Volcanism and the Greenland ice cores: A new tephrochronological framework for the last glacial-interglacial transition (LGIT) based on cryptotephra deposits in three ice cores ...

• Main Authors: Cook, Eliza, Abbott, Peter M., Pearce, Nick J.G., Mojtabavi, Seyedhamidreza, Svensson, Anders, Bourne, Anna J., Rasmussen, Sune O., Seierstad, Inger K., Vinther, Bo M., Harrison, Joseph, Street, Elliott, Steffensen, Jørgen Peder, Wilhelms, Frank, Davies, Siwan M.
• Format: Text
• Language: unknown
• Published: Elsevier 2022
• Subjects: 530 Physics; 550 Earth sciences & geology; Greenland; Greenland ice cores; GRIP; Ice Sheet; NGRIP
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.48350/172300; https://boris.unibe.ch/172300/

Chemical profiles from Greenland ice cores show that the frequency of volcanism was higher during the last glacial-interglacial transition (LGIT) and early Holocene, (17–9 ka b2k) than in any other period during the last 110 kyr. This increased frequency has partly been linked to climate-driven melting of the Icelandic ice sheet during the last deglaciation, with regional isostatic changes thought to alter mantle viscosity and lead to more eruptions. Our study is the first to construct a comprehensive tephrochronological framework from Greenland ice cores over the LGIT to aid in the reconstruction of volcanic activity over this period. The framework is based on extensive high-resolution sampling of three Greenland ice cores between 17.4 and 11.6 ka b2k and comprises a total of 64 cryptotephra deposits from the NGRIP, GRIP and NEEM ice cores. We show that many of these tephras are preserved within the core without an associated chemical signature in the ice, which implies that reconstructions of volcanism ...