Cr, Co and rare earth elements systematics in ice-rafted sediments of northern part of the Beaufort gyre

The results of analysis of the systematics of Cr, Co and rare earth elements (REE) in ice-rafted sediments (IRS) of the northern part of the Beaufort Cycle (�rctic Ocean) are considered in the article. The IRS was assembled on the �R�-�I�-1�a cruise of the NIS Polarstern in 1���. The exact position of the sources of the IRS present in the ice has not been established to date. This is due, on the one hand, to the complex ice cycle in the �rctic Basin, on the other – a relatively small amount of data on the actual composition of the IRS. �ccording to the views of most researchers, the main IRS supplier is the wide and shallow Siberian �rctic shelf. In the Beaufort Sea, the distinctive features of which are a much narrower shelf and almost constant presence of ice in the summer period, the conditions for the formation IRS of material borrowed on the shelf of the eastern Laptev Sea. In the Co–Cr diagram, there is no overlapping of the fields of the compositions of the present bottom sediments of the estuary of Yenisei River, on the one hand, and the eastern part of the East Siberian and Chukchi seas, on the other. �lthough the sediments of the delta of the Mackenzie River, comparable to the precipitation of the estuary of the Yenisei River. by the content of Cr and differ from them by a noticeably lower content of Co. In the Cr–La diagram, the IRS field occupies an essentially isolated position, yet still has a certain overlap with the precipitation fields of the Chukchi Sea and the delta of Mackenzie River. In the diagram (La�Yb) N –La�Co, the field of IRS composition has a ≈50% overlap with the field of the present bottom sediments composition of the Chukchi Sea. The middle point of the suspension also gravitates towards Lena River, and the point of the Canadian Shield is relatively close, as well as the points of suspension of Mackenzie and �rctic-Red rivers and P��S. Overlapping of the IRS fields and modern bottom sediments of the Ob and Yenisei estuaries, as well as the east of the East Siberian Sea, on the contrary, is not observed. The data given in the article allow us to conclude that the IRS in the area of the North Pole contains sedimentary material, borrowed both on the shelf of the Beaufort Sea and on the shelves of the eastern part of the Laptev Sea and the Chukchi Sea. �.T.