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  • The aeolian flux of calcium, chloride and nitrate to the McMurdo Dry Valleys landscape: evidence from snow pit analysis

Antarctic Science

Table of Contents - 2006 - Volume 18, Issue 04 (Special Issue: The Latitudinal Gradient Project (LGP))  

Special Issue: The Latitudinal Gradient Project (LGP)

The aeolian flux of calcium, chloride and nitrate to the McMurdo Dry Valleys landscape: evidence from snow pit analysis

Rebecca A. Witherow a1, W. Berry Lyons a1c1, Nancy A.N. Bertler a2a3a5, Kathleen A. Welch a1, Paul A. Mayewski a3, Sharon B. Sneed a3, Thomas Nylen a4, Michael J. Handley a3 and Andrew Fountain a4
a1 Byrd Polar Research Center and the Department of Geological Sciences, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210-1002, USA
a2 Antarctic Research Centre, Victoria University of Wellington, PO Box 600, Wellington, New Zealand
a3 Climate Change Institute, University of Maine, Orono, ME 04469, USA
a4 Departments of Geology and Geography, Portland State University, Portland, OR 97207-0751, USA
a5 GNS Science, 1 Fairway Drive, Avalon, Lower Hutt 5010, New Zealand

Article author query
witherow ra   [PubMed][Google Scholar] 
lyons wb   [PubMed][Google Scholar] 
bertler nan   [PubMed][Google Scholar] 
welch ka   [PubMed][Google Scholar] 
mayewski pa   [PubMed][Google Scholar] 
sneed sb   [PubMed][Google Scholar] 
nylen t   [PubMed][Google Scholar] 
handley mj   [PubMed][Google Scholar] 
fountain a   [PubMed][Google Scholar] 

Abstract

We have determined the flux of calcium, chloride and nitrate to the McMurdo Dry Valleys region by analysing snow pits for their chemical composition and their snow accumulation using multiple records spanning up to 48 years. The fluxes demonstrate patterns related to elevation and proximity to the ocean. In general, there is a strong relationship between the nitrate flux and snow accumulation, indicating that precipitation rates may have a great influence over the nitrogen concentrations in the soils of the valleys. Aeolian dust transport plays an important role in the deposition of some elements (e.g. Ca2+) into the McMurdo Dry Valleys' soils. Because of the antiquity of some of the soil surfaces in the McMurdo Dry Valleys regions, the accumulated atmospheric flux of salts to the soils has important ecological consequences. Although precipitation may be an important mechanism of salt deposition to the McMurdo Dry Valley surfaces, it is poorly understood because of difficulties in measurement and high losses from sublimation.

(Published Online November 14 2006)
(Received January 3 2005)
(Accepted May 30 2006)


Key Words: elements; fluxes; glaciers; Latitudinal Gradient Project; salts in soils.

Correspondence:
c1 corresponding author: lyons.142@osu.edu

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