Proxies and measurement techniques for mineral dust in Antarctic ice cores

To improve quantitative interpretation of ice core aeolian dust records, a systematic methodological comparison was made. This involved methods for water-insoluble particle counting (Coulter Counter and laser-sensing particle detector), soluble ion analysis (ion chromatography, and continuous flow a...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Environmental Science & Technology
Main Authors: Ruth, Urs, Barbante, C., Bigler, M., Delmonte, B., Fischer, Hubertus, Gabrielli, P., Gaspari, V., Kaufmann, P., Lambert, F., Maggi, V., Marino, F., Petit, J. R., Steffensen, J. P., Udisti, R., Wagenbach, D., Wegner, Anna, Wolff, E.
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:unknown
Published: 2008
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Online Access:https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/18051/
https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/18051/1/Rut2007c.pdf
https://hdl.handle.net/10013/epic.30829
https://hdl.handle.net/10013/epic.30829.d001
Description
Summary:To improve quantitative interpretation of ice core aeolian dust records, a systematic methodological comparison was made. This involved methods for water-insoluble particle counting (Coulter Counter and laser-sensing particle detector), soluble ion analysis (ion chromatography, and continuous flow analysis), elemental analysis (inductively coupled plasma mass spectroscopy at pH 1 and after full acid digestion), and water-insoluble elemental analysis (proton induced X-ray emission). Antarctic ice core samples covering the last deglaciation from the EPICA Dome C (EDC) and the EPICA Dronning Maud Land (EDML) cores were used. All methods correlate very well amongst each other, but the ratios of glacial age to Holocene concentrations, which are typically a factor ~100, differ between the methods by up to a factor of 2 with insoluble particles showing the largest variability. The recovery of ICP-MS measurements depends on the digestion method and is different for different elements and during different climatic periods. EDC and EDML samples have similar dust composition, which suggests a common dust source or a common mixture of sources for the two sites. The analysed samples further reveal a change of dust composition during the last deglaciation.