Chemical Characteristics of Snow-Firn Pack in Altai Mountains and Its EnvironmentalSignificance

Key words: 
• Kanas Glacier /
• snow-firn chemistry /
• Altai Mountains /
• backward trajectory /
• forest fires

Abstract: In order to study the chemical characteristics of snow-firn pack in Altai Mountains and its environmental significance, a 1.5-m deep snow-firn pack was dug in the accumulation zone (3 300 m a.s.l.) of the Kanas Glacier in August 2009. A total of 15 samples were analyzed for major ions. Results show that the concentrations of major ions in the snow-firn pack are NH4+>SO42->Ca2+>NO3-> Na+>Cl->K+>Mg2+. NH4+ is the dominant cation with a medium value of 4.7 ueq?L-1, accounting for 39.8% of the total cations, and SO42- is the dominant anion, with a medium value of 4.0 ueq?L-1, which accounts for 33.9% of the total cations. Compared with Belukha Glacier (Altai), Urumqi Glacier No. 1, and the Inilchek Glacier (Tienshan), there is a lower ion concentrations in the Kanas snow-firn pack. Potential sources of these chemical species are explored using correlation and empirical orthogonal function (EOF) analyses...