The North Pole Region: First Data on the Snow–Sea Ice–Ice Water Sedimentation System

Abstract

The dispersed sedimentary material in the snow–ice cover near the North Pole was analyzed directly for the first time. The composition of sediments in the snow–ice cover and vertical fluxes of the material from the ice water layer were studied at the maximal distance for the Northern Hemisphere from the continents. The data were obtained by sedimentation traps (for water) and in large volumes of melt water (for snow and ice). It has been revealed that the dispersed sedimentary material of aeolian genesis plays the leading role in snow and sea ice.