aspect lid minimize the influence of those samples for which 

 one or the other value was more influenced by a factor other 

 than the environment of origin. The influence of Yukon 

 derived organic matter is quite evident. 



A similarly derived parameter is shown by the isopleths of 

 Fig. 10. In this case, contours of a normalized unweighted 

 product of the carbon and nitrogen elemental content of 

 Figs. 2 and 5 are plotted. Such a parameter would only tend to 

 emphasize locations of concentrations of sediment organic 

 matter in the fine-grained fraction (not biomass ). Organic "hot 

 spots" are evident in the southern Bering Sea, the Anadyr 

 River, the Gulf of Anadyr, Anadyr Strait, Bering Strait, and the 

 western Chukchi Sea. No excessive sediment organic 

 concentrations are apparent at the Yukon River Delta nor at the 

 site of high biological activity reported by Grebmeier and 

 McRoy (1989) northeast of St. Lawrence Island. 



Support for this study was provided, in part, by the ISHTAR 

 project of the National Science Foundation (DPP-8405286, 

 DPP-8605659) and by The University of Texas at Austin, Marine 

 Science Institute. A major contnbution to the overall sediment study 

 was the participation of one of us (E.W.B.) in the Third Joint US- 

 USSR Bering & Chukchi Seas Expedition aboard the Soviet research 

 vessel Akademik Korolev. We express appreciation to the USSR State 

 Committee for Hydrometeorology and the US Fish and Wildlife 

 Service, USA, who made this sampling effort and our participation 

 possible. 



Chukchi Sea 



Fig. 10. Contours of a relative concentration parameter of sediment organic 

 matter. 



338 



