Elemental composition and bacterial incidence in firn-cores at Midre Lovénbreen glacier, Svalbard

ABSTRACT The present study was conducted to measure the elemental concentration and bacterial deposition in the firn-cores at the Midre Lovénbreen glacier, Svalbard. Firn-cores up to 1m deep were collected and divided into three subsections. These were subjected to elemental analysis using inductive...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Polar Record
Main Authors: Singh, Shiv Mohan, Gawas-Sakhalkar, Puja, Naik, Simantini, Ravindra, Rasik, Sharma, Jagdev, Upadhyay, Ajay Kumar, Mulik, Ravindra Uttam, Bohare, Priyanka
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Cambridge University Press (CUP) 2013
Subjects:
General Earth and Planetary Sciences
Ecology
Geography, Planning and Development
Svalbard
glacier
Polar Record
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0032247413000533
https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0032247413000533
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Summary:ABSTRACT The present study was conducted to measure the elemental concentration and bacterial deposition in the firn-cores at the Midre Lovénbreen glacier, Svalbard. Firn-cores up to 1m deep were collected and divided into three subsections. These were subjected to elemental analysis using inductively coupled plasma mass spectroscopy (ICPMS). In all 20 elements were analysed. The crustal enrichment factors calculated for these elements on the basis of Fe values, demonstrate that the elements have derived from both crustal and anthropogenic sources. For certain elements there also exists a possibility of input from sea salt spray. Total bacterial counts in these firn samples ranged from 1.03 × 10 5 to 3.67 × 10 5 per ml of meltwater. Culturability of these bacterial cells, in comparison to the total count was very low. At 4°C the maximum culturability was <1.4% of the total count while at 15°C it was still lower (~1%).

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