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AGU: Geophysical Research Letters

 

Index Terms

  • Biogeosciences: Biosphere/atmosphere interactions
  • Biogeosciences: Evolutionary geobiology
  • Biogeosciences: Nitrogen cycling
  • Biogeosciences: Soils/pedology
  • Cryosphere: Biogeochemistry

Abstract

Isotopic composition of Antarctic Dry Valley nitrate: Implications for NOy sources and cycling in Antarctica

G. Michalski

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, USA

Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California, USA

J. G. Bockheim

Department of Soil Science, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, USA

C. Kendall

United States Geological Survey, Menlo Park, California, USA

M. Thiemens

Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California, USA

Nitrates minerals from the Dry Valleys of Antarctica have been analyzed for their oxygen and nitrogen isotopic compositions. The 15N was depleted with δ15N values ranging from −9.5 to −26.2‰, whereas the 17O and 18O isotopes were highly enriched (with excess 17O) with δ18O values spanning 62–76‰ and Δ17O values from 28.9 to 32.7‰. These are the largest 17O enrichments observed in any known mineral. The oxygen isotopes indicate that nitrate is from a combination of tropospheric transport of photochemically produced HNO3 and HNO3 formed in the stratosphere.

Received 30 November 2004; accepted 19 May 2005; published 9 July 2005.

Citation: Michalski, G., J. G. Bockheim, C. Kendall, and M. Thiemens (2005), Isotopic composition of Antarctic Dry Valley nitrate: Implications for NOy sources and cycling in Antarctica, Geophys. Res. Lett., 32, L13817, doi:10.1029/2004GL022121.

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