30,000 Years of Cosmic Dust in Antarctic Ice
Polar ice provides an archive for the influx of cosmic dust. Here, we present a high-resolution, glacial-to-interglacial record of cosmic dust using helium isotope analysis of the European Project for Ice Coring in Antarctica (EPICA) ice core drilled in Dronning Maud Land. We obtained a relatively c...
Published in: | Science |
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Main Authors: | , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
2006
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Subjects: | |
Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1127469 https://www.science.org/doi/pdf/10.1126/science.1127469 |
Summary: | Polar ice provides an archive for the influx of cosmic dust. Here, we present a high-resolution, glacial-to-interglacial record of cosmic dust using helium isotope analysis of the European Project for Ice Coring in Antarctica (EPICA) ice core drilled in Dronning Maud Land. We obtained a relatively constant 3 He flux over the past 30,000 years. This finding excludes 3 He as a pacemaker of late Pleistocene glacial cycles. Rather, it supports 3 He as a constant flux parameter in paleoclimatic studies. A last glacial-to-Holocene shift of the 4 He/nonāsea salt Ca 2+ ratio appears to indicate a glacial-to-interglacial change in the terrestrial dust source. |
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