2011/12/01 by Dietmar Haendel, Wolf-Dieter Hermichen, Reiner Höfling +1 · 2 citations
Environmental Science · Earth and Planetary Sciences · #Polar Research and Ecology #Cryospheric studies and observations #Geology and Paleoclimatology Research
paper · doi:10.1080/10256016.2011.630464
openalex publication_date 2011/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/29
In 1983/1984, in the course of the 28th Soviet Antarctic Expedition, waterbody, ice cover, and surrounding glaciers of the lakes Untersee and Obersee were sampled along some depth profiles. The geochemical data of those samples, now available, show the homogeneity of both large lakes in vertical (down to the maximum depth) as well as in lateral directions. The comparison of isotope and chemical composition of lake water and adjoining glacier ice suggests strong differences in the long-term evolution between the lakes Untersee and Obersee. First data from a lakelet, embedded in the large morainic area to the west of Lake Untersee, are of special interest: the δ(2)H values of the lakelet water are lower than those of recent regional glacier ice by 50‰ SMOW. This fact indicates that the lakelet is fed episodically by Pleistocene dead ice, covered by the morainic material.