The soil geochemistry in the Beardmore Glacier region, Antarctica : implications for terrestrial ecosystem history
Although most models suggest continental Antarctica was covered by ice during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) it has been speculated that endemic species of soil invertebrates could have survived the Pleistocene at high elevation habitats protruding above the ice sheets. We analyzed a series of soil...
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Online Access: | http://handle.uws.edu.au:8081/1959.7/uws:36043 https://doi.org/10.1038/srep26189 |
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ftunivwestsyd:oai:researchdirect.westernsydney.edu.au:uws_36043 2023-05-15T13:53:35+02:00 The soil geochemistry in the Beardmore Glacier region, Antarctica : implications for terrestrial ecosystem history Lyons, W. Berry Deuerling, Kelly Welch, Kathleen A. Welch, Susan A. Michalski, Gregory Walters, Wendell W. Nielsen, Uffe N. (R17023) Wall, Diana H. Hogg, Ian D. Adams, Byron J. Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment (Host institution) 2016 print 8 http://handle.uws.edu.au:8081/1959.7/uws:36043 https://doi.org/10.1038/srep26189 eng eng U.K., Nature Publishing Group Scientific Reports--2045-2322 Vol. 6 No. 26189 This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in the credit line; if the material is not included under the Creative Commons license, users will need to obtain permission from the license holder to reproduce the material. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ CC-BY XXXXXX - Unknown soil chemistry Beardmore Glacier (Antarctica) Last Glacial Maximum journal article Text 2016 ftunivwestsyd https://doi.org/10.1038/srep26189 2020-12-05T18:28:17Z Although most models suggest continental Antarctica was covered by ice during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) it has been speculated that endemic species of soil invertebrates could have survived the Pleistocene at high elevation habitats protruding above the ice sheets. We analyzed a series of soil samples from different elevations at three locations along the Beardmore Glacier in the Transantarctic Mountains (in order of increasing elevation): Ebony Ridge (ER), Cloudmaker (CM), and Meyer Desert (MD). Geochemical analyses show the MD soils, which were exposed during the LGM, were the least weathered compared to lower elevations, and also had the highest total dissolved solids (TDS). MD soils are dominated by nitrate salts (NO3/Cl ratios 10) that can be observed in SEM images. High Δ17O and Δ18O values of the nitrate indicate that its source is solely of atmospheric origin. It is suggested that nitrate concentrations in the soil may be utilized to determine a relative "wetting age" to better assess invertebrate habitat suitability. The highest elevation sites at MD have been exposed and accumulating salts for the longest times, and because of the salt accumulations, they were not suitable as invertebrate refugia during the LGM. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctica Beardmore Glacier University of Western Sydney (UWS): Research Direct Beardmore ENVELOPE(174.900,174.900,-83.350,-83.350) Beardmore Glacier ENVELOPE(170.000,170.000,-84.500,-84.500) Cloudmaker ENVELOPE(169.417,169.417,-84.283,-84.283) Ebony Ridge ENVELOPE(172.767,172.767,-83.767,-83.767) Meyer Desert ENVELOPE(166.750,166.750,-85.133,-85.133) Transantarctic Mountains Scientific Reports 6 1 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of Western Sydney (UWS): Research Direct |
op_collection_id |
ftunivwestsyd |
language |
English |
topic |
XXXXXX - Unknown soil chemistry Beardmore Glacier (Antarctica) Last Glacial Maximum |
spellingShingle |
XXXXXX - Unknown soil chemistry Beardmore Glacier (Antarctica) Last Glacial Maximum Lyons, W. Berry Deuerling, Kelly Welch, Kathleen A. Welch, Susan A. Michalski, Gregory Walters, Wendell W. Nielsen, Uffe N. (R17023) Wall, Diana H. Hogg, Ian D. Adams, Byron J. The soil geochemistry in the Beardmore Glacier region, Antarctica : implications for terrestrial ecosystem history |
topic_facet |
XXXXXX - Unknown soil chemistry Beardmore Glacier (Antarctica) Last Glacial Maximum |
description |
Although most models suggest continental Antarctica was covered by ice during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) it has been speculated that endemic species of soil invertebrates could have survived the Pleistocene at high elevation habitats protruding above the ice sheets. We analyzed a series of soil samples from different elevations at three locations along the Beardmore Glacier in the Transantarctic Mountains (in order of increasing elevation): Ebony Ridge (ER), Cloudmaker (CM), and Meyer Desert (MD). Geochemical analyses show the MD soils, which were exposed during the LGM, were the least weathered compared to lower elevations, and also had the highest total dissolved solids (TDS). MD soils are dominated by nitrate salts (NO3/Cl ratios 10) that can be observed in SEM images. High Δ17O and Δ18O values of the nitrate indicate that its source is solely of atmospheric origin. It is suggested that nitrate concentrations in the soil may be utilized to determine a relative "wetting age" to better assess invertebrate habitat suitability. The highest elevation sites at MD have been exposed and accumulating salts for the longest times, and because of the salt accumulations, they were not suitable as invertebrate refugia during the LGM. |
author2 |
Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment (Host institution) |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Lyons, W. Berry Deuerling, Kelly Welch, Kathleen A. Welch, Susan A. Michalski, Gregory Walters, Wendell W. Nielsen, Uffe N. (R17023) Wall, Diana H. Hogg, Ian D. Adams, Byron J. |
author_facet |
Lyons, W. Berry Deuerling, Kelly Welch, Kathleen A. Welch, Susan A. Michalski, Gregory Walters, Wendell W. Nielsen, Uffe N. (R17023) Wall, Diana H. Hogg, Ian D. Adams, Byron J. |
author_sort |
Lyons, W. Berry |
title |
The soil geochemistry in the Beardmore Glacier region, Antarctica : implications for terrestrial ecosystem history |
title_short |
The soil geochemistry in the Beardmore Glacier region, Antarctica : implications for terrestrial ecosystem history |
title_full |
The soil geochemistry in the Beardmore Glacier region, Antarctica : implications for terrestrial ecosystem history |
title_fullStr |
The soil geochemistry in the Beardmore Glacier region, Antarctica : implications for terrestrial ecosystem history |
title_full_unstemmed |
The soil geochemistry in the Beardmore Glacier region, Antarctica : implications for terrestrial ecosystem history |
title_sort |
soil geochemistry in the beardmore glacier region, antarctica : implications for terrestrial ecosystem history |
publisher |
U.K., Nature Publishing Group |
publishDate |
2016 |
url |
http://handle.uws.edu.au:8081/1959.7/uws:36043 https://doi.org/10.1038/srep26189 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(174.900,174.900,-83.350,-83.350) ENVELOPE(170.000,170.000,-84.500,-84.500) ENVELOPE(169.417,169.417,-84.283,-84.283) ENVELOPE(172.767,172.767,-83.767,-83.767) ENVELOPE(166.750,166.750,-85.133,-85.133) |
geographic |
Beardmore Beardmore Glacier Cloudmaker Ebony Ridge Meyer Desert Transantarctic Mountains |
geographic_facet |
Beardmore Beardmore Glacier Cloudmaker Ebony Ridge Meyer Desert Transantarctic Mountains |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctica Beardmore Glacier |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctica Beardmore Glacier |
op_relation |
Scientific Reports--2045-2322 Vol. 6 No. 26189 |
op_rights |
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in the credit line; if the material is not included under the Creative Commons license, users will need to obtain permission from the license holder to reproduce the material. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1038/srep26189 |
container_title |
Scientific Reports |
container_volume |
6 |
container_issue |
1 |
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1766258783452921856 |