotopic (³⁴S, ¹³C) studies. It was proved that the rates of
diagenetic processes in the polar deposits at 123–395 m depth, affected by the East Spitsbergen “warm” current,
are mostly determined by bioproductivity and are commensurate with the rates of the processes in the shelf
deposits of temperate latitudes. High contents of migratory methane (up to 263 ml/dm³) and isotopically-light
organic carbon (C_org, ¹³C = 30‰) are found in the 1-m layer of shelf deposits (at 123-m sea depth) with a
low bacterial in situ production of methane. It was shown that methane is not utilized in the deposits by the
methanotrophic bacterial community and it may be supplied to the water mass and, probably, to the atmosphere.

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