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Salts in the dry valleys of AntarticaThe Dry Valleys of Antarctica are examples of polar deserts which are rare geological features on the Earth. Such deserts typically have high salinities associated with their closed-basin waters and on many surficial materials throughout them. In order to examine the possible sources for the salts observed in association with the soils in the Dry Valleys. The chloride and bromide concentrations of the water leachates from 58 soils and core samples were measured. The Cl/Br ratio for seawater is 289 and ratios measured for most of the 58 soils studied (greater than 85% of the soils studied) was larger than the seawater ratio (ratios typically were greater than 1000 and ranged up to 50,000). The enrichment in Cl relative to Br is strong evidence that the alts present within the soils were derived from seawater during ordinary evaporation processes, and not from the deposition of Cl and Br from aerosols or from rock weathering as has often been suggested.
Document ID
19840015442
Acquisition Source
Legacy CDMS
Document Type
Other - Other
Authors
Gibson, E. K., Jr.
(NASA Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center Houston, TX, United States)
Presley, B. J.
(Texas A&M Univ.)
Hatfield, J.
(Utah State Univ.)
Date Acquired
August 12, 2013
Publication Date
April 1, 1984
Publication Information
Publication: NASA. Washington Repts. of Planetary Geol. Program
Subject Category
Geophysics
Accession Number
84N23510
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Work of the US Gov. Public Use Permitted.
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