Chemical composition of surface sediments of the White Sea

Contents of major elements in surface sediments of the White Sea were determined by the X-ray fluorescence method. Application of the statistical analysis (principal component method and cluster analysis) made it possible to divide the sediments into more or less homogeneous seven groups with different chemical and grain size compositions. In general, the groups corresponded to sediment lithotypes based on the classification elaborated at the Shirshov Institute of Oceanology, Russian Academy of Sciences. Contents of Si and Al are controlled by the ratio of sand-silt and pelite fractions, while variations in the content of Mn (and Fe in part) are governed by the redistribution of elements in the course of redox processes of early diagenesis.