Characteristics of Chemical Solutes and Mineral Dust in Ice of the Ablation Area of a Glacier in Tien Shan Mountains, Central Asia
Diverse microbial communities live on glacial surfaces, with abundances and diversities dictated by the chemical and physical conditions of the supraglacial environment. Chemical solutes and mineral dust on glacial surfaces are generally derived from the atmosphere as aerosols, but they can also be...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:ea15ce7fb11e41bc9570199243f0f29c 2023-05-15T16:38:52+02:00 Characteristics of Chemical Solutes and Mineral Dust in Ice of the Ablation Area of a Glacier in Tien Shan Mountains, Central Asia Yunjie Chen Nozomu Takeuchi Feiteng Wang Zhongqin Li 2022-05-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.3389/feart.2022.904261 https://doaj.org/article/ea15ce7fb11e41bc9570199243f0f29c EN eng Frontiers Media S.A. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feart.2022.904261/full https://doaj.org/toc/2296-6463 2296-6463 doi:10.3389/feart.2022.904261 https://doaj.org/article/ea15ce7fb11e41bc9570199243f0f29c Frontiers in Earth Science, Vol 10 (2022) glacial ice ice core supraglacial environments mineral dust soluble ions outcropping flux Science Q article 2022 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.3389/feart.2022.904261 2022-12-31T02:57:16Z Diverse microbial communities live on glacial surfaces, with abundances and diversities dictated by the chemical and physical conditions of the supraglacial environment. Chemical solutes and mineral dust on glacial surfaces are generally derived from the atmosphere as aerosols, but they can also be supplied from glacial ice. In this study, a 56-m ice core from the ablation area of a mountain glacier in the Tien Shan Mountains of Central Asia was analyzed to characterize the chemical solutes and mineral dust in glacial ice. Soluble chemical ion and mineral dust analysis in the ice core showed that their concentrations varied with depth. The most dominant ion was Ca2+ (mean: 79.8 μEq L−1), followed by Cl−, SO42-, NH4+, and NO3−. The mean dust concentration in the glacial ice was 2.5 ×105 number ml−1. Chemical solute and mineral dust concentrations in the samples indicate that melting glacial ice could potentially affect supraglacial conditions. The annual fluxes of the major ions outcropping from glacial ice were estimated based on their concentrations and the observed melt rate of the ice surface. Consequently, they were comparable to or higher than those from the atmosphere. The mean mass flux of mineral dust from glacial ice was greater than that from the atmosphere. Our results showed that glacial ice supplies chemical solutes and mineral dust to the supraglacial environment and that changing melting rates of glacial ice would affect the chemical conditions on the glacier surface and the growth of photoautotrophs on the ablating ice surface. Article in Journal/Newspaper ice core Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Frontiers in Earth Science 10 |
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Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
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glacial ice ice core supraglacial environments mineral dust soluble ions outcropping flux Science Q |
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glacial ice ice core supraglacial environments mineral dust soluble ions outcropping flux Science Q Yunjie Chen Nozomu Takeuchi Feiteng Wang Zhongqin Li Characteristics of Chemical Solutes and Mineral Dust in Ice of the Ablation Area of a Glacier in Tien Shan Mountains, Central Asia |
topic_facet |
glacial ice ice core supraglacial environments mineral dust soluble ions outcropping flux Science Q |
description |
Diverse microbial communities live on glacial surfaces, with abundances and diversities dictated by the chemical and physical conditions of the supraglacial environment. Chemical solutes and mineral dust on glacial surfaces are generally derived from the atmosphere as aerosols, but they can also be supplied from glacial ice. In this study, a 56-m ice core from the ablation area of a mountain glacier in the Tien Shan Mountains of Central Asia was analyzed to characterize the chemical solutes and mineral dust in glacial ice. Soluble chemical ion and mineral dust analysis in the ice core showed that their concentrations varied with depth. The most dominant ion was Ca2+ (mean: 79.8 μEq L−1), followed by Cl−, SO42-, NH4+, and NO3−. The mean dust concentration in the glacial ice was 2.5 ×105 number ml−1. Chemical solute and mineral dust concentrations in the samples indicate that melting glacial ice could potentially affect supraglacial conditions. The annual fluxes of the major ions outcropping from glacial ice were estimated based on their concentrations and the observed melt rate of the ice surface. Consequently, they were comparable to or higher than those from the atmosphere. The mean mass flux of mineral dust from glacial ice was greater than that from the atmosphere. Our results showed that glacial ice supplies chemical solutes and mineral dust to the supraglacial environment and that changing melting rates of glacial ice would affect the chemical conditions on the glacier surface and the growth of photoautotrophs on the ablating ice surface. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Yunjie Chen Nozomu Takeuchi Feiteng Wang Zhongqin Li |
author_facet |
Yunjie Chen Nozomu Takeuchi Feiteng Wang Zhongqin Li |
author_sort |
Yunjie Chen |
title |
Characteristics of Chemical Solutes and Mineral Dust in Ice of the Ablation Area of a Glacier in Tien Shan Mountains, Central Asia |
title_short |
Characteristics of Chemical Solutes and Mineral Dust in Ice of the Ablation Area of a Glacier in Tien Shan Mountains, Central Asia |
title_full |
Characteristics of Chemical Solutes and Mineral Dust in Ice of the Ablation Area of a Glacier in Tien Shan Mountains, Central Asia |
title_fullStr |
Characteristics of Chemical Solutes and Mineral Dust in Ice of the Ablation Area of a Glacier in Tien Shan Mountains, Central Asia |
title_full_unstemmed |
Characteristics of Chemical Solutes and Mineral Dust in Ice of the Ablation Area of a Glacier in Tien Shan Mountains, Central Asia |
title_sort |
characteristics of chemical solutes and mineral dust in ice of the ablation area of a glacier in tien shan mountains, central asia |
publisher |
Frontiers Media S.A. |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.3389/feart.2022.904261 https://doaj.org/article/ea15ce7fb11e41bc9570199243f0f29c |
genre |
ice core |
genre_facet |
ice core |
op_source |
Frontiers in Earth Science, Vol 10 (2022) |
op_relation |
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feart.2022.904261/full https://doaj.org/toc/2296-6463 2296-6463 doi:10.3389/feart.2022.904261 https://doaj.org/article/ea15ce7fb11e41bc9570199243f0f29c |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3389/feart.2022.904261 |
container_title |
Frontiers in Earth Science |
container_volume |
10 |
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1766029213731651584 |