Quantifying sulfate components and their variations in soils of the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica

Many soils of the McMurdo Dry Valleys (MDV), Antarctica, being old, hyperarid, and frigid, have accumulated abundant atmospheric salts over the last several million years. This salt repository offers an opportunity to study atmospheric chemistry (past and present), the origin and transport of ions i...

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Published in:Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres
Main Authors: Bao, Huiming, Marchant, David R.
Format: Text
Language:unknown
Published: LSU Scholarly Repository 2006
Subjects:
Online Access:https://repository.lsu.edu/geo_pubs/247
https://doi.org/10.1029/2005JD006669
https://repository.lsu.edu/context/geo_pubs/article/1246/viewcontent/247.pdf
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spelling ftlouisianastuir:oai:repository.lsu.edu:geo_pubs-1246 2024-09-15T17:46:44+00:00 Quantifying sulfate components and their variations in soils of the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica Bao, Huiming Marchant, David R. 2006-08-27T07:00:00Z application/pdf https://repository.lsu.edu/geo_pubs/247 https://doi.org/10.1029/2005JD006669 https://repository.lsu.edu/context/geo_pubs/article/1246/viewcontent/247.pdf unknown LSU Scholarly Repository https://repository.lsu.edu/geo_pubs/247 doi:10.1029/2005JD006669 https://repository.lsu.edu/context/geo_pubs/article/1246/viewcontent/247.pdf Faculty Publications text 2006 ftlouisianastuir https://doi.org/10.1029/2005JD006669 2024-08-08T04:27:15Z Many soils of the McMurdo Dry Valleys (MDV), Antarctica, being old, hyperarid, and frigid, have accumulated abundant atmospheric salts over the last several million years. This salt repository offers an opportunity to study atmospheric chemistry (past and present), the origin and transport of ions in soils, the weathering activity of soils, and postdepositional soil-leaching processes within this unique environment. In particular, soil sulfate in the MDV is known to have multiple origins, but the precise proportions of different sulfate components remain elusive. Here we test a hypothesis that soil sulfate in the MDV is a predictable mixture of three major components: sea-salt sulfate, non-sea-salt sulfate, and background sulfate (derived from weathering and volcanic sources) that to a large extent, varies as a function of elevation and distance from the coast. By measuring sulfate's three stable isotope parameters, i.e., Δ17O, δ18O, and δ34S, plus estimating independently the end-member stable isotope parameters for the three components on the basis of published reports and our measured data, we solve explicitly the mixing proportion for each component using a set of three simultaneous linear equations. The results from four spatially representative soil profiles show that the sum of such calculated proportions for the three components is very close to unity in most samples, suggesting that a simple three-component mixing model is a good representation of the soil sulfate budget. While significant uncertainties still exist in the isotope compositions of different sulfate end-members, these data provide important initial constraints on sulfate diversity as well as its spatial and vertical distribution in the MDV. Copyright 2006 by the American Geophysical Union. Text Antarc* Antarctica McMurdo Dry Valleys LSU Digital Commons (Louisiana State University) Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres 111 D16
institution Open Polar
collection LSU Digital Commons (Louisiana State University)
op_collection_id ftlouisianastuir
language unknown
description Many soils of the McMurdo Dry Valleys (MDV), Antarctica, being old, hyperarid, and frigid, have accumulated abundant atmospheric salts over the last several million years. This salt repository offers an opportunity to study atmospheric chemistry (past and present), the origin and transport of ions in soils, the weathering activity of soils, and postdepositional soil-leaching processes within this unique environment. In particular, soil sulfate in the MDV is known to have multiple origins, but the precise proportions of different sulfate components remain elusive. Here we test a hypothesis that soil sulfate in the MDV is a predictable mixture of three major components: sea-salt sulfate, non-sea-salt sulfate, and background sulfate (derived from weathering and volcanic sources) that to a large extent, varies as a function of elevation and distance from the coast. By measuring sulfate's three stable isotope parameters, i.e., Δ17O, δ18O, and δ34S, plus estimating independently the end-member stable isotope parameters for the three components on the basis of published reports and our measured data, we solve explicitly the mixing proportion for each component using a set of three simultaneous linear equations. The results from four spatially representative soil profiles show that the sum of such calculated proportions for the three components is very close to unity in most samples, suggesting that a simple three-component mixing model is a good representation of the soil sulfate budget. While significant uncertainties still exist in the isotope compositions of different sulfate end-members, these data provide important initial constraints on sulfate diversity as well as its spatial and vertical distribution in the MDV. Copyright 2006 by the American Geophysical Union.
format Text
author Bao, Huiming
Marchant, David R.
spellingShingle Bao, Huiming
Marchant, David R.
Quantifying sulfate components and their variations in soils of the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica
author_facet Bao, Huiming
Marchant, David R.
author_sort Bao, Huiming
title Quantifying sulfate components and their variations in soils of the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica
title_short Quantifying sulfate components and their variations in soils of the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica
title_full Quantifying sulfate components and their variations in soils of the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica
title_fullStr Quantifying sulfate components and their variations in soils of the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica
title_full_unstemmed Quantifying sulfate components and their variations in soils of the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica
title_sort quantifying sulfate components and their variations in soils of the mcmurdo dry valleys, antarctica
publisher LSU Scholarly Repository
publishDate 2006
url https://repository.lsu.edu/geo_pubs/247
https://doi.org/10.1029/2005JD006669
https://repository.lsu.edu/context/geo_pubs/article/1246/viewcontent/247.pdf
genre Antarc*
Antarctica
McMurdo Dry Valleys
genre_facet Antarc*
Antarctica
McMurdo Dry Valleys
op_source Faculty Publications
op_relation https://repository.lsu.edu/geo_pubs/247
doi:10.1029/2005JD006669
https://repository.lsu.edu/context/geo_pubs/article/1246/viewcontent/247.pdf
op_doi https://doi.org/10.1029/2005JD006669
container_title Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres
container_volume 111
container_issue D16
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