Analysis of the polydispersity of soil-like bodies in glacier environments by the laser light scattering (diffraction) method

• Published in: Biological Communications
• Main Authors: Abakumov, Evgeny, Nizamutdinov, Timur, Polyakov, Vyacheslav
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: St Petersburg State University 2021
• Subjects: soloids; cryoconites; Anuchin Glacier; Mushketov Glacier; Arctic; Antarc*; Antarctica
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.21638/spbu03.2021.302; http://hdl.handle.net/11701/33812

This study presents the results of polydispersity analysis of soil-like bodies from two various polar regions using the laser light scattering method. The differences in the particle size distribution of cryoconite samples from the Anuchin Glacier (Antarctica) and the Mushketov Glacier (Arctic) are described. The samples obtained from the Mushketov Glacier are characterized by a finer particle size distribution than samples collected on the Anuchin Glacier. While comparing our results with previously published studies, it was found that the method of laser light scattering shows a lower content of small fractions (<0.05 mm) compared to the classical methods of sedimentation, since these methods are based on fundamentally different physical principles. The laser method used requires low amounts of samples (0.2–0.5 g), while the classical sedimentary method uses a higher gravimetric portion of cryoconite (5–10 g), which is critical for field sampling. This work was supported by Russian Foundation for Basic Research, project No 19-05-50107.