Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7czq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-30T15:52:52.776Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Chemical analysis of ice vein μ-environments

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 November 2011

Robert E. Barletta  and
Christopher H. Roe
Robert E. Barletta
Affiliation:
Department of Chemistry, University of South Alabama, Mobile, AL 36688, USA ([email protected])
Christopher H. Roe
Affiliation:
Department of Chemistry, University of South Alabama, Mobile, AL 36688, USA ([email protected])
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Icy environments (glacial ice and sea ice) can be complex ecosystems, supporting a diversity of communities. In particular, the μ-environments in which bacteria and algae are found are poorly understood. One important habitat is the liquid trapped in the ice, either as veins and triple junctions inherent in the ice structure or as liquid inclusions. μ-Raman spectroscopy is an analytical tool with the potential to characterise qualitatively and quantitatively these liquid μ-environments especially with respect to molecular anions such as nitrate, sulphate, bisulphate and MSA. Using a model system for glacial ice, splat-cooled samples were prepared from aqueous solutions of these anions at varying concentrations (50–75 mM total sulphate, 30–200 mM nitrate, and 10–55 mM MSA). Concentrations of these anions in the vein liquid were measured directly and non-destructively at –15 °C using μ-Raman spectroscopy. In agreement with predicted concentrations in glacial ice veins, it was found that typical ionic concentrations in veins are quite high, with mean concentrations ranging from 0.23 M to 3.5 M depending on anion type and initial concentration. For sulphate solutions, it was also possible to measure vein pH's directly. The observed pH in these systems was extremely low, in some cases ~1. The results of these model studies as well as the implications for ice vein concentrations in natural systems of polycrystalline ice are discussed.

Type
Research Article
Information
Polar Record , Volume 48 , Issue 4 , October 2012 , pp. 334 - 341
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011

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

Barletta, R.E., Gros, B.N., and Herring, M.P.. 2009. Analysis of marine biogenic sulfur compounds using Raman spectroscopy: dimethyl sulfide and methane sulfonic acid. Journal of Raman Spectroscopy 40: 972–981.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beyer, K.D., and Hansen, A.R.. 2002. Phase diagram of the nitric acid/water system: implications for polar stratospheric clouds. Journal of Physical Chemistry A 106: 10275–10284.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beyer, K.D., Hansen, A.R., and Poston, M.. 2003. The search for sulfuric acid octahydrate: experimental evidence. Journal of Physical Chemistry A 107: 2025–2032.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beyer, K.D., Hansen, A.R, and Raddatz, N.. 2004. Experimental determination of the H2SO4/HNO3/H2O phase diagram in regions of stratospheric importance. Journal of Physical Chemistry A 108: 770–778.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bump, T.R., and Sibbitt, W.L.. 1955. Heat transfer design data - aqueous solutions of nitric acid and of sulfuric acid. Industrial Engineering Chemistry 47 (8): 1665–1670.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Christner, B.C. 2010. Bioprospecting for microbial products that affect ice crystal formation and growth. Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology 85: 481–489.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Eichen, H. 1992. The role of sea ice in structuring Antarctic ecosystems. Polar Biology 12: 3–13.Google Scholar
Hester, K.C., White, S.N., Peltzer, E.T., Brewer, P.G., and Sloan, E.D.. 2006. Raman spectroscopic measurements of synthetic gas hydrates in the ocean. Marine Chemistry 98: 304–314.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ianoul, A., Coleman, T., and Asher, S.A.. 2002. UV resonance Raman spectroscopic detection of nitrate and nitrite in wastewater treatment processes. Analytical Chemistry 74 (6): 1458–1461.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Irish, D.E., and Chen, H.. 1970. Equilibria and proton transfer in the bisulfate-sulfate system. Journal of Physical Chemistry 74 (24): 3796–3801.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kanno, H., Tomikawa, K., and Mishima, O.. 1998. Raman spectra of low- and high-density amorphous ices. Chemical Physics Letters 293: 412–416.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Knopf, D.A., Luo, B.P., Krieger, U.K., and Koop, T.. 2003. Thermodynamic dissociation constant of the bisulfate ion from Raman and ion interaction modeling studies of aqueous sulfuric acid at low temperatures. Journal of Physical Chemistry A 107: 4322–4332.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mader, H.M. 1992. The thermal behaviour of the water-vein system in polycrystalline ice. Journal of Glaciology 38: 359–374.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mader, H.M., Pettitt, M.E., Wadham, J.L., Wolff, E.W., and Parkes, R.J.. 2006. Subsurface ice as a microbial habitat. Geology 34: 169–172.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ohno, H., Igarashi, M., and Hondoh, T.. 2005. Characteristics of salt inclusions in polar ice from Dome Fuji, East Antarctica. Geophysical Research Letters 33: L0850.Google Scholar
Ohno, H., Igarashi, M., and Hondoh, T.. 2006. Salt inclusions in polar ice core: location and chemical form of water-soluble impurities. Earth and Planetary Sciences Letters 232: 171–178.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pauer, F., Kipfstuhl, J., and Kuhs, W.F.. 1995. Raman spectroscopic study on the nitrogen/oxygen ratio in natural ice clathrates in the GRIP ice core. Geophysical Research Letters 22: 969–971.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Price, B.P. 2009. Material genesis, life and death in glacial ice. Canadian Journal of Microbiology 55: 1–11.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Priscu, J.C., Christner, B.C., Foreman, C.F., and Royston-Bishop, G.. 2007. Biological material in ice cores. Encyclopedia of Quaternary Science 2: 1156–1166.Google Scholar
Rohde, R.A., and Price, P.B.. 2006. Diffusion-controlled metabolism for long-term survival of single isolated microorganisms trapped within ice crystals. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science 104: 16592–16597.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rohde, R.A, Price, P.B., Bay, R.C., and Bramall, N.E. 2008. In situ microbial metabolism as a cause of gas anomalies in ice. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science 105: 8667–8672.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Reysenbach, A., Liu, Y., Banta, A.B., Beveridge, T.J., Kirshtein, J.D., Schouten, S., Tivey, M.K., Von Damm, K.L., and Voytek, M.A.. 2006. A ubiquitous thermoacidophilic archaeon from deep-sea hydrothermal vents. Nature 442: 444–447CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sakurai, T., Ohno, H., Genceli, F.E., Horikawa, S., Iizuka, Y., Uchida, T., and Hondoh, T.. 2010. Magnesium methanesulfonate salt found in the Dome Fuji (Antarctica) ice core. Journal of Glaciology 56: 837–842.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stevens, J. 1995. The Antarctic pack-ice ecosystem. BioScience 45 (3): 128–132.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thomas, D.N., and Dieckmann, G.S.. 2002. Antarctic sea ice – a habitat for extremeophiles. Science 295: 641–644.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tung, H.C., Price, P.B., Bramall, N.E., and Vrdoljak, G.. 2006. Microorganisms metabolizing on clay grains in 3-km-deep Greenland basal ice. Astrobiology 6: 69–86.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed