Using ice core measurements from Taylor Glacier, Antarctica, to calibrate in situ cosmogenic 14 C production rates by muons ...

• Main Authors: Dyonisius, Michael N., Petrenko, Vasilii V., Smith, Andrew M., Hmiel, Benjamin, Neff, Peter D., Yang, Bin, Hua, Quan, Schmitt, Jochen, Shackleton, Sarah A., Buizert, Christo, Place, Philip F., Menking, James A., Beaudette, Ross, Harth, Christina, Kalk, Michael, Roop, Heidi A., Bereiter, Bernhard, Armanetti, Casey, Vimont, Isaac, Englund Michel, Sylvia, Brook, Edward J., Severinghaus, Jeffrey P., Weiss, Ray F., McConnell, Joseph R.
• Format: Text
• Language: unknown
• Published: Copernicus Publications 2023
• Subjects: 530 Physics; 000 Computer science, knowledge & systems; 540 Chemistry; 550 Earth sciences & geology; Taylor Glacier; Antarc*; Antarctica; ice core
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.48350/185316; https://boris.unibe.ch/185316/

Cosmic rays entering the Earth’s atmosphere produce showers of secondary particles such as protons, neutrons, and muons. The interaction of these particles with oxygen-16 (16O) in minerals such as ice and quartz can produce carbon-14 (14C). In glacial ice, 14C is also incorporated through trapping of 14C-containing atmospheric gases (14CO2, 14CO, and 14CH4). Understanding the production rates of in situ cosmogenic 14C is important to deconvolve the in situ cosmogenic and atmospheric 14C signals in ice, both of which contain valuable paleoenvironmental information. Unfortunately, the in situ 14C production rates by muons (which are the dominant production mechanism at depths of > 6m solid ice equivalent) are uncertain. In this study, we use measurements of in situ 14C in ancient ice (> 50 ka) from the Taylor Glacier, an ablation site in Antarctica, in combination with a 2D ice flow model to better constrain the compound-specific rates of 14C production by muons and the partitioning of in situ 14C ...