Abstract
Snowfall and snowcover in various layers were sampled so as to analyze the main chemical constituents at the two sites of different elevation on the southeastern slope of Mt. Myoko in southwestern area in Niigata Prefecture. It was shown from the distribution of chemical constituents in various layers of snowcover that chemical constituents moved from the upper layer to the lower layer, and that their concentrations decreased in the following order: newly fallen snow, settled snow and granular snow. Each concentration of components in the new snow layer was lower than that of snowfall collected drung the same period at both sites, so that the chemical constituents were considered to elute from the snowcover. The rates of elution were different among the components. Nitrate, SO42-, NH4+ and Ca2+ were more easily eluted than Na+, Mg2+ and Cl-, which are supposed to be originated from sea-salt. Observing the decreased amount of constituents in the same layer in the snowcover after a certain interval, the chemical components were supposed to have moved from upper to lower layer in the snowcover, and a part of them eluted from the layer.
