Abstract
The dry valleys of Antarctica are some of the oldest terrestrial surfaces on the Earth. Despite much study of soil weathering and development, ecosystem dynamics and the occurrence of life in these extreme environments1,2,3, the reasons behind the exceptionally high salt content of the dry-valley soils4,5,6 have remained uncertain. In particular, the origins of sulphate are still controversial; proposed sources include wind-blown sea salt5,7, chemical weathering8, marine incursion9, hydrothermal processes10 and oxidation of biogenic sulphur in the atmosphere1. Here we report measurements of δ18O and δ17O values of sulphates from a range of dry-valley soils. These sulphates all have a large positive anomaly11 of 17O, of up to 3.4‰. This suggests that Antarctic sulphate comes not just from sea salt (which has no anomaly of 17O) but also from the atmospheric oxidation of reduced gaseous sulphur compounds, the only known process that can generate the observed 17O anomaly. This source is more prominent in high inland soils, suggesting that the distributions of sulphate are largely explained by differences in particle size and transport mode which exist between sea-salt aerosols and aerosols formed from biogenic sulphur emission.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 51 print issues and online access
$199.00 per year
only $3.90 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Campbell, I. B. & Claridge, G. G. C. Antarctica: Soils, Weathering Processes And Environment (Elsevier, Amsterdam, 1987).
Priscu, J. C. Ecosystem Dynamics In A Polar Desert; The McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica (American Geophysical Union, Washington DC, 1998).
Gibson, E. K., Wentworth, S. J. & McKay, D. S. Chemical weathering and diagenesis of a cold desert soil from Wright Valley, Antarctica: an analog of Martian weathering processes. J. Geophys. Res. A 88, 912– 928 (1983).
Claridge, G. G. C. & Campbell, I. B. The salts in Antarctic soils, their distribution and relationship to soil processes. Soil Sci. 123, 377–384 (1977).
Key, J. R. & Williams, K. Origin of crystalline, cold desert salts in the McMurdo region, Antarctica. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 45, 2299–2309 ( 1981).
Bockheim, J. G. Properties and classification of cold desert soils from Antarctica. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 61, 224–231 (1997).
Torii, T., Yamagata, N., Ossaka, J. & Murata, S. A view on the formation of saline waters in the Dry Valleys. Mem. Natl Inst. Polar Res., Spec. Issue (Jpn) 13, 22–33 (1979).
Linkletter, G. O. Weathering and soil formation in the dry valleys of southern Victoria Land. Possible origin for the salts in the soils. Antarct. Geol. Geophys., Symp. Antarct. Geol. Solid Earth Geophys. B 1, 441– 446 (1972).
Nakai, N., Kiyosu, Y., Wada, H. & Takimoto, M. Stable isotope studies of salts and water from Dry Valleys, Antarctica. I. Origin of salts and water, and the geologic history of Lake Vanda. Mem. Natl Inst. Polar Res., Spec. Issue (Jpn) 4, 30– 44 (1975).
Takamatsu, N., Kato, N., Matsumoto, G. I. & Torii, T. Salt origin viewed from lithium distributions in lake and pond waters in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica. Verh. Int. Verein. Theor. Angew. Limnol. 25, 954–956 ( 1993).
Clayton, R. N., Grossman, L. & Mayeda, T. K. A component of primitive nuclear composition in carbonaceous chondrites. Science 182, 485– 488 (1973).
Bao, H. & Thiemens, M. H. Generation of O2 from BaSO4 using a CO2-laser fluorination system for simultaneous analysis of δ18O and δ17O. Anal. Chem. 72, 4029–4032 (2000).
Bao, H. et al. Anomalous 17O compositions in massive sulphate deposits on the Earth. Nature 406, 176– 178 (2000).
Lee, C. C. -W. & Thiemens, M. H. δ17O and δ18O measurements of atmospheric sulfate from a coastal and high alpine regions: A mass independent isotopic anomaly. J. Geophys. Res. (submitted).
Thiemens, M. H. Atmosphere science- Mass-independent isotope effects in planetary atmospheres and the early solar system. Science 283, 341–345 (1999).
Savarino, J., Lee, C. -W. C. & Thiemens, M. H. Laboratory oxygen isotopic study of atmospheric S(IV) oxidation: origin of the mass independent oxygen isotopic anomaly in atmospheric sulfates and other sulfate deposits. J. Geophys. Res. (in the press).
Legrand, M. Sulphur-derived species in polar ice; a review. Ice Core Studies Glob. Biogeochem. Cycles 30, 91–119 (1995).
Prospero, J. M., Savoie, D. L., Saltzman, E. S. & Larsen, R. Impact of oceanic sources of biogenic sulphur on sulphate aerosol concentrations at Mawson, Antarctica. Nature 350, 221– 223 (1991).
Minikin, A. et al. Sulfur-containing species (sulfate and methanesulfonate) in coastal Antarctic aerosol and precipitation. J. Geophys. Res. 103, 10975–10990 (1998).
Bao, H., Michalski, G. & Thiemens, M. H. Sulfate oxygen-17 anomalies in desert varnishes. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta (in the press).
Schafer, J. et al. Cosmogenic noble gas studies in the oldest landscape on earth: surface exposure ages of the Dry Valleys, Antarctica. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 167, 215–226 (1999).
Petit, J. R., Briat, M. & Royer, A. Ice age aerosol content from East Antarctic ice core samples and past wind strength. Nature 293, 391– 394 (1981).
Cunningham, J. & Waddington, E. D. Air flow and dry deposition of non-sea salt sulfate in Polar firn: paleoclimatic implications. Atmos. Environ. A 27, 2943– 2956 (1993).
Bockheim, J. G. Relative age and origin of soils in eastern Wright Valley, Antarctica. Soil Sci. 128, 142–153 ( 1979).
Claridge, G. G., Campbell, I. B. & Balks, M. R. in Ecosystem Processes In Antarctic Ice-Free Landscapes (eds Howard-Williams, C. & Hawes, I.) 137– 143 (1997).
Graham, I. J., Ditchburn, R. G., Sparks, R. J. & Whitehead, N. E. 10Be investigations of sediments, soils and loess at GNS. Nucl. Instrum. Methods. Phys. Res. B 123, 307– 318 (1997).
Seinfeld, J. H. & Pandis, S. N. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics: From Air Pollution to Climate Change (Wiley, New York, 1998).
Welch, K. A., Mayewski, P. A., Whitlow, S. I. Methanesulfonic acid in coastal Antarctic snow related to sea-ice extent. Geophys. Res. Lett. 20, 443–446 (1993).
Wagenbach, D., Legrand, M., Fischer, H., Pichlmayer, F. & Wolff, E. W. Atmospheric near-surface nitrate at coastal Antarctic sites. J. Geophys. Res. A 103, 11007– 11020 (1998).
Farquhar, J., Savarino, J., Jackson, T. L. & Thiemens, M. H. Evidence of atmospheric sulphur in the Martian regolith from sulphur isotopes in meteorites. Nature 404, 50– 52 (2000).
Acknowledgements
We thank D. S. Sheppard for discussion on his recent isotopic data for sulphate and nitrate in Antarctic soils, and J. Savarino for comments. We thank NASA and the NSF for support.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Bao, H., Campbell, D., Bockheim, J. et al. Origins of sulphate in Antarctic dry-valley soils as deduced from anomalous 17O compositions. Nature 407, 499–502 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1038/35035054
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/35035054
This article is cited by
-
Diversity of Viridiplantae DNA present on rock surfaces in the Ellsworth Mountains, continental Antarctica
Polar Biology (2022)
-
Fungal diversity present on rocks from a polar desert in continental Antarctica assessed using DNA metabarcoding
Extremophiles (2021)
-
Lost cold Antarctic deserts inferred from unusual sulfate formation and isotope signatures
Nature Communications (2015)
-
Sources and elemental composition of summer aerosols in the Larsemann Hills (Antarctica)
Environmental Science and Pollution Research (2015)
-
Isotopic homogeneity of iron in the early solar nebula
Nature (2001)
Comments
By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.
