The total activity variation with depth from a 41.6 m Muztagata ice core drilled at 7010 m, recorded not only the 1963 radioactive layer due to the thermonuclear test, but also clearly the radioactive peak released by the Chernobyl accident in 1986. This finding indicates that the Chernobyl nuclear accident was clearly recorded in alpine glaciers in the Pamirs of west China, and the layer can be potentially used for ice core dating in other high alpine glaciers in the surrounding regions.
Vertical distribution of the main bacteria isolated from the Muztagata ice core (about 22.4 m) was investigated by means of cultivation and 16S rRNA sequence analysis. The results showed that the amount of culturable bacteria fluctuated with ice core depth, and was more in dirty layer than in clean ice, which suggested the close corresponding relationship between high input of the bacteria deposited by wind and snowflow and dirty layer. Most of the bacteria were psychrophiles and psychrotolerants, including α- and γ-proteobacteria, Cryobacterium psychro-philum, CFB (Cytophaga-Flavobacterium-Bacteroides) group, high-G+C gram-positive bacteria (HGC). Acinetobacter sp. and HGC repeatly occurred in different ice depths, and their quantita-tive distribution was consistent with the change of the total amount of culturable bacteria with depth, which suggested the main bio-indicator; while Flavobacterium, Cryobacterium psychro-philum, and α-proteobacteria, also functioned as a secondary indicator of climatic and environ-mental changes. This study is the first report concerning continuous quantitative variation and pattern of the main culturable bacteria in ice core section.
XIANG Shurong1, YAO Tandong1, 2, AN Lizhe1, 3, WU Guangjian2, XU Baiqing2, MA Xiaojun 3, LI Zhen1, WANG Junxia1 & YU Wusheng1 1. Key Laboratory of Ice Core and Cold Regions Environment, Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, China
