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Formate and acetate as recorded in a mid-latitude glacier in west China

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Chinese Science Bulletin

Abstract

Formate and acetate are ubiquitous in the troposphere. Their occurrence is closely related to processes in the biosphere and contributes to an understanding of carbon biogeochemical cycles. A 43-year record of formate and acetate in an ice core from Glacier 1 (43°06′N, 86°49′E) at Urumqi river head, Tianshan, west China was investigated. Fluctuating between 22.7 ng · g− and 2830.7 ng · g−, acetate concentration averages 373.2 ± 376.1 ng · g−1 (mean ± lσ, N = 541) and is the highest anion in the record. Next to acetate, the concentration for formate varies between 2.1 ng · g−1 and 795.5 ng · g−1 and averages 61.1 ± 89.0 ng · g−1 (N = 541). The formate to acetate ratio averages 0.22 ± 0.25 (N = 541), indicating that the chief source is from fossil fuel combustion, coal burning in particular. The two species co-varied in the past four decades and exhibited periods of high concentration from the early 1960s to the middle of 1970s and from the early 1980s to the middle of 1990s, separated by a time of the lower concentration between 1975–1980. These variations may reflect the local/regional anthropogenic pollution to the atmosphere as well as the economic development of north-western China.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Laboratory of Western China’s Environmental Systems, MOE, Lanzhou University, 730000, Lanzhou, China

    Xinqing Li & Hui Zhou

  2. Laboratory of Ice Core and Cold Regions Environment, Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 730000, Lanzhou, China

    Xinqing Li, Dahe Qin, Yuanqing He, Hui Zhou & Keqin Jiao

  3. School of Economics and Management, Lanzhou University, 730000, Lanzhou, China

    Caili Zhang

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  1. Xinqing Li
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  2. Dahe Qin
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Correspondence to Xinqing Li.

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Li, X., Qin, D., He, Y. et al. Formate and acetate as recorded in a mid-latitude glacier in west China. Chin.Sci.Bull. 48, 1483–1487 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1360/02wd0266

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1360/02wd0266

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