Scientists Reveal the Iron Records and its Sources in Glacial Basin Shallow Ice Core of the East Antarctica----Chinese Academy of Sciences

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Scientists Reveal the Iron Records and its Sources in Glacial Basin Shallow Ice Core of the East Antarctica

Mar 26, 2020

As global warming intensifies, the ice melting of polar ice sheet may release much more bioavailable Fe to the ocean and atmosphere. Therefore, the bioavailable Fe studies from atmosphere and oce an are of increasing interest in Earth science.

However, the net effects of Fe fluxes on oceanic primary productivity changes in different glacial period remain unclear. Therefore, it is necessary to estimate the reserves and sources of Fe for the Antarctica ice sheet.

During the 33^rd Chinese Antarctic Research Expedition, scientists from many universities and institutes, including the Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, drilled a shallow ice core at the lambert Glacial Basin of the East Antarctica and measured the major ion and metal elements at 5-6 cm resolution in this shallow core.

They reconstructed an annual-resolution record of iron (Fe) concentrations and fluxes in this shallow ice core. Besides, they also measured dissolved Fe and total dissolved Fe concentrations and estimated their fluxes during 1990-2017.

The results emphasized that the aeolian mineral dust and volcanic events are thought to be primary Fe sources, and the anthropogenic biomass burning may affect Fe releasing during 1990-2017.

This study will be useful to assess the modern bioavailable Fe release for the Antarctica ice sheet.

This study has been published on the Chemosphere in an article entitled "The Iron records and its sources during 1990-2017 from the Lambert Glacial Basin shallow ice core, East Antarctica".