17 Undergraduate Research I (Posters)

Thursday, 28 March 2019
1:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Carolina Ballroom

GEOCHEMICAL SURVEY OF MOUNT BAKER, WASHINGTON

Paper number: 17-11
Program: Theme Sessions
Time: 1:00 PM – 5:00 PM

Authors

Abstract

Temperate alpine glaciers, such as those found within the North Cascades, are important because they are key indicators of climate change, crucial sources of freshwater, and are rapidly retreating. Little is known about the role of microbial communities in the North Cascade glacier ecosystems, however, other temperate glacial systems are influenced by microbial communities. On Mount Baker dense concentrations of pink-pigmented algal cells known as Chlamydomonas nivalis, a species of green algae that thrives in cold environments, were observed. In situ measurements of several biogeochemical parameters were collected from the snowpack and glacial outflow including conductivity, temperature, light intensity, chlorophyll a (CHLa), and colored dissolved organic matter (CDOM). Three samples of distinctly pigmented snow (white, brown, and pink) were collected with the goal of determining differences in microbial communities as well as geochemical relationships within the snow. Here we observed a correlation between snow pigment and cell concentration, CHLa, CDOM, and virus like particle (VLP) concentrations. The pink and brown snow samples had higher cell concentrations on average than the white snow by a factor of ten. Likewise, VLP concentrations displayed a similar trend. The pink and brown snow were also higher in CHLa than the white snow by a factor of 100, whereas measurements in CDOM did not differ between pigmented snow samples. This work provides initial biogeochemical parameters for future understanding of the role that microbes have in alpine glacial snowpack.

Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs. Vol. 51, No. 3

doi: 10.1130/abs/2019SE-327742

© Copyright 2019 The Geological Society of America (GSA), all rights reserved. Permission is hereby granted to the author(s) of this abstract to reproduce and distribute it freely, for noncommercial purposes. Permission is hereby granted to any individual scientist to download a single copy of this electronic file and reproduce up to 20 paper copies for noncommercial purposes advancing science and education, including classroom use, providing all reproductions include the complete content shown here, including the author information. All other forms of reproduction and/or transmittal are prohibited without written permission from GSA Copyright Permissions.