ABSTRACT
One year after the emergency diesel fuel spill in Norilsk, hydrocarbon concentrations in bottom sediments of the Norilsk-Pyasina water system decreased. However the average concentrations of hydrocarbons in surface sediments decreased in the same sequence (µg/g) as in 2020: the mouth of the Ambarnaya R. (835, σ = 1788) > Bezymyanny Cr.-the Daldykan R.-the Ambarnaya R. (306, σ = 273) > the Pyasina R. (23, σ = 20) > the Pyasino Lake (12, σ = 8). Concentrations decreased due to degradation of low molecular weight hydrocarbons. The content of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in 2021 also changed in a smaller range (0-1027 ng/g) than in 2020 (0-3865 ng/g). Petroleum origin of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in the sediments of the Ambarnaya R. (including the mouth), Bezymyanny Cr. and the Daldykan R. is confirmed by the dominance of alkylated naphthalene homologues in their composition. Hydrocarbons accumulation in some layers of the sedimentary column is caused not only by the spill of diesel fuel, but also by the organic matter from the surrounding swamps, from wetlands and floodplain lakes, as well as by the burial of the surface layer by the 2021 flood.