Earth’s Cryosphere, 2022, Vol. XXVI, No. 5, p. 35-47.

GASES AND GAS HYDRATES IN THE EARTH’S CRYOSPHERE

METHANE IN FROZEN AND THAWING SEDIMENTS OF WESTERN RUSSIAN ARCTIC

N.A. Zadorozhnaya1,*, G.E. Oblogov1,2, A.A. Vasiliev1,2, I.D. Streletskaya3, G.V. Malkova1,2, P.B. Semenov4, B.G. Vanshtein4

1 Earth Cryosphere Institute, Tyumen Science Center, Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences,
Malygina St. 86, Tyumen, 625026 Russia
2 Tyumen State University, Volodarskogo St. 6, Tyumen, 625003 Russia
3 Lomonosov Moscow State University, Faculty of Geography, Department of Cryolithology and Glaciology, Leninskie Gory 1, Moscow, 119991 Russia
4 All-Russia Scientific Research Institute of Geology and Mineral Resources of the World Ocean (VNIIOkeangeologia), Angliiskii prosp. 1, St. Petersburg, 190121 Russia
*Corresponding author; e-mail: z.nataliia.95@gmail.com

The results of studies of the methane content in the active layer and upper permafrost horizon in the areas of the Marre-Sale station (western Yamal Peninsula) and the Pechora River mouth are presented. Data on the methane content in Quaternary permafrost and ground ice of different geneses and data on methane emission from the surface of typical tundra in Marre-Sale are analyzed. The highest methane content in sediments of both the active layer and the upper permafrost is characteristic of boggy floodplains and waterlogged depressions on the surface of the marine terrace. In well-drained landscapes, methane is virtually absent in sediments of the active layer. In the upper permafrost, its content is 5–6 times higher than in the overlying active layer. A large amount of methane (on average, about 2 mL/kg) is contained in loamy clay marine sediments at the base of the Marre-Sale section, as well as in the massive ice. The distribution of methane in permafrost and ground ice is close to a lognormal distribution. Significant methane flux (up to 10.7 mg/(m2⋅h)) has been determined for highly moistened surfaces occupying about 45–50% of the area of a typical tundra.

Keywords: methane, permafrost, transient layer, ground ice, methane emission, Marre-Sale, Pechora River mouth

Recommended citation: Zadorozhnaya N.A., Oblogov G.E., Vasiliev A.A., Streletskaya I.D., Malkova G.V., Semenov P.B., Vanshtein B.G., 2022. Methane in frozen and thawing sediments of Western Russian Arctic. Earth’s Cryosphere 26 (5), 35–47.