Cryoconite Hole Location in East-Antarctic Untersee Oasis Shapes Physical and Biological Diversity.

ABSTRACT: Antarctic cryoconite holes (CHs) are mostly perennially ice-lidded and sediment-filled depressions that constitute important features on glaciers and ice sheets. Once being hydrologically connected, these microbially dominated mini-ecosystems provide nutrients and biota for downstream environments. For example, the East Antarctic Anuchin Glacier gradually melts into the adjacent perennially ice-covered Lake Untersee, and CH biota from this glacier contribute up to one third of the community composition in benthic microbial mats within the lake. However, biogeochemical features of these CHs and associated spatial patterns across the glacier are still unknown. Here we hypothesized about the CH minerogenic composition between the different sources such as the medial moraine and other zones. F

SUBMITTER: Weisleitner K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7284004 | biostudies-literature | 2020

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature