Author(s): Lindy Miller
Mentor(s): Joshua J. LeMonte, Rachel Willmore
Institution BYU
Antarctic soils are formed in some of the harshest conditions on earth. With average temperatures below freezing and over 99% of the surface under ice for at least part of the year, this continent can provide insight on paleoclimates, climate change, and life in extreme environments, such as Mars. 203 soil samples (0 - 5 cm depth) were collected from 16 permanently ice-free zones in the Transantarctic Mountains to look at trends in geochemistry. The soils were analyzed using traditional means (pH, EC, ORP) as well as processing for water-soluble concentrations. The soils tend to have low concentrations of biological material and high concentrations of salts including sodium, magnesium, and calcium cations. Geochemical patterns in Antarctic soils are largely controlled by elevation, latitude, longitude, distance from the coast, and precipitation. Concentrations can be predicted through linear regression models with decreasing reliability with increasing elevation. The geochemical analysis will be used to compare soil characteristics geospatially with microbial communities to further understand microbial distribution and survival in this extreme environment.