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Climate archives from 90 to 250 ka in horizontal and vertical ice cores from the Allan Hills Blue Ice Area, Antarctica

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Nicole E. Spaulding*
Affiliation:
Climate Change Institute, School of Earth and Climate Sciences, University of Maine, Orono, ME, USA
John A. Higgins
Affiliation:
Department of Geosciences, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA
Andrei V. Kurbatov
Affiliation:
Climate Change Institute, School of Earth and Climate Sciences, University of Maine, Orono, ME, USA
Michael L. Bender
Affiliation:
Department of Geosciences, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA
Steven A. Arcone
Affiliation:
US Army Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory, Hanover, NH, USA
Seth Campbell
Affiliation:
Climate Change Institute, School of Earth and Climate Sciences, University of Maine, Orono, ME, USA US Army Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory, Hanover, NH, USA
Nelia W. Dunbar
Affiliation:
Earth and Environmental Science Department New Mexico Tech, Socorro, NM, USA
Laura M. Chimiak
Affiliation:
Department of Geosciences, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA
Douglas S. Introne
Affiliation:
Climate Change Institute, School of Earth and Climate Sciences, University of Maine, Orono, ME, USA
Paul A. Mayewski
Affiliation:
Climate Change Institute, School of Earth and Climate Sciences, University of Maine, Orono, ME, USA
*
*Corresponding author. Fax: + 1 207 581 1203. E-mail address:nicole.spaulding@maine.edu (N.E. Spaulding).

Abstract

Terrestrial meteorite ages indicate that some ice at the Allan Hills blue ice area (AH BIA) may be as old as 2.2 Ma. As such, ice from the AH BIA could potentially be used to extend the ice core record of paleoclimate beyond 800 ka. We collected samples from 5 to 10 cm depth along a 5 km transect through the main icefield and drilled a 225 m ice core (S27) at the midpoint of the transect to develop the climate archive of the AH BIA. Stable water isotope measurements (δD) of the surface chips and of ice core S27 yield comparable signals, indicating that the climate record has not been significantly altered in the surface ice. Measurements of 40Aratm and δ18Oatm taken from ice core S27 and eight additional shallow ice cores constrain the age of the ice to approximately 90–250 ka. Our findings provide a framework around which future investigations of potentially older ice in the AH BIA could be based.

Type
Original Articles
Copyright
University of Washington

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