Elemental variations in glacier cryoconites of Indian Himalaya and Spitsbergen, Arctic

Abstract

Cryoconite samples were collected from two different climatic domains i.e., the Sutri Dhaka glacier, western Himalaya India and Svalbard glaciers, the Spitsbergen, Arctic, to understand the elemental source and elemental deposition patterns. The data of geochemical analysis suggest that the Himalayan cryoconite samples accumulate higher concentrations as compared to the cryoconite samples of the Arctic glaciers. The concentration of lithophile elements (Cs, Li, Rb and U) was recorded higher in the cryoconite holes of the Himalayas, especially, in the lower to the higher parts of the glacier, whereas, lower concentrations were recorded in the Arctic samples. Chalcophile elements in the Himalayan cryoconites are enriched in As and Bi while the Arctic cryoconite samples show a higher concentration of Bi, Pb and As. The higher concentrations are responsible for influencing the ecosystem and in human health related issues. Siderophile elements (Co, Fe, Mn and Ni) show high concentrations in the Himalayan samples, whereas, the Arctic samples show minor variations and low elemental concentration in these elements, respectively. In addition, a few elements, such as Ag, Mg, and Ca show higher concentration in the Himalayan glacier samples. Ca also occurs in high concentrations in Arctic glacier samples. R-mode factor analysis of the Himalayas (Arctic) samples indicate that the elements are distributed in four (three) factors, explaining 89% (90%) of the variance in their elemental distribution. The Factor 1 suggests statistically significant positive loadings for most of the lithophile, chalcophile and siderophile elements of the “Himalayan” and the Arctic cryoconite samples. The sample-wise factor score distribution shows a considerable variation in the sampling locations along the glaciers of both the regions. Factors 2 and 3, demonstrate insignificant loading for most of the elements, except statistically significant positive loading in some of the elements of the both, Himalayan and Arctic “cryoconites”. The higher elemental concentration in the cryoconites of the Himalayan region may be an indicator of the natural processes and/or attributed to the rapid industrialization in the Asian countries.

Keywords

• Cryoconite
• Elemental concentration
• Factor analyses Himalaya
• Spitsbergen