GLACIAL ICE COMPOSITION - A POTENTIAL LONG-TERM RECORD OF THE CHEMISTRY OF ATMOSPHERIC DEPOSITION, WIND RIVER RANGE, WYOMING

During a reconnaissance study, ice samples were collected from Knife Point glacier to determine if glaciers in the Wind River Range could provide a long-term record of the chemical composition of wet deposition. Eight annual ice layers comprising the years 1980-1987 were identified. The concentration of calcium, chloride, and sulfate in the annual-weighted wet deposition samples collected at the National Atmospheric Deposition Program (NADP) station near Pinedale, Wyoming, showed a significant, positive correlation to the concentration of the same major ions in composite samples from the annual ice layers. Results of the study imply that continuous ice cores reaching to the deeper parts of glaciers in the Wind River Range could provide long-term records of the chemical composition of wet deposition.