Abstract
Ion exchange and flameless atomic absorption spectrophotometry methods were used to measure the concentrations of sodium, manganese, iron and silver in snow accumulating at several sites on the Antarctic continent. The results show that the ratio of Mn/Fe is consistently close to the crustal value at all sites. The silver concentrations observed suggest a different origin, probably oceanic. When referenced to sodium, the degrees of enrichment of silver, manganese and iron increase by factors of 8, 2 and 2 respectively over a distance of 500 km from the ocean, after changes in sodium are accounted for.
Investigation of the heavy metal content of fresh falling precipitation occorring on the Ross Ice Shelf, has shown that more enhanced enrichments of silver, manganese and iron occur in this fresh precipitation by factors up to 100, than in samples of snow and firn collected from shallow (up to 2 meters depth) pits at the same locations. Because the occurrences of these precipitation types vary temporally and geographically, it seems apparent that the shear stress conditions in the near surface boundary layer need to be considered in studies of snow and ice chemistry, particularly in polar regions where the chemical composition of permanent snow and ice fields are often investigated for evidence of climatic change, of glaciological behavior and of origins of chemical constituents.
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Warburton, J.A., Molenar, J.V., Owens, M.S. et al. Heavy metal enrichment in Antarctic precipitation and near surface snow. PAGEOPH 118, 1130–1144 (1980). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01593054
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01593054