Use of stable water isotopes to identify water as a source for palsa ice core formation

Yu. N. Chizhova; Yu. K. Vasil’chuk

doi:10.31857/S2076673420030047

Use of stable water isotopes to identify water as a source for palsa ice core formation

Yu. N. Chizhova, Yu. K. Vasil’chuk

https://doi.org/10.31857/S2076673420030047

Full Text:

Abstract

Isotopic characteristics of ice cores of peat mounds (palsa) are considered. The distribution of the values of δ¹⁸O, δ²H, d_exc and ratios δ¹⁸O–δ²H within the palza ice lense is associated with freezing in a closed or open system, and this allows finding the source of water for the ice formation. The use of computational modeling of the distribution of the values of δ¹⁸О and δ²Н during the ice formation in a closed system and the selection of the calculated parameters, performed in such a way that the actual values in the ice are described, show the initial isotopic characteristics of the moisture from which the ice was formed. The subject of investigation is the isotopic composition of segregated ice in the upper part of the ice core of a palsa near the Yeletsky settlement. Ice samples were obtained by drilling with a hand-held electric drill. In its upper part, the core is composed of frozen peat and loam. The source of water for the formation of segregated ice from this palsa was the atmospheric moisture with isotopic characteristics equal, on average, to: δ²Н = −106.7, δ¹⁸О = −15.3 and d_exc = 15.7 ‰. These values correspond to the current atmospheric precipitation in the vicinity of the Amderma settlement. The water of the nearest bog did not serve as a source of water for the ice formation. The same conclusion, fully confirmed by the application of the calculated approach, was obtained for the hummocky massif of the Yukon (Canada). The calculation did show that the water from which the ice of the Canadian palsa was formed was a mixture of local atmospheric precipitation (80%) and the boggy waters of the peat plateau (20%). The presence of the last water is a possible indication to re-formation of mounds, when evaporated water from bog could participate in ice core formation.

Keywords

closed system of growth, deuterium excess, isotope composition of oxygen and hydrogen, palsa, segregated ice,

About the Authors

Yu. N. Chizhova

Institute of Geology of Ore Deposits, Petrography, Mineralogy and Geochemistry, Russian Academy of Sciences
Russian Federation
Moscow

Yu. K. Vasil’chuk

Lomonosov Moscow State University
Russian Federation
Moscow

References

1. Vasil'chuk Yu.K. Reconstruction of the paleoclimate of the Late Pleistocene and Holocene on the basis of isotope studies of subsurface ice and waters of the permafrost zone. Water Resources. 1991, 17 (6): 640–647.

2. Vasil'chuk Yu.K., Vasil'chuk A.C. Ice-wedge formation in Northern Asia during the Holocene. Permafrost and Periglacial Processes. 1995, 6 (3): 273–279. doi: 10.1002/ppp.3430060309

3. Vasil’chuk Yu. K. Syngenetic ice wedges: cyclical formation, radiocarbon age and stable-isotope records. Permafrost and Periglacial Processes. 2013, 24 (1): 82–93. doi: 10.1002/ppp.1764.

4. Vasil’chuk Yu., Vasil’chuk A. Spatial distribution of mean winter air temperatures in Siberian permafrost at 20–18 ka BP using oxygen isotope data. Boreas. 2014, 43 (3): 678–687. doi: 10.1111/bor.12033.

5. Meyer H., Schirrmeister L., Andreev A., Wagner D., Hubberten H.-W., Yoshikawa K., Bobrov A., Wetterich S., Opel T., Kandiano E., Brown J. Lateglacial and Holocene isotopic and environmental history of northern coastal Alaska – results from a buried ice-wedge system at Barrow. Quaternary Science Reviews. 2010, 29: 3720–3735.

6. Meyer H., Opel T., Laepple T., Dereviagin A.Y., Hoffmann K., Werner M. Long-term winter warming trend in the Siberian Arctic during the mid- to late Holocene. Nature Geoscience. 2015, 8: 122–125.

7. Opel T., Wetterich S., Meyer H., Dereviagin A.Y., Fuchs M.C., Schirrmeister L. Ground-ice stable isotopes and cryostratigraphy reflect late Quaternary palaeoclimate in the Northeast Siberian Arctic (Oyogos Yar coast, Dmitry Laptev Strait). Climate of the Past. 2017, 13: 587–611.

8. Opel T., Meyer H., Wetterich S., Laepple T., Dereviagin A., Murton J. Ice wedges as archives of winter paleoclimate: A review. Permafrost and Periglacial Processes. 2018, 29 (3): 199–209.

9. Mikhalev D.V. Oxygen isotope analysis of texture-forming ice. Izotopno-kislorodnyi sostav podzemnykh l'dov. Oxygen isotope composition of underground ice. Moscow: MSU, 1996: 38–82. [In Russian].

10. Schwamborn G., Meyer H., Fedorov G., Schirrmeister L., Hubberten H.-W. Ground ice and slope sediments archiving late Quaternary paleoenvironment and paleoclimate signals at the margins of El'gygytgyn Impact Crater, NE Siberia. Quaternary Research. 2006, 66: 259–272.

11. Schirrmeister L., Grosse G., Schnelle M., Fuchs M., Krbetschek M., Ulrich M., Kunitsky V., Grigoriev M., Andreev A., Kenast F., Meyer H., Babiy O., Klimova I., Bobrov A., Wetterich S., Schwamborn G. Late Quaternary paleoenvironmental records from the western Lena Delta, Arctic Siberia. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. 2011, 299: 175–196.

12. Wetterich S., Rudaya N., Tumskoy V., Andreev A., Opel T., Schirrmeister L., Meyer H. Last Glacial Maximum records in permafrost of the East Siberian Arctic. Quarternary Science Reviews. 2011, 13: 3139–3151.

13. Budantseva N.A., Chizhova Ju.N., Bludushkina L.B., Vasilchuk Yu.K. Stable isotopes of oxygen, hydrogen and carbon and age of the palsa near the village of Yeletsky, northeast of the Bolshezemelskaya tundra. Arktika i Antarktika. Arctic and Antarctic. 2017, 4: 38–56. doi: 10.7256/2453-8922.2017.4.25087. [In Russian].

14. van Everdingen R.О. Frost mounds at Bear Rock near Fort Norman, Northwest Territories 1975–1976. Canadian Journ. of Earth Sciences. 1978, 15: 263–276.

15. van Everdingen R.О. Frost Blisters of the Bear Rock Spring Area near Fort Norman, N.W.T. Arctic. 1982, 35 (2): 243–265.

16. Harris S. A., Schmidt I.H., Krouse H.R. Hydrogen and oxygen isotopes and the origin of the ice in peat plateaus. Permafrost and Periglacial Processes. 1992, 3 (1): 19–27.

17. Harris S.A., Waters N.M., Krouse H.R. Hydrogen and oxygen isotopes and the origin of the ice in peat plateaus: reply. Permafrost and Periglacial Processes. 1993, 4 (3): 269–275.

18. Michel F.A. Isotope geochemistry of frost-blister ice, North Fork Pass, Yukon, Canada. Canadian Journ. of Earth Sciences. 1986, 23 (4): 543–549.

19. Evseev V.P. Migratsionnyye bugry pucheniya Severo-Vostoka Yevpropeyskoy chasti SSSR i Zapadnoy Sibiri. Migration hillocks of heaving of the North-East of the European part of the USSR and Western Siberia. PhD. Moscow: Lomonosov State University, 1974: 159 p. [In Russian].

20. Dubinina E.O., Chizhova Ju.N., Kossova S.A., Avdeenko A.S., Miroshnikov A.Yu. Formation of isotope parameters (δD, δ18O, d) of glaciers and water runoff from the North Island of the Novaya Zemlya archipel ago. Okeanologiya. Oceanology. 2020, 60 (2): 200–215. doi: 10.31857/S0030157420010098. [In Russian].

21. Lehmann M., Siegenthaler U. Equilibrium oxygen- and hydrogen-isotope fractionation between ice and water. Journ. of Glaciology. 1991, 37 (125): 23–26.

22. Souchez R.A., Jouzel J. On the Isotopic Composition in δD and δ18O of Water and Ice During Freezing. Journ. of Glaciology. 1984, 30 (106): 369–372.

23. Lacelle D. On the δ18O, δD and d-excess relations in meteoric precipitation and during equilibrium freezing: Theoretical approach and field examples. Permafrost and Periglacial Processes. 2011, 22 (1): 13–25.

24. Chizhova Ju.N., Vasil’chuk Yu.K. Use of stable water isotopes to identify stages of the pingo ice core formation. Led i Sneg. Ice and Snow. 2018, 58 (4): 507–523. [In Russian].

25. Derevyagin A.Yu., Chizhov AB, Mayer H., Opel T., Shirrmeister L., Vetterikh S. Isotopic composition of texture ices of the Laptev Sea. Kriosfera Zemli. Earth Cryosphere. 2013, 17 (3): 27–34. [In Russian].

26. Derevyagin AY, AB Chizhov, Mayer H., Opel T. Com parative Analysis of the isotopic composition of icewedges and texture ice of the Laptev Sea coast. Kriosfera Zemli. Earth Cryosphere. 2016, 20 (2): 15–24. [In Russian].

27. Konishchev V.N., Golubev V.N., Rogov V.V., Sokratov S.A., Tokarev I.V. Experimental study of isotopic fractionation of water during segregation ice formation. Kriosfera Zemli. Earth Cryosphere. 2014, 18 (3): 3–10. [In Russian].

28. Zoltai S.C., Tarnocai C. Perennialy frozen peatlands in the western Arctic and Subarctic of Canada. Canadian Journ. of Erath Sciences. 1975, 12: 28–43.

29. Vasilchuk Yu.K., Vasilchuk A.C., Budantseva N.A., Chizhova Ju.N. Vypuklyye bugry pucheniya mnogoletnemerzlykh torfyanykh massivov. Palsa of frozen peat mires. Moscow: MSU, 2008: 571 p. [In Russian].

30. Romanovsky N.N. Osnovy kriogeneza litosfery: Uchebnoye posobiye. Fundamentals of cryogenesis of the lith osphere. Moscow: MSU, 1993: 336 p. [In Russian].

31. Alewell C., Giesler R., Klaminder J., Leifeld J., Rollog M. Stable carbon isotopes as indicators for environmental change in palsa peats. Biogeosciences. 2011, 8: 1769–1778.

32. Krüger J. P., Leifeld J., Alewell C. Degradation changes stable carbon isotope depth profiles in palsa peatlands. Biogeosciences. 2014, 11: 3369–3380.

33. Burn C.R. Hydrogen and oxygen isotopes and the origin of the ice in peat plateaus: Discussion. Permafrost and Periglacial Processes. 1993, 4 (3): 265–267.

34. Dever L., Hillaire-Marcel C., Fontes J.C.H. Composition isotopique, géochimie et genese de la glace en len tilles (palsen) dans les tourbieres du Nouveau-Quebec (Canada). Journ. of Hydrology. 1984, 71: 107–130.

Supplementary files

For citation: Chizhova Y.N., Vasil’chuk Y.K. Use of stable water isotopes to identify water as a source for palsa ice core formation. Ice and Snow. 2020;60(3):395-408. https://doi.org/10.31857/S2076673420030047

Refbacks

There are currently no refbacks.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

ISSN 2076-6734 (Print)
ISSN 2412-3765 (Online)

Username
Password