Question

To analyze trace chemical constituents in polar ice cores without contamination, glaciologists must execute a rigorous decontamination protocol in a clean room. First, the core sections, which are retrieved from the field wrapped in polyethylene, are mechanically scraped inside a clean-air hood. Technicians use a pre-cleaned band saw to shave off the outer $15\%$ of the core's radius, which has been exposed to drilling fluids. Following this dry scraping, the core segment is subjected to a sequential washing sequence using ultra-pure water. The segment is rinsed three times in separate baths of deionized water ($> 18.2\text{ M}\Omega\cdot\text{cm}$) maintained at $1^\circ\text{C}$ to melt away another thin outer layer. Crucially, the segment must be immediately dried under a stream of high-purity nitrogen gas after the final rinse. If the drying step is omitted or delayed, the residual wash water will refreeze on the core surface, capturing ambient gases and dust from the clean room air and compromising the subsequent mass spectrometry analysis. Only after complete drying is the remaining inner core melted in a Teflon beaker under vacuum for isotopic analysis.

Based on the passage, what is the direct consequence of omitting the high-purity nitrogen gas drying step during the ice core decontamination protocol?