Formate and acetate records in the Muztagata ice core, Northwest Tibetan Plateau

Abstract

Formate and acetate concentrations are measured in a 22.56 m-depth ice core recovered in Mt. Muztagata Glacier, northwest Tibetan Plateau. The mean concentrations for formate and acetate in this ice core are 186.6±160.1 and 136.4±133.9 ng/g, respectively. Study shows that there is a positive correlation between formate and nitrate, suggesting both continental origins. However, no significant relationship has been found between formate and acetate, though they both have obvious periodical variations. Because Mt. Muztagata lies in the mid-latitude and is correlative to the nearby human activities, formate and acetate concentrations are higher than those in Greenland and Antarctica. During recent decades, the increase of formate concentration in the Muztagata ice core and formaldehyde production shows a close correlation. We preliminarily presume that the high formate concentration in the Muztagata ice core is concerned with the thriving of house decoration in which excess formaldehyde was used.

Levoglucosan concentrations in ice-core samples from the Tibetan Plateau determined by reverse-phase high-performance liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry

“…Mutztagh Ata glacier has been intensively studied for glacier formations (Yu and others, 2006), paleoclimate (Tian and others, 2006; Duan and others, 2007) and paleo-environmental studies (Wang and others, 2004; Xiang and others, 2005; Li and others, 2006a; Wu and others 2006, 2008; Liu and others, 2008; Zhao and others, 2008, 2011). Several long ice cores (Tian and others, 2007; Wu and others, 2008; Zhao and others, 2011) in the same altitude range (6350 and 7010 m a.s.l.)…”

“…Approximately 2 cm of outer ice-core layers were then removed under a class 100 laminar-flow clean bench kept at −8°C. Previous work already demonstrated that this pre-treatment is sufficient to avoid contaminations with levoglucosan (Gambaro and others, 2008), soluble ions (Zhao and others, 2011), heavy metals (Li and others, 2006a), organic acid (Wang and others, 2004) and BC (Xu and others, 2009b) from core handling and drilling. The uncontaminated core was melted at room temperature in an ultraclean precombusted 1000 mL beaker covered with aluminum foil.…”

Highly Conserved Keratin-Associated Protein 7-1 Gene in Yak, Taurine and Zebu Cattle

“…Similarly to very limited polymorphisms identified in the sheep and goat KRTAP7-1 CDS (Itenge, 2007;Zhao et al, 2007;Wang et al, 2010;Liu, 2013), the bovine KRTAP7-1 CDS was also very conserved across yak, taurine and zebu cattle in general. In fact, a comparatively high genetic diversity within domestic yak populations has been reported based on the studies involving 'neutral' genetic markers, e.g., mitochondrial DNA sequences (Guo et al, 2006;, Lai et al, 2007;Qi et al, 2008;Wang et al, 2010;Wiener et al, 2011) and nuclear autosomal microsatellite loci (Qi et al, 2005;Zhang et al, 2008). The monomorphic nature of the yak KRTAP7-1 CDS detected in this study was particularly interesting.…”

“…However, no polymorphism was present in the same fragment of two flocks including pure Merino and Merino × Romney crosses based on the PCR-SSCP protocol (Itenge, 2007). Although three genotypes determined by two alleles were detected in a 388 bp long fragment spanning the complete CDS of 126 Tibetan sheep, one single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) changing T to C was found to be located in the 5'-untraslated region (UTR) of the Tibetan sheep KRTAP7-1 gene (Wang et al, 2010). A PCR-SSCP screening of 309 Chinese Merino, 73 German Merino and 130 F1 crossbreds of the two Merino breeds also detected no polymorphism in their nearly complete CDS (data not shown).…”