Clay mineral precipitation and low silica in glacier meltwaters explored through reaction-path modelling

Abstract

The subglacial chemical weathering environment is largely controlled by low temperatures and the presence of freshly comminuted minerals with a high surface area. These characteristics are believed to promote dissolution processes that give rise to low silica and high Ca2+ fluxes emanating from glacierized basins. We test an alternative hypothesis, that mineral precipitation reactions in the subglacial environment play an equally important role in controlling the water chemistry in glacierized basins. We analyze borehole and proglacial water chemistry from a subarctic polythermal glacier, complemented by mineral XRD analysis of suspended sediment, till and bedrock samples. In conjunction with a thermodynamic analysis of the water and mineral chemistry, we use reactionpath modelling to study the chemical enrichment of water through the glacier system. We find that the high pH of the subglacial environment is conducive to secondary mineral precipitation, and that it is not possible to balance the water chemistry using dissolution reactions alone. We show that low silica can be explained by standard weathering reactions without having to invoke mineral-leaching reactions. Our results suggest that subglacial weathering intensity may be significantly underestimated if the production of secondary minerals is not considered.