Macrofauna Associated With Submarine Groundwater Discharge Sites and a Cold Seep in Svalbard Fjords
4 affiliations
- 1Department of Arctic Biology The University Centre in Svalbard (UNIS) Longyearbyen Norway
- 2Department of Geological Sciences Stockholm University Stockholm Sweden
- 3Institute of Oceanology, Polish Academy of Sciences Sopot Poland
- 4Geological Survey of Norway Trondheim Norway
Abstract
Submarine groundwater discharge (SGD) is the flow of subsurface water into the ocean. To assess its impact on the Svalbard benthos, the composition of macrobenthos was investigated in relation to sediment physico‐chemical conditions. SGD has been seen to generate seep‐like ecosystems in subarctic locations through the transport of reduced chemicals such as methane. Therefore, we compared the benthos of three Svalbard fjord SGD locations to a Svalbard shelf seep location. However, contrary to our expectations, the SGD locations did not resemble the sampled cold seep. Methane was not detectable in sediment porewater, free sulfide concentrations were low, and diversity and abundance were extremely low, despite shallow water depths (40–117 m). It is possible that the combination of freshwater stress, limited chemosynthetic primary production, and high glacimarine sedimentation rates typical of glacier‐proximal fjord environments together result in an inhospitable environment for many marine benthic taxa at Svalbard fjord SGD locations. As the Arctic warms and glaciers transition from marine‐ to land‐terminating, SGD fluxes may change and the sedimentary overprint on SGD‐related ecological effects may diminish. Whether SGD will eventually emerge as an ecologically relevant process in Arctic fjord systems remains an open question, but one that will become increasingly pertinent as permafrost thaws and glaciers continue to retreat.
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BibTeX
@article{schramm2026macrofauna,
title = {{Macrofauna Associated With Submarine Groundwater Discharge Sites and a Cold Seep in Svalbard Fjords}},
author = {Johanna Schramm and Wei‐Li Hong and Sophie ten Hietbrink and Beata Szymczycha and Jochen Knies and Arunima Sen},
journal = {Ecology and Evolution},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1002/ece3.74597},
url = {https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ece3.74597},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Macrofauna Associated With Submarine Groundwater Discharge Sites and a Cold Seep in Svalbard Fjords
AU - Johanna Schramm
AU - Wei‐Li Hong
AU - Sophie ten Hietbrink
AU - Beata Szymczycha
AU - Jochen Knies
AU - Arunima Sen
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/23
JO - Ecology and Evolution
DO - 10.1002/ece3.74597
UR - https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ece3.74597
AB - Submarine groundwater discharge (SGD) is the flow of subsurface water into the ocean. To assess its impact on the Svalbard benthos, the composition of macrobenthos was investigated in relation to sediment physico‐chemical conditions. SGD has been seen to generate seep‐like ecosystems in subarctic locations through the transport of reduced chemicals such as methane. Therefore, we compared the benthos of three Svalbard fjord SGD locations to a Svalbard shelf seep location. However, contrary to our expectations, the SGD locations did not resemble the sampled cold seep. Methane was not detectable in sediment porewater, free sulfide concentrations were low, and diversity and abundance were extremely low, despite shallow water depths (40–117 m). It is possible that the combination of freshwater stress, limited chemosynthetic primary production, and high glacimarine sedimentation rates typical of glacier‐proximal fjord environments together result in an inhospitable environment for many marine benthic taxa at Svalbard fjord SGD locations. As the Arctic warms and glaciers transition from marine‐ to land‐terminating, SGD fluxes may change and the sedimentary overprint on SGD‐related ecological effects may diminish. Whether SGD will eventually emerge as an ecologically relevant process in Arctic fjord systems remains an open question, but one that will become increasingly pertinent as permafrost thaws and glaciers continue to retreat.
SN - 2045-7758
SN - 2045-7758
ER -