Kriokonity

thumb|right|200px|A layer of cryoconite on the surface of a glacier. Cryoconite is powdery windblown dust made of a combination of small rock particles, soot and microbes which is deposited and builds up on snow, glaciers, or ice caps. The darkening, especially from small amounts of soot, absorbs solar radiation melting the snow or ice beneath the deposit, and sometimes creating a cryoconite hole. Cryoconite may contain dust from far away continental deserts or farmland, particles from volcanic eruptions or power plant emissions, and soot. It was first described and named by Nils A. E. Nordens