New Zealand Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research abstracts

---

Heavy metal content of meltwaters from the Ross Dependency, Antarctica

D. S. SHEPPARD

Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences
P. O. Box 31 312
Lower Hutt, New Zealand

J. M. DEELY

Environment Bay of Plenty
P. O. Box 364
Whakatane, New Zealand

W. H. L. EDGERLEY

Wellington Citilab
P. O. Box 2199
Wellington, New Zealand

Abstract  Twenty-eight meltwater samples were collected from Scott Base, Cape Evans, Cape Royds, Marble Point, Vanda Station, and along the length of the Onyx River, in the McMurdo Sound area of Antarctica during the summers of 1992/93 and 1993/94. Samples were analysed for major components, and for heavy metals at ultra-trace levels. The sample sites included biologically active ponds, glacier melt water, lake water, roadside drains, and rivers. Sample salinities varied widely, but heavy-metal concentrations were uniformly low except where significant human impacts would have been expected. Concentrations of silver, mercury, lead, copper, cadmium, chromium, nickel, and zinc were higher at Scott Base than in the other areas and were dominantly associated with coarse particulates. Natural sources of metals may be local lithology, but chemical and mechanical processes within the soils and solutions affect the distributions of different metals.

Keywords  Antarctica; contamination; water; trace metals;baseline; pollution

New Zealand Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research, 1997, Vol. 31: 313-325

0028-8330/97/3103-0313 $7.00/0 (c) The Royal Society of New Zealand 1997

PDF file of entire paper: medium quality (1137K); (scanned from paper original: notes about this process)

---

This year's abstracts | Journal home page | All abstracts | Publishing home page