Permalink : http://hdl.handle.net/2115/45453

KEYWORDS : salt inclusion;water-soluble impurities;Dome Fuji ice core;Raman spectroscopy

The amounts of water-soluble impurities in ice cores have been widely discussed in past research on prehistoric climates; in those studies, the analysis of the soluble-aerosol signals of several ion concentrations took place after the ice cores were melted. However, the chemical compounds of the impurities being studied were unclear, due to the ionization of the impurities being caused by the melting of the ice cores. In this paper, the chemical compounds of water-soluble impurities in Dome Fuji ice core are discussed and analyzed using micro-Raman spectroscopy and ion chromatography. Raman spectroscopy helped identify micro-inclusions within ice grains as water-soluble impurities made up primarily of sodium sulfate formed in warm periods and calcium sulfate in cold periods. The major chemical compounds of the water-soluble impurities (sodium sulfate and calcium sulfate) were deduced by examining ion concentrations and the stability of chemical compounds. The amounts of impurities reflect the differences in climatic time periods, as the environment was acidic during warm times and reductive during cold.