Chemical Profile of the Ross Ice Shelf at Little America V, Antarctica

Abstract

Measurements of the concentrations of Na⁺K⁺, Mg²⁺, and Ca²⁺were made on 28 samples from the 255 m deep ice core from Little America V. All concentrations decrease sharply with depth from the firn–ice transition at 52 m to somewhere between 125 m and 150 m. From 150 m to 250 m the cationic concentrations are relatively constant. This is interpreted to indicate that the ice above 125 m fell as snow on the Ross Ice Shelf and that ice below 150 m originated inland on Marie Byrd Land.