Collaborative Research: Chemical and Biological Rock Weathering in Central Norway and Arctic Finland

对寒冷地区景观发展的科学研究，与我们对所有景观发展的现代观点一样，都遵循同样的科学原则。 然而，对寒冷地区景观的理解必须包括认识到冰川作用在许多地方的重要性，以及接受不仅与冰川作用有关，而且与没有活跃冰川作用的寒冷环境有关的寒冷温度的重要性。 人们普遍倾向于认为，寒冷地区的化学过程是不存在的，或者至少被与夜间或季节性冻结有关的机制大大掩盖了。 这种对化学过程重要性的评估是建立在相对较少的信息基础上的，现代研究已经定量地讨论了这个问题，化学过程已经变得很重要。 在挪威Jotunheimen山脉的一个小冰川前和芬兰北极地区的两个山顶上进行的实地考察，产生了两组岩石样本，适合使用电子显微分析技术进行分析，就芬兰样本而言，适合使用宇宙成因技术进行测年。 对这些样本的分析将提供一幅清晰的图像，说明在这两种寒冷但不同的环境中，岩石破碎的机械、化学和生物过程。寒冷地区覆盖了地球陆地表面的很大一部分，在日益变暖的气候条件下，可能会经历重大变化。 与此同时，这些脆弱地区正面临着人类住区、娱乐和自然资源开采带来的越来越大的压力。 这些自然和（或）人为压力的最终结果是，寒冷地区很可能经历长期调整，同时经历强烈的短期影响。 在这一系列影响下，即使不是毁灭性的，也有可能产生重大的环境问题。 然而，与世界上许多其他地区相比，由于人口稀少和总体上难以进入的原因，人们对寒冷山区的了解很少。 从纯科学和实用管理的角度来看，必须更深入地了解塑造这些景观的基本机制。 目前的研究直接有助于在高，高山环境（挪威）和低北极环境（芬兰）的过程破坏岩石表面的知识。 它专门针对一个很少研究的主题，化学分解，在寒冷地区进行系统研究的少数情况下，它比科学界普遍认为的要重要得多。

The scientific study of landscape development in cold regions is subject to the same set of scientific principles as steer our modern view of all landscape development. Nevertheless, understanding of cold region landscapes must incorporate recognition of the importance of glaciation in many locations, as well as embrace the importance of cold temperatures not only associated with glaciation but also with cold environments that are not actively glaciated. There has been a general tendency to believe that chemical processes in cold regions are absent, or at least greatly overshadowed by mechanisms associated with overnight or seasonal freezing. This assessment of the importance of chemical processes is founded on relatively little information, and where modern research has taken up the issue quantitatively, chemical processes have emerged as important. Fieldwork in front of a small glacier in the Jotunheimen Mountains of Norway, and on two hilltops in Arctic Finland has produced two sets of rock samples suitable for analysis using electron micro-analytical techniques, and, in the case of the Finnish samples, suitable for dating using cosmogenic techniques. The analysis of these samples will provide a clear picture of the mechanical, chemical, and biological processes responsible for breaking up the rock in these two cold, but different, environments.Cold regions, which cover a significant portion of the Earth's land surface, are likely to experience significant changes under what, increasingly, appear to be warming climatic conditions. At the same time these fragile regions are experiencing increasing pressures from human settlement, recreation, and natural resource extraction. The net result of these natural and/or man-induced pressures is that cold regions are likely to undergo long-term adjustment while simultaneously experiencing intense short-term impacts. Under such a set of impacts the potential for substantial, if not devastating, environmental problems is very great. However, for reasons associated with their sparse populations and overall difficulty of access, cold, mountainous regions are poorly understood in comparison to many other regions of the world. From both purely scientific and also pragmatic management perspectives it is essential to develop a stronger understanding of the fundamental mechanisms shaping these landscapes. The present research contributes directly to knowledge of the processes disrupting rock surfaces in both a high, alpine environment (Norway) and a low Arctic environment (Finland). It is specifically directed at a little-studied topic, chemical breakdown, which on the few occasions it has been systematically studied in cold regions has emerged as much more important than the scientific community generally recognizes.