A High-Arctic flow-through lake system hydrochemical changes: Revvatnet, southwestern Svalbard (years 2010-2018)

Lake ecosystems are strongly coupled to features of their surrounding landscapes such as geomorphology, lithology, vegetation and hydrological characteristics. In the 2010-2018 summer seasons, we investigated an Arctic flow-through lake system Revvatnet, located in the vicinity of the coastal zone of Hornsund fjord in Svalbard, characterising its hydrological properties and the chemical composition of its waters. The lake system comprises of a small upper lake and a large lower one, the latter cone-shaped, with -29.1 m maximum depth. With near-neutral pH (full range 6.5-8.4) and low EC (7-147 mu S cm-1), the lake has rather similar characteristics to many Arctic lakes. Metal and metalloid concentrations were either similar across the lake system or increased downstream (except Zn, which has important ore-bearing veins in the upper part of the catchment), which is consistent with the likely slow dissolution of suspended particles within the lakes. The Sigma PAHs concentrations ranged from

Automated summary

Lake ecosystems are strongly influenced by surrounding landscapes, and the Arctic flow-through lake system Revvatnet in Svalbard exhibits typical characteristics of Arctic lakes, with metal and metalloid concentrations showing similarity or increasing downstream.