Benthic meltwater fjord habitats formed by rapid glacier recession on King George Island, Antarctica.

ABSTRACT: The coasts of the West Antarctic Peninsula are strongly influenced by glacier meltwater discharge. The spatial structure and biogeochemical composition of inshore habitats are shaped by large quantities of terrigenous particulate material deposited in the vicinity of the coast, which impacts the pelagic and benthic ecosystems. We used a multitude of geochemical and environmental variables to identify the radius extension of the meltwater impact from the Fourcade Glacier into the fjord system of Potter Cove, King George Island. The k-means cluster algorithm, canonical correspondence analysis, variance analysis and Tukey's post hoc multiple comparison tests were applied to define and cluster coastal meltwater habitats. A minimum of 10 clusters were needed to classify the 8 km²

SUBMITTER: Jerosch K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5954476 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature