680 Polar Record 51 (261): 680–691 (2015). c  Cambridge University Press 2015. doi:10.1017/S0032247415000030 Elemental composition and bacterial occurrence in sediment samples on two sides of Brøggerhalvøya, Svalbard Shiv Mohan Singh and Simantini Naik National Centre for Antarctic and Ocean Research, Goa-403804, India (smsingh@ncaor.gov.in) Ravindra Uttam Mulik, Jagdev Sharma and Ajay Kumar Upadhyay National Research Centre for Grapes, Pune-412307, India Received October 2013 ; first published online 3 February 2015 ABSTRACT. The present study was conducted to determine the elemental concentration and bacterial presence in the ocean on the two sides of Brøggerhalvøya, a peninsula in Svalbard. Sediments from 25 different locations were collected and subjected to elemental analysis using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICPMS). In total, 21 elements were analysed. The elements in their decreasing order of concentrations on the Kongsfjorden side of Brøggerhalvøya were Fe> Mn> Ba > V > Zn > Sr > Rb > Cr > Li > Ni > As > Pb > Cu > Co > Cs >Ag > Be > U> Bi >Tl > Cd while that for Forlandsendet side of Brøggerhalvøya they were Fe > Ba >Mn > V> Sr > Zn > Rb > Cr > Li > Ni > Pb > Cu > As > Co > Cs > Be > U> Tl > Bi > Cd. On the other hand, at a coastal outcrop, elements in their decreasing order of concentration were Fe > Mn > Cr > Sr > Ba > Rb > Cr > Zn > V > Rb > Ni > Li > Co > Cu > As > Pb > Cs > Be > Cd > Tl > U > Bi. AMS dates confirmed the age of outcrop sediment to be 12,496 to 42,500 BP. The crustal enrichment factor calculated for all the elements with reference to Fe values, demonstrates that the elements have derived from a crustal source. Total bacterial counts ranged from 3.30 × 10 5 to 3.02 × 10 6 per gm soil sediment. Culturable bacterial counts in these sediments were between 2.00 × 10 2 to 2.09 × 10 5 CFU’s per gm. Overall comparison showed high Fe and Mn concentrations around Brøggerhalvøya, due to the presence of specific bacteria which play key roles in metal cycling and carry out biogeochemical transformations. Introduction Brøggerhalvøya, a peninsula located on the west coast of Spitsbergen (Svalbard), has a length of approximately 20 km and is some 10 km wide. The peninsula is bordered on the north by Kongsfjorden and on the west by Forland- sendet (Miller and others 1989). The peninsula is covered by ranges of mountains and valleys with a large number of glaciers flowing into the adjacent waters. Kongsfjorden is one of the largest glacial fjords of the Svalbard archipelago and is situated on a major tectonic boundary between the Tertiary fold-thrust belts of west- ern Spitsbergen (Svendsen and others 2002). It is oriented from southeast to northeast. The total volume of this fjord is 29.4 km 3 (Ito and Kudoh 1997) and it has both Atlantic and Arctic water masses. The inner fjord facing tidal glaciers has a relatively shallow water level (less than 100 m) while the outer fjord is deeper and connected with the Greenland Sea (Hop and others 2002). It is to some extent divided into several deep basins (Cottier and others 2005). Kongsfjorden has recently received much research attention with focuses on seasonal hydrography (Cottier and others 2005), marine biology and ecosystem dynamics (Hop and others 2002). The distribution and concentration levels of metals varied according to the natural processes and anthropo- genic activities in different areas of Arctic. The transport of metals is a consequence of atmospheric, oceanic and biological cycling of elements. Recently, the distributions of metals have been assessed from many habitats of Arctic such as sea sediments (Cai and others 2011), seabird tissue (Blais and others 2005), Cryoconites and lichens (Singh and others 2012) and Glacier ice cores (Singh and others 2013). There are reports on elevated levels of trace metals [Zinc (Zn), Copper (Cu), Lead (Pb), Cadmium (Cd), Mercury (Hg), Cobalt (Co), Nickel (Ni), Manganese (Mn) and Chromium (Cr) due to an- thropogenic processes (AMAP 1998, 2005; Macdonald and others 2000; Lu and others 2012). The distribution of trace metals in other areas of Arctic has also been assessed (Muir and others 2003; Trefry and others 2003; Braune and others 2005; Evenset and others 2007; Ma and others 2008 and Cai and others 2011). However, there have been no systematic studies on distribution and concentrations of different metal groups (alkali metal, alkaline earth metal, transition metal and other metal groups) in the sediments of fjords on the two sides of Brøggerhalvøya and along coastal outcrops. Therefore, the aim of the present study is to determine the com- position and concentration of metals in the sediments of fjords and also to compare these with elemental analysis of other Arctic regions reported in earlier studies. Experimental Sampling site and collection of samples Samples were taken from fjords on both sides of Brøg- gerhalvøya (Fig. 1) during the Indian Arctic Expedition in 2009. A ‘grab sampler’ was used to collect accurate representative samples of the sediment from the bottom of fjords. 25 samples were collected from different depths and locations (Table 1) following strict contamination- free procedures. Each sample was collected in sterile sampling bags, transported to the laboratory and stored at -20°C until processed.