Mercury content in floodplain sediments from the Yukon River Basin, Alaska, 2022

Due to atmospheric circulation and preservation of organic matter, large amounts of mercury (Hg) are stored in permafrost regions. Due to rapid warming and thawing permafrost in the Arctic, this Hg may be released, potentially degrading water quality and impacting human health. River bank erosion in particular has the ability to quickly mobilize large amounts of Hg-rich floodplain sediments. As part of a National Science Foundation (NSF) funded project to better understand the effects of erosion in the Yukon River Basin, floodplain sediments were collected between June and September 2022 at two locations underlain by discontinuous permafrost within the Yukon River Basin: Beaver, Alaska (AK) (65.700 N, 156.387 W) and Huslia, AK (66.362N, 147.398 W). This dataset contains mercury contents for collected floodplain sediments measured by direct thermal decomposition. Sample metadata also includes information recorded in the field (location, visual grain size description, and sample collection depth) and collected post sample processing (water content and dry density).

受大气环流与有机质保存作用影响，永久冻土（permafrost）区域储存了大量汞（Hg）。受北极地区快速变暖和永久冻土消融影响，这些汞可能被释放，进而可能造成水质恶化并威胁人类健康。尤为值得关注的是，河岸侵蚀可快速活化大量富含汞的泛滥平原沉积物。
作为美国国家科学基金会（National Science Foundation, NSF）资助项目的一部分，该项目旨在深入理解育空河流域侵蚀带来的影响，研究团队于2022年6月至9月间，在育空河流域两处被不连续永久冻土覆盖的区域采集了泛滥平原沉积物：分别为阿拉斯加州比弗（Beaver, AK）（北纬65.700°，西经156.387°）与阿拉斯加州胡斯利亚（Huslia, AK）（北纬66.362°，西经147.398°）。
本数据集包含通过直接热分解法测得的采集样本的汞含量数据。样本元数据还涵盖野外记录信息（采样点位、目视粒度描述与样本采集深度），以及样本后处理环节获取的含水率与干密度参数。