Temporal controls on silicic acid utilisation along the West Antarctic Peninsula

George E. A. Swann (), Jennifer Pike, Melanie J. Leng, Hilary J. Sloane and Andrea M. Snelling
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George E. A. Swann: Centre for Environmental Geochemistry, School of Geography, University of Nottingham
Jennifer Pike: School of Earth and Ocean Sciences, Cardiff University
Melanie J. Leng: Centre for Environmental Geochemistry, School of Geography, University of Nottingham
Hilary J. Sloane: Centre for Environmental Geochemistry, British Geological Survey
Andrea M. Snelling: NERC Isotope Geosciences Facilities, British Geological Survey

Nature Communications, 2017, vol. 8, issue 1, 1-8

Abstract: Abstract The impact of climatic change along the Antarctica Peninsula has been widely debated in light of atmospheric/oceanic warming and increases in glacial melt over the past half century. Particular concern exists over the impact of these changes on marine ecosystems, not only on primary producers but also on higher trophic levels. Here we present a record detailing of the historical controls on the biogeochemical cycling of silicic acid [Si(OH)4] on the west Antarctica Peninsula margin, a region in which the modern phytoplankton environment is constrained by seasonal sea ice. We demonstrate that Si(OH)4 cycling through the Holocene alternates between being primarily regulated by sea ice or glacial discharge from the surrounding grounded ice sheet. With further climate-driven change and melting forecast for the twenty-first century, our findings document the potential for biogeochemical cycling and multi-trophic interactions along the peninsula to be increasingly regulated by glacial discharge, altering food-web interactions.

Date: 2017
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DOI: 10.1038/ncomms14645

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