@article {4758, title = {Patterns of interdisciplinary collaboration resemble biogeochemical relationships in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica: A historical social network analysis of science, 1907{\textendash}2016}, journal = {Polar Research}, volume = {41}, year = {2022}, month = {04/2022}, pages = {8037}, abstract = {

Co-authorship networks can provide key insights into the production of scientific knowledge. This is particularly interesting in Antarctica, where most human activity relates to scientific research. Bibliometric studies of Antarctic science have provided a useful understanding of international and interdisciplinary collaboration, yet most research has focused on broad-scale analyses over recent time periods. Here, we take advantage of a \‘Goldilocks\’ opportunity in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, an internationally important region of Antarctica and the largest ice-free region on the continent. The McMurdo Dry Valleys have attracted continuous and diverse scientific activity since 1958. It is a geographically confined region with limited access, making it possible to evaluate the influence of specific events and individuals. We trace the history of environmental science in this region using bibliometrics and social network analysis. Our results show a marked shift in focus from the geosciences to the biosciences, which mirrors wider trends in the history of science. Collaboration among individuals and academic disciplines increased through time, and the most productive scientists in the network are also the most interdisciplinary. Patterns of collaboration among disciplines resemble the biogeochemical relationships among respective landscape features, raising interesting questions about the role of the material environment in the development of scientific networks in the region, and the dynamic interaction with socio-cultural and political factors. Our focused, historical approach adds nuance to broad-scale bibliometric studies and could be applied to understanding the dynamics of scientific research in other regions of Antarctica and elsewhere.

}, keywords = {LTER-MCM, critical physical geography, environmental history, history of science, science and technology studies, scientometrics, visual network analysis}, doi = {10.33265/polar.v41.8037}, url = {https://polarresearch.net/index.php/polar/article/view/8037}, author = {Chignell, Stephen M. and Howkins, Adrian and Gullett, Poppie and Andrew G Fountain} } @article {3205, title = {Patterns and processes of salt efflorescences in the McMurdo region, Antarctica}, journal = {Artic, Antarctic and Alpine Research}, year = {2015}, abstract = {

Evaporite salts are abundant around the McMurdo region, Antarctica (~78\°S) due to very low precipitation, low relative humidity, and limited overland flow. Hygroscopic salts in the McMurdo Dry Valleys (MDVs) are preferentially formed in locations where liquid water is present in the austral summer, including along ephemeral streams, ice-covered lake boundaries, or shallow groundwater tracks. In this study, we collected salts from the Miers, Garwood, and Taylor Valleys on the Antarctic continent, as well as around McMurdo Station on Ross Island in close proximity to water sources with the goal of understanding salt geochemistry in relationship to the hydrology of the area. Halite is ubiquitous; sodium is the major cation (ranging from 70\%\–90\% of cations by meq kg\−1\ sediment) and chloride is the major anion (\>50\%) in nearly all samples. However, a wide variety of salt phases and morphologies are tentatively identified through scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) work. We present new data that identifies trona (Na3(CO3)(HCO3)\·2H2O), tentative gaylussite (Na2Ca(CO3)2\·5H2O), and tentative glauberite (Na2Ca(SO4)2) in the MDV, of which the later one has not been documented previously. Our work allows for the evaluation of processes that influence brine evolution on a local scale, consequently informing assumptions underlying large-scale processes (such as paleoclimate) in the MDV. Hydrological modeling conducted in FREZCHEM and PHREEQC suggests that a model based on aerosol deposition alone in low elevations on the valley floor inadequately characterizes salt distributions found on the surfaces of the soil because it does not account for other hydrologic inputs/outputs. Implications for the salt distributions include their use as tracers for paleolake levels, geochemical tracers of ephemeral water tracks or \“wet patches\” in the soil, indicators of chemical weathering products, and potential delineators of ecological communities.

}, keywords = {LTER-MCM}, url = {http://aaarjournal.org/doi/abs/10.1657/AAAR0014-024}, author = {Bisson, K. M. and Kathleen A. Welch and Sue Welch and Sheets, J. M. and W. Berry Lyons and Joseph S. Levy and Andrew G Fountain} } @article {1305, title = {Perturbation of hydrochemical conditions in natural microcosms entombed within Antarctic ice}, journal = {Ice and Climate News}, volume = {6}, year = {2005}, pages = {22-23}, keywords = {LTER-MCM}, author = {Martyn Tranter and Andrew G Fountain and Christian H. Fritsen and W. Berry Lyons and John C. Priscu and Stratham, P and Kathleen A. Welch} } @article {1447, title = {Physical controls on the Taylor Valley Ecosystem, Antarctica}, journal = {BioScience}, volume = {49}, year = {1999}, month = {12/1999}, pages = {961-972}, type = {Journal}, keywords = {LTER-MCM, Water availability}, author = {Andrew G Fountain and W. Berry Lyons and Melody B. Burkins and Gayle L. Dana and Peter T. Doran and Karen J. Lewis and Diane M. McKnight and Daryl L. Moorhead and Andrew N. Parsons and John C. Priscu and Diana H. Wall and Robert A. Wharton Jr. and Ross A. Virginia} }