Abstract: Spectra of three pond sediment profiles collected from Ross Island in East Antarctica were measured by an ultraviolet–visible–near-infrared reflectance spectrophotometer. Specific peaks and troughs were observed in the spectra, and their distribution patterns correlated well with lithology. All sediment subsamples were separated into a modeling set and a test set to establish the relationship between the spectra and the element contents using a partial least squares method. The difference between the predicted and test values showed that the contents of all 20 measured elements strongly correlated with the spectral data. Among them, the N, C, H, Mn, Ba, P, Al, Fe, K, Se, As, and Hg contents were predicted accurately (the correlation coefficients between the predicted and tested values (r²) were >0. 90). Thus, we conclude that the element contents in sediments from East Antarctic can be determined rapidly using near-infrared reflectance spectroscopy.

Key words: East Antarctica, Pond sediments, Near-infrared spectroscopy, Partial least squares, Chemical element contents