Dissolution kinetics, transit times through subglacial hydrological pathways and diurnal variations of solute content of meltwaters draining from an alpine glacier

Abstract

AbstractExperimental results are reported for dissolved solids concentration increase when clear meltwaters from the surface of an Alpine glacier were reacted with suspended sediment derived from the subsole. The experiments, at Findelengletscher, Switzerland, were conducted at temperatures of about 1°C. Rates of reaction, which decrease through time as solute content rises, were slower in meltwaters which had not been allowed to equilibrate with the atmosphere before sediment was added. Diurnal variations in transit times of meltwater from the surface to the glacier portal were derived from injections of rhodamine dye into large moulin‐conduit systems. Experimentally‐determined rates of increase of electrical conductivity were used together with observed transit times in a Lagrangian formulation. This model was used to assess the contributions of rate of reaction and flow‐through velocity to production of observed variations of solute concentration with portal meltwater discharge. The observed diurnal concentrations varied inversely but in phase with portal discharge. Diurnal variations in discharge through such moulin‐conduit systems lead to substantial changes in flow‐through velocity, altering the periods of time available for parcels of meltwater to react with basally‐entrained suspended sediment en route to the portal. Hence, there is considerable variability in the amount of solute acquired by meltwaters in transit. A diurnal pattern of solute concentration variation with discharge is generated by the model, although absolute levels of solute concentration are underestimated. Parcels of meltwaters flowing more slowly, having entered the glacier down small cracks, crevasses and tiny moulins, acquire larger concentrations of solute during longer transit times. These waters, which cumulatively account for a significant proportion of total discharge, mix with those traversing moulin‐conduit systems and presumably raise the overall solute content of the total discharge from Findelengletscher to the measured levels.