Suspended Particulate Matter as a Main Source and Proxy of the Sedimentation Processes

The material for our study was collected in the White Sea during 22 interdisciplinary expeditions organized by the Shirshov Institute of Oceanology, Russian Academy of Sciences (IO RAS), in 2000–2014. The researches were carried out mostly in June–August; however we have some samples for autumn–winter and early spring seasons. Here, we report the concentration of suspended particulate matter (SPM), its composition and properties, as well as their changes due to natural zoning and local conditions. This paper discusses the features in the distribution of SPM concentration, grain-size, mineral, and major phase composition. As far as possible, we involved our own and other published data on hydrology, bottom morphology, and particulate and dissolved river runoff from the catchment area, abundance and composition of marine phyto- and bacterioplankton. This new knowledge has been used to describe particles dispersion system of the White Sea, which forms a giant reservoir of micro- and nanoparticles, using terms adopted in sedimentology and oceanography.