A mini-corer for precision sampling of the water-sediment interface in subglacial lakes and other remote aqueous environments
A mini-corer for precision sampling of the water-sediment interface in subglacial lakes and other remote aqueous environments
复制标题
用于对冰下湖泊和其他偏远水环境中的水-沉积物界面进行精确采样的微型取芯器
作者：
Keen P
最近对南极冰下湖泊的兴趣已经看到了定制的采样系统的发展。这些系统被认为是原始环境，潜在地拥有未受干扰的沉积序列和生态系统，以适应在没有阳光的情况下这些寒冷的少营养环境。水/沉积物界面被认为是检测微生物生命的最佳位置，因此特别令人感兴趣。本文描述了一种小型取样器的开发，以捕获和保留包括水/沉积物界面的短岩心，专门解决这些湖泊中是否存在生命的问题。该仪器是英国领导的访问、测量和采样埃尔斯沃斯湖的项目的一部分。除了在这种困难的环境中解决取心的制约因素外，随后的测试结果表明，该取样器还可用于其他环境中的沉积物采样，在水-沉积物界面模糊或松散的低能量环境中尤其有用。
Recent interest in Antarctic subglacial lakes has seen the development of bespoke systems for sampling them. These systems are considered pristine environments potentially harboring undisturbed sedimentary sequences and ecosystems adapted to these cold oligotrophic environments in the absence of sunlight. The water/sediment interface is considered a prime location for the detection of microbial life and so is of particular interest. This article describes the development of a small corer to capture and retain a short core that includes the water/sediment interface specifically to address the question of whether life exists in these lakes. This apparatus was developed as part of the UK led project to access, measure, and sample subglacial Lake Ellsworth. In addition to addressing the constraints of coring in this difficult environment, the results of subsequent testing suggest that this corer can be applied to sampling sediments in other environments and would be particularly useful in low energy environments when the water‐sediment interface is indistinct or unconsolidated.