RESEARCH ARTICLE Open Access A 50-year record of NOx and SO2 sources in

Ice-core samples from Upper Fremont Glacier (UFG), Wyoming, were used as proxy records for the chemical composition of atmospheric deposition. Results of analysis of the ice-core samples for stable isotopes of nitrogen (δ 15 N, NO − 3) and sulfur (δ34S, SO 2− 4), as well as NO−3 and SO2 − 4 depositi...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: David L Naftz, Paul F Schuster, Craig A Johnson
Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
Format: Text
Language:English
Subjects:
Online Access:http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.349.2015
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Summary:Ice-core samples from Upper Fremont Glacier (UFG), Wyoming, were used as proxy records for the chemical composition of atmospheric deposition. Results of analysis of the ice-core samples for stable isotopes of nitrogen (δ 15 N, NO − 3) and sulfur (δ34S, SO 2− 4), as well as NO−3 and SO2 − 4 deposition rates from the late-1940s thru the early-1990s, were used to enhance and extend existing National Atmospheric Deposition Program/National Trends Network (NADP/NTN) data in western Wyoming. The most enriched δ 34 S value in the UFG ice-core samples coincided with snow deposited during the 1980 eruption of Mt. St. Helens, Washington. The remaining δ 34 S values were similar to the isotopic composition of coal from southern Wyoming. The δ 15 N values in ice-core samples representing a similar period of snow deposition were negative, ranging from-5.9 to-3.2 ‰ and all fall within the δ 15 N values expected from vehicle emissions. Ice-core nitrate and sulfate deposition data reflect the sharply increasing U.S. emissions data from 1950 to the mid-1970s.