Geochemical investigations at Tsanfleuron Glacier, Switzerland

They have been sampled together with different types of ice and water, for their isotopic composition. The isotopic study suggests that the initial water, from which calcium carbonate is precipitated by partial freezing, is produced by melting of the basal ice layer, not of glacier ice.

Because of the wide range of isotopic composition of basal ice, some doubts are expressed on the possibility given by such subglacially precipitated calcites to determine the isotopic composition of Pleistocene ice sheets and to correct the paleotemperature scale.