A Detailed History of the Eemian Interglacial Represented in the Ice Core Record from Mount Moulton Blue Ice Area (West Antarctica)
Abstract
The blue ice area in the southern part of Mount Moulton (West Antarctica) exhibits a surface exposed stratigraphic section of ice ~ 500 kya old. We conducted high-resolution sampling (every 1 cm) on a ~ 40 meter long section of a surface trench excavated from this exposure. Using the Climate Change Institute continuous melter system we analyzed soluble major ions (Cl-, NO3-, SO42-, Na+, K+, Mg2+, Ca2+), trace elements (Zn, Pb, Hg, Cd, Cu, V, Mn, Ni, As, Al, Fe, Se, and REEs) and water isotopes from each sample yielding a temporal resolution of 6.5-7 years. The melted section covers the period from 107 to 136 ka BP based on 40 Ar/39 Ar radiometric dates from three englacial tephra layers dated by Dunbar et al. (2008), thus overlapping onset and termination of the Eemian. The resulting time-series provide a detailed record of the Eemian interglacial and match extremely well time series from other Antarctic cores covering this period of time. Some of the Mt. Moulton records shows that onset of the Eemian was very abrupt and occurred at about 135.5 ka BP, marked by a distinct drop in for example Ca concentrations. The end of the Eemain was more gradual. Interesting anomalies in the record will be discussed.
- Publication:
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AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2008
- Bibcode:
- 2008AGUFMPP13C1462K
- Keywords:
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- 0724 Ice cores (4932);
- 4932 Ice cores (0724)