R. Souchez et al., VERY-LOW OXYGEN CONCENTRATION IN BASAL ICE FROM SUMMIT, CENTRAL GREENLAND, Geophysical research letters, 22(15), 1995, pp. 2001-2004
Oxygen concentration as low as 3% has been detected in the basal silty
ice of the GRIP core. Such values were never observed in ice from ice
sheets. They are most probably the consequence of organic matter oxid
ation in ice developed in a peaty deposit when the Greenland Ice Sheet
was not present at the site. Flow-induced mixing has further incorpor
ated this ice into glacier ice during the ice sheet build up. The part
of the local ice component in the mixing process diminishes with the
distance from the bed. This is the process which explains the oxygen p
rofile.