MOSCOW, April 20. /TASS/. Scientists for the first time drilled the IGAN Glacier in the Polar Urals and, when analyzing a 91-meter glacial core, found inside the ice thickness some particles indicating the influence of human activity, press service of the Institute of Geography (the Russian Academy of Sciences) said.

"Results of analyzing the IGAN Glacier's drilling provide a unique opportunity to reconstruct the region's climatic and ecological conditions over recent decades. The discovered ash and slag particles are a kind of a "timestamp," and knowing this we can link the history of ice accumulation with the active development of the Vorkuta coal deposit. Isotopic data, in its turn, provide a key to understanding the mechanisms of ice sheet formation in the Arctic climate. This information is extremely important for predicting future changes in the Polar Urals cryosphere," the press service quoted the institute's senior researcher Yulia Chizhova as saying.

The study was conducted by a group of scientists led by Doctor of Geographical Sciences Vladimir Mikhalenko. The experts studied the content, morphology and composition of solid particles in ice samples, the isotopic composition of oxygen and hydrogen, as well as the density of glacial layers at different depths.

The study's results

According to results of electron microscopy scanning analysis, the ice layer contains porous aluminum-silicate spheres ranging in size from one to twelve microns and a high-carbon substance. In terms of morphology and composition, these particles correspond to the ash and slag waste from the local CHPP (Central Heating Power Plant), including fly ash, which marks the development of the Vorkuta coal deposit and of the infrastructures, associated with that development.

The scientists also measured the ratio of oxygen and hydrogen isotopes in the ice core. As for oxygen, the values ranged from -12.9 to -22.8 ppm, for hydrogen - from -90.8 to -167 ppm. The most noticeable fluctuations in these indicators, as well as the lowest ice density (0.27-0.38 g/cm cubic), were found in the core's upper 5 meters. This layer corresponds to the snow-firn (transitional stage between snow and ice) layer that has accumulated over one year.

Below the depth of 4.8 m, the ice becomes much denser - 0.83-0.93 g/cm cubic, while its isotopic composition does not change that much. The authors stress that these parameters do not coincide with the global line of meteoric waters, which may be explained by precipitation formation peculiarities in the East European Plain's Arctic sector.

According to the scientists' conclusions, the annual accumulation layer on the glacier is formed mainly due to onslaught conjugation ice at the end of the ablation period - from meltwater and rain coming from the cirque's rear areas.

The study's authors say, the obtained data add to the understanding of glacier formation processes in the Arctic, demonstrate the industrial activities' impact on the Polar Urals ecosystems, and shape up the basis for long-term climate forecasts as well as for cryosphere conditions' monitoring.

The IGAN glacier is the biggest glacier in the Polar Urals. Glaciologist Leonid Dolgushin discovered it in 1953. The glacier was given the name IGAN, which is an acronym for the USSR Academy of Sciences' Institute of Geography.