Electrical Conductivity and pH in Surface Water as Tool for Identification of Chemical Diversity

Abstract

Abstract In the present study, the creeks and lakes located at the western shore of Admiralty Bay were analysed. The impact of various sources of water supply was considered, based on the parameters of temperature, pH and specific electrolytic conductivity (SEC 25). All measurements were conducted during a field campaign in January–February 2017. A multivariate dataset was also created and a biplot of SEC 25 and pH of the investigated waters was performed. The average temperatures of the investigated waters were 0.10-8.10 °C. The pH values indicate that most of the water environments of the analysed area are slightly acidic to alkaline (5.26–8.50) with two exceptions: Siodlo II Creek (9.26) and Petrified Forest Creek (8.95), which are characterised by greater alkalinity. At the measurement points closest to the Baranowski Glacier and Ecology Glacier, SEC 25 values were the lowest (26.8–61.1 µS·cm–1), while the remaining values ranged from 79.0 to 382 µS·cm–1 for the whole studied area. Based on the results it is concluded that the periodic intensive inflow of ablation waters, combined with morphological changes in the glacier front, causes a significant variability in the outflow network, creating the conditions for changes in basic physicochemical parameters. Moreover, it is observed that local depressions in the terrain form sedimentation traps in which, alongside fine-grained deposits, compounds can accumulate that originate from in situ sedimentation and that are also associated with surface runoff from the melting of snow cover, buried ice and permafrost.