Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t8hqh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-02T18:55:36.535Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Modelled composition of cryogenically produced subglacial brines, Antarctica

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 March 2019

Christopher B. Gardner Open the ORCID record for Christopher B. Gardner [Opens in a new window]  and
W. Berry Lyons
Christopher B. Gardner*
Affiliation:
School of Earth Sciences and Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 43210, USA
W. Berry Lyons
Affiliation:
School of Earth Sciences and Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 43210, USA
*
[email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Polar subglacial hydrologic systems have garnered much interest since the recognition of Lake Vostok in 1996. In Antarctica, these environments are hydrologically diverse, including isolated lakes of different sizes, river–lake flow-through systems, “swamps” and groundwater (Siegert 2016). The refreezing of subglacial meltwater is also an important process beneath a large portion of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet (Bell et al. 2011). As subglacial water refreezes it exsolves salts, potentially leaving behind saline and hypersaline brines. Brines thought to derive from this cryoconcentration process have been observed in the northern polar permafrost regions and in the McMurdo Dry Valleys (MDVs) region of Antarctica. Additionally, sediments in the Victoria Land Basin have diagenetic signatures produced by brine movement dating from 3–11 m.y.a, suggesting hypersaline brines have existed in the McMurdo region since at least this time (Staudigel et al. 2018).

Type
Short Note
Information
Antarctic Science , Volume 31 , Issue 3 , June 2019 , pp. 165 - 166
Copyright
Copyright © Antarctic Science Ltd 2019 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bell, R.E., Ferraccioli, F., Creyts, T.T., Braaten, D., Corr, H., Das, I., Damaske, D., et al. 2011. Widespread persistent thickening of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet by freezing from the base. Science, 331, 10.1126/science.1200109.Google Scholar
Christner, B.C., Priscu, J.C., Achberger, A.M., Barbante, C., Carter, S.P., Christianson, K., et al. 2014. A microbial ecosystem beneath the West Antarctic Ice Sheet. Nature, 512, 10.1038/nature13667.Google Scholar
Frank, T.D., Gui, Z. & ANDRILL SMS Science Team. 2010. Cryogenic origin for brine in the subsurface of southern McMurdo Sound, Antarctica. Geology, 38, 10.1130/G30849.1.Google Scholar
Goodwin, I.D. 1988. The nature and origin of a jökulhlaup near Casey Station, Antarctica. Journal of Glaciology, 34, 95–101.Google Scholar
Lang Farmer, G., Licht, K., Swope, R.J. & Andrews, J. 2006. Isotopic constraints on the provenance of fine-grained sediment in LGM tills from the Ross Embayment, Antarctica. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 249, 10.1016/j.epsl.2006.06.044.Google Scholar
Lyons, W.B., Mikucki, J.A., German, L.A., Welch, K.A., Welch, S.A., Gardner, C.B., et al. 2019. The geochemistry of englacial brine from Taylor Glacier, Antarctica. Journal of Geophysical Research - Biogeosciences, 10.1029/2018JG004411.Google Scholar
Marion, G.M. & Kargel, J.S. 2008. Cold Aqueous Planetary Geochemistry with FREZCHEM. Berlin: Springer, 251 pp.Google Scholar
Michaud, A.B., Skidmore, M.L., Mitchell, A.C., Vick-Majors, T.J., Barbante, C., Turetta, C., et al. 2016. Solute sources and geochemical processes in subglacial Lake Whillans, West Antarctica. Geology, 44, 10.1130/G37639.1.Google Scholar
Rutishauser, A., Blankenship, D.D., Sharp, M., Skidmore, M.L., Greenbaum, J.S., Grima, C., et al. 2018. Discovery of a hypersaline subglacial lake complex beneath Devon Ice Cap, Canadian Arctic. Science Advances, 4, 10.1126/sciadv.aar4353.Google Scholar
Siegert, M.J. 2016. A wide variety of unique environments beneath the Antarctic ice sheet. Geology, 44, 10.1130/focus052016.1.Google Scholar
Siegert, M.J., Tranter, M., Ellis-Evans, J.C., Priscu, J.C. & Lyons, B.W. 2003. The hydrochemistry of Lake Vostok and the potential for life in Antarctic subglacial lakes. Hydrological Processes, 17, 10.1002/hyp.1166.Google Scholar
Skidmore, M., Tranter, M., Tulaczyk, S. & Lanoil, B. 2010. Hydrochemistry of ice stream beds – evaporitic or microbial effects? Hydrological Processes, 2274, 10.1002/hyp.7580.Google Scholar
Staudigel, P.T., Murray, S., Dunham, D.P., Frank, T.D., Fielding, C.R. & Swart, P.K. 2018. Cryogenic brines as diagenetic fluids: reconstructing the diagenetic history of the Victoria Land Basin using clumped isotopes. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 224, 10.1016/j.gca.2018.01.002.Google Scholar