Recent progress of glaciological studies in China

Glacier inventory compilation during the past 20 years and modifications of that for the Eastern Pamir and Banggong Lake indicate that there are 46,342 modern glaciers with a total area and volume of 59415 km2 and 5601 km3 respectively in China. These glaciers can be classified into maritime and continental (including sub-continental and extremely continental) types. Researches show that glaciers in China have been retreating since the Little Ice Age and the mass wastage was accelerated during the past 30 to 40 years. Being an important part of glaciological studies in China, ice core climatic and environmental studies on Tibetan Plateau and in the Antarctica have provided abundant, high resolution information about past climatic and environmental evolution over the Tibetan Plateau and Antarctica. Except for different parameters recorded in ice cores relating to climate and environment changes on Tibetan Plateau, records from ice cores extracted from different glaciers show that the discrepancies in climatic and environmental changes on the north and south parts of the plateau may be the consequence of different influencing effects from terrestrial and solar sources. Glaciological and meteorological phenomena imply that Lambert Glacier valley is an important boundary of climate in the east Antarctica, which is thought to be connected with cyclonic activities and Circum-polar Waves over the Antarctica.     

Rock albedo and monitoring of thermal conditions in respect of weathering: some expected and some unexpected results

Broadly speaking, there is, at least within geomorphic circles, a general acceptance that rocks with low albedos will warm both faster and to higher temperatures than rocks with high albedos, reflectivity influencing radiative warming. Upon this foundation are built notions of weathering in respect of the resulting thermal differences, both at the grain scale and at the scale of rock masses. Here, a series of paving bricks painted in 20 per cent reflectivity intervals from black through to white were used to monitor albedo‐influenced temperatures at a site in northern Canada in an attempt to test this premise. Temperatures were collected, for five months, for the rock surface and the base of the rock, the blocks being set within a mass of local sediment. Resulting thermal data did indeed show that the dark bricks were warmer than the white but only when their temperatures were equal to or cooler than the air temperature. As brick temperature exceeded that of the air, so the dark and light bricks moved to parity; indeed, the white bricks frequently became warmer than the dark. It is argued that this ‘negating’ of the albedo influence on heating is a result of the necessity of the bricks, both white and black, to convect heat away to the surrounding cooler air; the darker brick, being hotter, initially convects faster than the white as a product of the temperature difference between the two media. Thus, where the bricks become significantly hotter than the air, they lose energy to that air and so their respective temperatures become closer, the albedo influence being superceded by the requirement to equilibrate with the surrounding air. It is argued that this finding will have importance to our understanding of weathering in general and to our perceptions of weathering differences between different lithologies. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A precise monitoring of snow surface height in the region of Lambert Glacier basin-Amery Ice Shelf,East Antarctica

The net surface snow accumulation on the Antarctic ice sheet is determined by a combination of precipitation, sublimation and wind redistribution. We present a one-year record of hourly snow-height measurements at LGB69 (70°50'S, 77°04'E, 1850 m a.s.l.). east side of Lambert Glacier basin (LGB), and 4 year record at G3 (70°53'S, 69°52'E, 84 m a.s.l.), Amery Ice Shelf (AIS). The measurements were made with ultrasonic sensors mounted on automatic weather stations installed at two sites. The snow accumulation at LGB69 is approximately 70 cm. Throughout the winter, between April and September, there was little change in surface snow height (SSH) at the two sites. The negative SSH change is due to densification at LGB69, and is due to both ablation and densification at G3. The strongest accumulation at two sites occurred during the period between October and March (accounting for 101.6% at LGB69), with four episodic increasing events occurring during 2002 for LGB69, and eight events during 1999-2002 for G     

Metamorphic evolution of the Maud Belt: P–T–t path for high-grade gneisses in Gjelsvikfjella, Dronning Maud Land, East Antarctica

A metamorphic petrological study, in conjunction with recent precise geochronometric data, revealed a complex P–T–t path for high-grade gneisses in a hitherto poorly understood sector of the Mesoproterozoic Maud Belt in East Antarctica. The Maud Belt is an extensive high-grade, polydeformed, metamorphic belt, which records two significant tectono-thermal episodes, once towards the end of the Mesoproterozoic and again towards the late Neoproterozoic/Cambrian. In contrast to previous models, most of the metamorphic mineral assemblages are related to a Pan-African tectono-thermal overprint, with only very few relics of late Mesoproterozoic granulite-facies mineral assemblages (M₁) left in strain-protected domains. Petrological and mineral chemical evidence indicates a clockwise P–T–t path for the Pan-African orogeny. Peak metamorphic (M_2b) conditions recorded by most rocks in the area (T = 709–785 °C and P = 7.0–9.5 kbar) during the Pan-African orogeny were attained subsequent to decompression from probably eclogite-facies metamorphic conditions (M_2a).The new data acquired in this study, together with recent geochronological and geochemical data, permit the development of a geodynamic model for the Maud Belt that involves volcanic arc formation during the late Mesoproterozoic followed by extension at 1100 Ma and subsequent high-grade tectono-thermal reworking once during continent–continent collision at the end of the Mesoproterozoic (M₁; 1090–1030 Ma) and again during the Pan-African orogeny (M_2a, M_2b) between 565 and 530 Ma. Post-peak metamorphic K-metasomatism under amphibolite-facies conditions (M_2c) followed and is ascribed to post-orogenic bimodal magmatism between 500 and 480 Ma.     

Pan-African Tectonism in the Western Maud Belt: P-T-t Path for High-grade Gneisses in the H.U. Sverdrupfjella, East Antarctica

Extensive high-grade polydeformed metamorphic provinces surroundingArchaean cratonic nuclei in the East Antarctic Shield recordtwo tectono-thermal episodes in late Mesoproterozoic and lateNeoproterozoic–Cambrian times. In Western Dronning MaudLand, the high-grade Mesoproterozoic Maud Belt is juxtaposedagainst the Archaean Grunehogna Province and has traditionallybeen interpreted as a Grenvillian mobile belt that was thermallyoverprinted during the Early Palaeozoic. Integration of newU–Pb sensitive high-resolution ion microprobe and conventionalsingle zircon and monazite age data, and Ar–Ar data onhornblende and biotite, with thermobarometric calculations onrocks from the H.U. Sverdrupfjella, northern Maud Belt, resultedin a more complex P–T–t evolution than previouslyassumed. A c. 540 Ma monazite, hosted by an upper ampibolite-faciesmineral assemblage defining a regionally dominant top-to-NWshear fabric, provides strong evidence for the penetrative deformationin the area being of Pan-African age and not of Grenvillianage as previously reported. Relics of an eclogite-facies garnet–omphaciteassemblage within strain-protected mafic boudins indicate thatthe peak metamorphic conditions recorded by most rocks in thearea (T = 687–758°C, P = 9·4–11·3kbar) were attained subsequent to decompression from P >12·9 kbar. By analogy with limited U–Pb singlezircon age data and on circumstantial textural grounds, thisearlier eclogite-facies metamorphism is ascribed to subductionand accretion around 565 Ma. Post-peak metamorphic K-metasomatismunder amphibolite-facies conditions is ascribed to the intrusionof post-orogenic granite at c. 480 Ma. The recognition of extensivePan-African tectonism in the Maud Belt casts doubts on previousRodinia reconstructions, in which this belt takes a pivotalposition between East Antarctica, the Kalahari Craton and Laurentia.Evidence of late Mesoproterozoic high-grade metamorphism duringthe formation of the Maud Belt exists in the form of c. 1035Ma zircon overgrowths that are probably related to relics ofgranulite-facies metamorphism recorded from other parts of theMaud Belt. The polymetamorphic rocks are largely derived froma c. 1140 Ma volcanic arc and 1072 ± 10 Ma granite. KEY WORDS: Maud Belt; Pan-African orogeny; geochronology; P–T–t path, East Antarctica     

Diel stream geochemistry,Taylor Valley,Antarctica

Unlike temperate and polythermal proglacial streams, the proglacial streams in Taylor Valley (TV), Antarctica, are derived primarily from glacier surface melt with no subglacial or groundwater additions. Solute responses to flow reflect only the interaction of glacial meltwater with the valley floor surrounding the stream channel. We have investigated the major, minor and trace element 24‐h variations of two proglacial melt streams, Andersen Creek and Canada Stream, originating from the Canada Glacier in TV, Antarctica. Both streams exhibited diel mid‐austral summer diurnal flow variation, with maximum flow being more than 50 times the minimum flow. Dissolved (< 0.4 µm) major, minor and trace solute behaviors through diel periods were strongly controlled by the availability of readily solubilized material on the valley floor and hyporheic‐biological exchanges. Anderson Creek had generally greater solute concentrations than Canada Stream because of its greater receipt of eolian sediment. Andersen Creek also acquired greater solute concentrations in the rising limb of the hydrograph than the falling limb because of dissolution of eolian material at the surface of the stream channel coupled with minimal hyporheic‐biological exchange. Conversely, Canada Stream had less available eolian sediment, but a greater hyporheic‐biological exchange, which preferentially removed trace and major solutes in the rising limb and released them in the falling limb. Given the dynamic nature of discharge, eolian, and hyporheic‐biological processes, solute loads in TV streams are difficult to predict. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A diatom‐inferred record of lake variability during the last 900 years in Lützow–Holm Bay,East Antarctica

Decadal–centennial‐scale climate variability in coastal Antarctica remains poorly understood due to the limited number of highly resolved, well‐dated records. We present a 900‐year, decadal‐scale reconstruction based on sedimentary diatoms from Lake Abi in Lützow–Holm Bay, East Antarctica. Hydrological change is inferred from diatom ecological preferences in conjunction with an existing regional training set and implies that lake water specific conductivity, depth and nitrogen availability are the key drivers of diatom assemblage change. Lake Abi underwent a series of subtle environmental changes related to these environmental variables, possibly driven by changes in catchment snow melt and the duration of seasonal ice cover. Ordination is used to trace the major patterns of change in the diatom community, with notable shifts identified between 470 and 400 and at ～350 cal a BP (where present = CE 1950). The frequency of environmental variability at Lake Abi is broadly consistent with a record of the Interdecadal Pacific Oscillation during the last millennium, but contrasts with the apparent climate stability elsewhere in eastern Antarctica. Further research is required to constrain the limnological and ecological responses of lakes in coastal Antarctica to obtain more rigorous palaeoclimate reconstructions from these sites of immense potential.     

Change Analysis of Three Major Antarctic Ice Shelves Based on Multi-source Remote Sensing Data

In recent years, melting and calving happen in the Antarctic ice shelves. In this paper, seven periods of coastlines were applied to provide an analysis of the ice front changes of Ross, Filchner-Ronne and Amery ice shelves with the inclusion of 1997 and 2000 Radarsat products, 2003/2004 and 2008/2009 MODIS products and 2006, 2012, 2015 coastline which were extracted from MODIS images. Change area, SCE (Shoreline Change Envelope) and NSM (Net Shoreline Movement) were applied to analyze the variation of the ice shelf front. The results shows that, the ice front of Amery ice shelf has advanced since 1997 and the total outward extension distance of the ice front was about 20 to 25 km while the advance area reached 3.03×10³ km². Ross ice shelf and Filchner-Ronne ice shelf continued to advance after ice calving events under the driver action of glacier. However, the advance area was less than the retreat area and the net change area is respectively -9.39×10³ km² and -5.86×10³ km². The retreat distance of the collapse area were up to 53 km and 39 km in the two biggest ice shelves.