Mineralogy of Particulate Suspended Matter of the Severnaya Dvina River (White Sea, Russia)

Abstract

This paper seeks to generalize the data obtained over 4 years of investigation of the suspended sediment mineral composition in Severnaya Dvina River. The sampling of the river water to isolate suspended particulate matter (SPM) using the method of sedimentation from large water volumes (200–800 L) was carried out at two points of the delta with different hydrological regimes every month for four years. SPM samples weighing 1 g and more allowed us to obtain and preserve for different analytical procedures the grain size fractions from 1.0–0.5 to <0.001 mm (from sands to pelit). The analyses of fractions revealed a sharp prevalence of pelitic fractions (<0.01 mm) (near 90% on average), while the share of silt was 4%–5%. Coarse fractions were found in the SPM of the main stream of the river but were absent in the samples taken at the point near the river–sea boundary. The determinations of clastic, clay, and some other minerals using the method of X-ray diffraction analysis have shown that in the group of clastic minerals, quartz and plagioclase prevail. Among the clay minerals, smectite and illite were present in high quantities, and chlorite and kaolinite were in lower quantitative. The distribution of minerals in the grain size fractions showed that the sum of clastic minerals reached its highest content of up to 84% in silt fractions (0.05–0.01 mm), while the sum of clay minerals in this fraction was minimal (about 15%). Investigations of seasonal variations of clastic and clay minerals during the whole period showed that the contents of minerals in the SPM of the Severnaya Dvina did not change much over the year. As a result of this work, the following trend was established on the behavior of all kinds of minerals: during the periods of high water in spring and autumn, a slightly increased quantity of clastic minerals was detected in comparison to winter and summer, while the variations in the quantities of clay minerals were insignificant.