Chlorine-36 tracing of salinity sources in the Dry Valleys of Victoria Land, Antarctica

Halogen geochemistry of the McMurdo dry valleys lakes, Antarctica: Clues to the origin of solutes and lake evolution

“…Until now, 129 I investigations of brines in the polar regions have been limited to fracture fluids emplaced in the Canadian Shield and northern Europe during previous ice ages Bottomley et al, 2002;Starinsky and Katz, 2003). This study complements work of the past decade, where the environmental isotope 36 Cl was employed to determine salinity sources to the lakes in the dry valleys (Carlson et al, 1990;Lyons et al, 1998c) and also provides direct evidence of the active processes leading to the observed 129 I/I and 36 Cl/Cl ratios in polar regions. This multi-faceted approach provides compelling evidence that the age of the lakes, their location within the landscape, and their overall "sensitivity" to climate change have all influenced their isotopic composition and geochemical evolution.…”

“…We have plotted the 129 I/I data from January 2002 vs. the previously published 36 Cl/Cl data from the lakes (Carlson et al, 1990;Lyons et al, 1998c) in Figure 7. Both the Stripa Granite and the Milk River aquifer data are shown to illustrate the difference Bottomley et al (2002), Stripa brines from Fabryka-Martin et al (1989) and Milk River brines from Fabryka-Martin et al (1991).…”

The Saline Lakes of the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica

“…The first test of this ''mixture model'' was carried out by Carlson et al (1990) using 36 Cl as a tracer of salt origin. Their conclusion was supportive of a two-source origin and was stated as follows: '' Wilson (1979Wilson ( , 1981 suggested shallow groundwater as a main source of salt to Lake Vanda based on 3 H data.…”

Environmental Factors Associated with Deep Chlorophyll Maxima in Dry Valley Lakes, South Victoria Land, Antarctica

“…This lake is meromictic, containing a deeper water zone (a monimolimnion below 50 m) that is permanently stable and an upper layer that circulates during the six to eight week period of water inflow (Carlson et al, 1990;Jones-Lee and Lee, 1993). Lake Vanda has a sharp peak of chlorophyll-a at 60 m depth, and is among the most extreme oligotrophic lakes in the world (Parker et al, 1982).…”