On the Use of Stable Isotopes to Trace the Origins of Ice in a Floating Ice
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VOL. 77, NO. 33 JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH NOVEMBER 20, 1972 On the Use of StableIsotopes To Tracethe Originsof Ice in a FloatingIce Tongue ANTHONY J. Gow U.S. Army Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory Hanover, New Hampshire 03755 SAMUEL EPSTEIN Division o/ Geological and Planetary Sciences,California Institute o• Technology Pasadena, California 91109 Stable isotope analysis has been used successfullyto distinguish between several different ice types in an ice tongue floating on sea water in Antarctica. At one critical location this technique has provided the only means of discriminating unambiguously between glacial ice and fresh-water ice formed from desalinated sea water. This part of the ice tongue is now underlain by a layer of desalted •a water thick enough to prevent any further accretion of sea ice at this location. The floating shelfiiketongue of the Koettlitz composedof sea ice for a distance of 26 km glacier, which extends for a distance of ap- back from the ice front. The thickness of ice proximately50 km into McMurdo Sound,Ant- varied from 9 to 15 meters, and the actual trans- arctica (Figure 1), has attracted considerable formation from a glacial ice tongue to a sea ice scientific attention mainly because of the fish shelf could be observed at a number of loca- and othermarine animals found on its ablating tions.The resultsof this exploratorydrilling not surface[Debenham, 1920, 1948, 1965; Swithin- only confirmedDebenham's long-standing hy- bank et al., 1961; Swithinbank, 1970; Gow pothesisof sea ice replacementof the Koettlitz et al., 1965; Gow, 1967]. Debenham [1920] glacierbut also disposedof any possibilitythat hypothesizedthat theseremains were originally the fresh-water ice near the Dailey Islands was incorporated into the bottom of the ice tongue glacial in origin. The exact nature of this fresh- by the freezing-onof sea water and were then water ice was not resolveduntil core samples subsequentlyexposed by ablation (melting) of were subjectedto stable isotopeanalysis. These the upper surfaceof the ice tongue. data are consideredsufficiently interesting to be The first test of Debenham's hypothesiswas published independently of the other studies conductedby Gow et al. [1965], who discovered conductedon the Koettlitz ice tongue.They not by core drilling that the ice tongue in the vi- only resolve a very interesting glaciological cinity of the Dailey Islands (located near the anomaly but with data obtained at other loca- ice front) was domposedof fresh-waterice not tions serve to demonstratethe great value of sea{ce, as wasrequired by the hypothesis.Sub- isotopicmethods in tracing the originsof the ice sequently,however, it wasdiscovered by Zotikov in a compositeglacier such as the Koettlitz. and Gow [1967] that the ice immediately up- The sametechn{que has sincebeen applied by stream of the Dailey Islands was saline. Addi- œyonset al. [1971] to help resolvethe internal tional drilling by Gow [1967] along the center structure of an arctic ice shelf. line of the ice tongue showedthat it was indeed ANALYTICAL TECI-INIQUES x Contribution 2148, Publications of the Divi- The isotopiccomposition of sea water is rela- sion of Geological and Planetary Sciences, Cali- tively constant throughout the oceans of the fornia Institute of Technology, Pasadena, Cali- world, and only minor fractionation of the fornia 91109. stable isotopesoccurs when sea water freezes. Copyright (•) 1972 by the American Geophysical Union. Accordingto Friedman et al. [1964], sea ice 6552 DEUTEl•IU• ANI) OXYGEN 18 IN SEA ICE 6553 164ø 166 ø , k1 "\ /l \ I s., o..,":..D •.;........................... ...........'.., I ),,.,,'" "..,.. ........• -•-I , , /• •'KoelllilzGlacier and,• McMurdo•• ' , ••• • .... Sound• R, , • • - • •,,", .......•i I /' , • , • , Fig. 1. Map of McMurdo Sound region showinglocations of drill holes on the Koettlitz glacier tongue. Data in this report are restrictedto measurementsmade on coresfrom holes 1, 3, and 5 and from the hole markedD, drilleddirectly in front of the easternmostDailey Island. contains only about 2% more deuterium than RESULTS AND DISCUSSION the water from which it was frozen, and a Resultsof isotopicand salinitymeasurements parallel fractionation can be expectedfor •80. of samplesfrom the Koettlitz ice tongueare The sea water to sea ice fractionationis very presented in Tables 1 and 2. Core holes 1 and minor in comparisonwith fractionationproc- 3 (seeFigure I for the locationsof drill holes) essesin the atmosphere,which ultimately lead were drilled in ice provisionallyidentified as to the precipitationin the polar regionsof snow seaice on the basisof salinityand petrographic very much depleted in deuterium and •80. The studies of the cores. Results of studies at hole principlesinvolved in the fractionationof oxy- I are presentedby Zotikov and Gow [1967], gen isotopes are discussedby Epstein and and identical relationshipswere subsequently Mayeda [1953], Dansgaard [1953], and Ep- observed in cores from hole 3. Ice from core stein [1956]. Essentially,the samerelationships hole 5 was provisionallyidentified as glacialice, apply to the fr•ctionation of the hydrogen which in terms of texture (Figure 2) and salt isotopes[Friedman et al., 1964]. Isotopevaria- content differs radically from sea ice. Stable tions are expressedhere as a deviation 3 from isotopedata in Table 1 confirmthese identifica- standardmean oceanwater (SMOW), a posi- tions completely. tive value indicatingenrichment and a negative The 3 values at the locations of holes I and 3 value indicating depletion with respect to show little if any significant variation with SMOW. depthin the ice,but they all showa slightposi- Isotopic data were supplementedby meas- tive deviation or enrichment in deuterium and urementsof electrolytic conductivityof melted •O. The only exceptionis the sampleof sea core samples. These data were then converted water obtained from the bottom of hole 3. This to salinitieson the assumptionthat the ratios water was enriched slightly in salt (41%o as of salts in the ice sampleswere the same as compared with 33%0for sea water in McMurdo those in standard sea water. Sound), probably as, a result of rejectionof 6554 Gow AND EPSTEIN TABLE1. Stable Isotope and Salinity Variations of the Koettlitz Glacier Tongue, McMurdo Sound, Antarctica Samp1e Sample •D, • 180 Salinity Ice Location Depth,meters ø/oo ø/oo ø/oo Type Hole 1 0.1 +18.5 +2.51 0.2 Sea 1 +11.8 +1.57 1.00 Sea 4 +15.2 +1.67 1.44 Sea 8 +16.1 +1.80 2.59 Sea 11 +12.9 +1.51 5.15 Sea 12 +14.6 +1.57 5.19 Sea 12.8 +15.4 +1.61 5.76 Sea Hole 3 2 +14.4 +1.76 2.10 Sea 6 +15.8 +1.74 5.26 Sea 9 +15.2 +1.90 1.75 Sea 11 +15.6 +1.66 5.82 Sea 12 +12.8 +1.77 2.88 Sea 12.9 +15.1 +1.85 5.51 Sea 15 +15.7 +1.85 5.26 Sea * =05.6 =1.12 41.0 Sea Hole Sñ 1 -288.8 -58.17 O.OS Glacial 7 -2S7.5 -55.46 0.01 Glacial For locations of samples see Figure 1. , *Sea water from bottom. ñDid not penetrate to bottom of ice tongue at this location; other two holes penetrated ice bottom. salts during freezing,and the deuteriumvalue with the theoretical and observed values re- is very closeto that reportedfor antarcticdeep portedby Friedmanet al. [1964] and with the water [Friedman et al., 1964]. The approximate valuesreported by O'Neil [1968] for fractiona- 2% enrichmentin deuteriumof the seaice over tion between ice and fresh water. that of the sea water also agreesvery closely It had been suggestedby Zotilcovand Gow TABLE2. Stable Isotope Variations in Ice from [1967] on the basis of temperature measure- the Vicinity of the Dailey Islands, Koettlitz mentsin a drill holethat brackishwater, formed Glacier Tongue, McMurdoSound, Antarctica from the mixing of sea water and glacialmelt, Sample 6D, 6180, mightbe involved'in the freezingprocess. This Depth, meters O/oo O/oo Ice Type* possibilitywas heightenedby the knowledgeof the. existenceof a body of fresh water located 4 -7.3 -0.34 FW directly beneaththe ice in the vicinity of the 6 -6.5 -0.48 FW 7 +0.4 -0.58 FW Dailey Islands[Gow et al., 1965]. However,the 7.7 -4.3 -0.62 FW 8 values at core holesI and 3 clearly showthat * -21.1 -3.16 UFW only straight sea water is freezingonto the bottom of the ice tongueat thesetwo locations. Location D in Figure 1. This freezing has producedexceptional thick- of*F•, desalinated fresh-watersea iceice' derivedUFW, unfrozen from thefresh melt water.water nesses ofsea ice. At hole4, for example, theice *Sub-icewater sample. measurednearly 15 meters thick. This thick- DEUTERIUM AND OXYGEN 18 IN SEA ICE 6555 • DAILEY ABLATING I' .... ?•. .,.,;,._•'.•.'--:?'.".:'.:'.'-'•{•'-•.","CE'-:.-:S,•L'•:-'i'-'.'-'.'-:.{:.:-:.-::Y"//•lro ..•-.".--'•i",".•----:lllllll•__-_ / •, •,.--•',':•'" ', '" : ßß ." ..... ' .' '." ...... ' .... ' ':.:"::" .':.!:'::'' '. :'1 ---- Fig. 2. Schematic crosssection of Koettlitz glacier tongue depicting (top) crystal structure characteristicsof the major ice types and (bottom) processesinvolved in its formation. The scale bar on the section of sea ice from hole 1 measures1 cm. This same scale also applies to the other three sections. Glacier ice from hole 5 is composedof equidimensional crystals and contains numerous bubbles of air. Sea ice from holes I and 3 features elongated inter- locked crystals. Parallel trains of inclusions are. brine. pockets. Very fine grained crystal structure of ice from near the tide crack at D is typical of fresh-water (F.W.) frazil. ness is. for actively growing sea ice. and cer- about. 90 km to the northwest of hole 5 on the tainly exceedsthe 12-meter maximum thick- Koettlitz ice tongue, and the low deuterium nessesof sea ice reported from the Arctic by concentrationsin Lake Vanda are attributed by Cherepaaov [1966]. Ragotzkie and Friedman [1965] to the inflow Salinities of cores from hole 5 are. less than of melt water from the. Upper Wright and thoseat locations1 and 3 by 2-3 ordersof mag- Lower Wright glaciers.