Spatial pattern of accumulation at Taylor Dome during Marine Isotope Stage 4: stratigraphic constraints from Taylor Glacier
New ice cores retrieved from the Taylor Glacier (Antarctica) blue ice area contain ice and air spanning the Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 5–4 transition, a period of global cooling and ice sheet expansion. We determine chronologies for the ice and air bubbles in the new ice cores by visually matching v...
Published in: | Climate of the Past |
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Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , |
Format: | Text |
Language: | English |
Published: |
2019
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Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-15-1537-2019 https://cp.copernicus.org/articles/15/1537/2019/ |
Summary: | New ice cores retrieved from the Taylor Glacier (Antarctica) blue ice area contain ice and air spanning the Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 5–4 transition, a period of global cooling and ice sheet expansion. We determine chronologies for the ice and air bubbles in the new ice cores by visually matching variations in gas- and ice-phase tracers to preexisting ice core records. The chronologies reveal an ice age–gas age difference ( Δ age) approaching 10 ka during MIS 4, implying very low snow accumulation in the Taylor Glacier accumulation zone. A revised chronology for the analogous section of the Taylor Dome ice core (84 to 55 ka), located to the south of the Taylor Glacier accumulation zone, shows that Δ age did not exceed 3 ka. The difference in Δ age between the two records during MIS 4 is similar in magnitude but opposite in direction to what is observed at the Last Glacial Maximum. This relationship implies that a spatial gradient in snow accumulation existed across the Taylor Dome region during MIS 4 that was oriented in the opposite direction of the accumulation gradient during the Last Glacial Maximum. |
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