02885nas a2200241   4500008004100000245006300041210006200104260004100166300001200207520209300219653003102312653003602343653002402379653001902403653002402422100001602446700001702462700002302479700001702502700002402519700002502543856007502568       2021                        eng d00aChemical weathering in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica0 aChemical weathering in the McMurdo Dry Valleys Antarctica  aHoboken, NJbJohn Wiley & Sons, Inc.  a205-2163 a<p>While chemical weathering has not always been considered an active process in the McMurdo Dry Valleys (MDV), Antarctica, long‐term geochemical and hydrological investigations have provided an overall better understanding of chemical weathering in this polar desert environment. Liquid water on the landscape is limited to stream channels as well as shallow subsurface melt features, as there is no overland flow. Stream total suspended sediment loads are low, with the sources of sediment from stream channels, aeolian input, and/or from the surfaces of glaciers. MDV soils contain high concentrations of soluble salts with little clay material, but since absent of water, these soils are a minimal location of chemical weathering. Hyporheic zones exchange water during streamflow, and these areas control the stream geochemistry over various temporal scales. Hyporheic zones promote rapid aluminosilicate weathering by moving dilute glacial meltwater into intimate contact with sediment surfaces. Rapid weathering of the aluminosilicates in the streambed and hyporheic zones is the most plausible explanation for chemostasis observed in these streams, indicating that little to no catchment processes are necessary to explain the observed chemostasis in the MDV. Shallow subsurface waters with distinct geochemical signatures have much higher dissolved Si concentrations than the stream waters and indicate that they are responsible for enhanced aluminosilicate weathering in this polar desert environment. The dissolution of CaCO<sub>3</sub> is also a major process in the hyporheic zones as generally the streams are unsaturated with respect to calcite. Cation‐exchange reactions are also important in the evolution from Na‐Cl brines to Ca‐Cl brines within the soil column, while authigenic CaCO<sub>3</sub> can both dissolve and precipitate depending on the condition of the system. Recently, stream channel landscapes are changing due to the melting of buried ice, creating thermokarst and water track features, resulting in a sediment and solute influx to the stream.</p>10aaluminosilicate weathering10aCaCO3 dissolution/precipitation10achemical weathering10ahyporheic zone10aMcMurdo Dry Valleys1 aHunt, Allen1 aEgli, Markus1 aFaybishenko, Boris1 aLyons, Berry1 aLeslie, Deborah, L.1 aGooseff, Michael, N.  uhttps://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/9781119563952.ch11