A landscape-isotopic approach to the geochemical characterization of lakes in the Kangerlussuaq region, west Greenland

ABSTRACT

In west Greenland, an approximate chronosequence of landscape evolution and weathering exists between the coast, which has been ice free for long periods, and more recently deglaciated areas along the present day ice margin. Traditional geochemical and isotopic analyses (δ¹⁸O, δ²H, ³H, δ³⁴S/δ¹⁸O (SO4), and ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr) along with novel isotopic tools, such as δ³⁷Cl and δ⁸¹Br, were used to provide new insights into lake geochemical processes along a transect of lakes from the coast to the ice margin in the Kangerlussuaq region. Evaporation was found to be a key process impacting lake chemistry and isotopic signatures in the ice marginal area, with decreasing importance toward the coast. Evaporative processes were apparent in the δ³⁷Cl and δ⁸¹Br isotopic signatures of lake-water chemistry. Consistent with previous work elsewhere (e.g., Blum and Erel, 1995) on increased biotite weathering in glaciated environments, ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr isotopic ratios were found to be more radiogenic (>0.73) in lakes found in more recently glaciated terrain. Sulfide oxidation was the main source of sulfur (as sulfate) in lakes in the ice marginal area, while the influence of marine aerosols and bacterial sulfate reduction increased further away from the ice sheet around the fjord Kangerlussuaq. Groundwater discharge significant enough to impact lake chemistry was not observed in any of the lakes studied, suggesting that little groundwater–surface water interaction occurs in the study area or that recharge conditions are present in the majority of the lakes studied.

KEYWORDS:

• Permafrost
• isotope geochemistry
• Greenland

Acknowledgments

NWMO, Posiva, and SKB for providing the financial support for the Greenland Analogue Project. NSERC for their financial support. Lillemor Claesson Liljedahl and Anne Kontula for their support of this research, their leg work, and their company in the field. All my other GAP colleagues.