Results of the geochemical and magnetic studies on natural mineral aerosol deposited and trapped in glaciers (cryodust). Samples were collected from glacial cores taken from five glaciers of Southern Spitsbergen (Svalbard, Norway).
The samples were collected by means of a hand-operated Kovacs Enterprise® Mark II coring system. Samples (90 mm in diameter) were packed into polyethylene bags, secured, and transported to the Polish Polar Station Hornsund. The core samples were rinsed using deionized water (Polwater DL100; Norm PN-EN ISO 117 3696:1999; conductivity <0.06 μS/cm) and melted at room temperature in the closed new polyethylene bags. After melting samples were filtered through pre-rinsed sterile Millipore Mixed Cellulose Esters filters (white gridded and 0.45 𝜇𝜇m pore size). After filtration, the filters with residuum were dryer at the temperature of 60oC.
Solid particulates of cryodust were subjected to analysis by Electron MicroProbe (EMP) with special attention paid to their internal structure. A scanning electron microscope (SEM) fitted with a backscattered electron (BSE) detector was used to trace grains topography and composition. Special attention was given to monazite chemical dating. Magnetic methods comprised analyses of magnetic susceptibility κ vs temperature T variations and determination of magnetic hysteresis parameters.
More about the methodology, analyses and results can be found here: https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos11121325
Data collection was supported by the Institute of Geophysics, Polish Academy of Sciences (IG PAS), within statutory activity No. 3841/E-41/S/2020 of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of Poland; EPOS-PL (No POIR.04.02.00-14-A003/16), co-financed by the European Union from the funds of the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) to the laboratory facilities used in the study at IG PAS; The Research Council of Norway (Arctic Field Grant 2018 No. 282538, RiS ID: 10917) and the Centre for Polar Studies (the Leading National Research Centre in Earth Sciences for 2014–2018) funding, No. 03/KNOW2/2014.