Radiometric 81Kr dating identifies 120,000 year old ice at Taylor Glacier, Antarctica
We present the first successful 81Kr-Kr radiometric dating of ancient polar ice. Krypton was extracted from the air bubbles in four ~350 kg polar ice samples from Taylor Glacier in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica, and dated using Atom Trap Trace Analysis (ATTA). The 81Kr radiometric ages agree w...
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ftdatacite:10.48550/arxiv.1403.6201 2023-05-15T14:03:02+02:00 Radiometric 81Kr dating identifies 120,000 year old ice at Taylor Glacier, Antarctica Buizert, Christo Baggenstos, Daniel Jiang, Wei Purtschert, Roland Petrenko, Vasilii V. Lu, Zheng-Tian Mueller, Peter Kuhl, Tanner Lee, James Severinghaus, Jeffrey P. Brook, Edward J. 2014 https://dx.doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.1403.6201 https://arxiv.org/abs/1403.6201 unknown arXiv https://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1320329111 arXiv.org perpetual, non-exclusive license http://arxiv.org/licenses/nonexclusive-distrib/1.0/ Geophysics physics.geo-ph FOS Physical sciences article-journal Article ScholarlyArticle Text 2014 ftdatacite https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.1403.6201 https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1320329111 2022-04-01T13:01:31Z We present the first successful 81Kr-Kr radiometric dating of ancient polar ice. Krypton was extracted from the air bubbles in four ~350 kg polar ice samples from Taylor Glacier in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica, and dated using Atom Trap Trace Analysis (ATTA). The 81Kr radiometric ages agree with independent age estimates obtained from stratigraphic dating techniques with a mean absolute age offset of 6 +/- 2.5 ka. Our experimental methods and sampling strategy are validated by 1) 85Kr and 39Ar analyses that show the samples to be free of modern air contamination, and 2) air content measurements that show the ice did not experience gas loss. We estimate the error in the 81Kr ages due to past geomagnetic variability to be below 3 ka. We show that ice from the previous interglacial period (MIS 5e, 130-115 ka before present) can be found in abundance near the surface of Taylor Glacier. Our study paves the way for reliable radiometric dating of ancient ice in blue ice areas and margin sites where large samples are available, greatly enhancing their scientific value as archives of old ice and meteorites. At present, ATTA 81Kr analysis requires a 40-80 kg ice sample; as sample requirements continue to decrease 81Kr dating of ice cores is a future possibility. Text Antarc* Antarctica McMurdo Dry Valleys Taylor Glacier DataCite Metadata Store (German National Library of Science and Technology) McMurdo Dry Valleys Taylor Glacier ENVELOPE(162.167,162.167,-77.733,-77.733) Atta ENVELOPE(90.985,90.985,75.603,75.603) |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
DataCite Metadata Store (German National Library of Science and Technology) |
op_collection_id |
ftdatacite |
language |
unknown |
topic |
Geophysics physics.geo-ph FOS Physical sciences |
spellingShingle |
Geophysics physics.geo-ph FOS Physical sciences Buizert, Christo Baggenstos, Daniel Jiang, Wei Purtschert, Roland Petrenko, Vasilii V. Lu, Zheng-Tian Mueller, Peter Kuhl, Tanner Lee, James Severinghaus, Jeffrey P. Brook, Edward J. Radiometric 81Kr dating identifies 120,000 year old ice at Taylor Glacier, Antarctica |
topic_facet |
Geophysics physics.geo-ph FOS Physical sciences |
description |
We present the first successful 81Kr-Kr radiometric dating of ancient polar ice. Krypton was extracted from the air bubbles in four ~350 kg polar ice samples from Taylor Glacier in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica, and dated using Atom Trap Trace Analysis (ATTA). The 81Kr radiometric ages agree with independent age estimates obtained from stratigraphic dating techniques with a mean absolute age offset of 6 +/- 2.5 ka. Our experimental methods and sampling strategy are validated by 1) 85Kr and 39Ar analyses that show the samples to be free of modern air contamination, and 2) air content measurements that show the ice did not experience gas loss. We estimate the error in the 81Kr ages due to past geomagnetic variability to be below 3 ka. We show that ice from the previous interglacial period (MIS 5e, 130-115 ka before present) can be found in abundance near the surface of Taylor Glacier. Our study paves the way for reliable radiometric dating of ancient ice in blue ice areas and margin sites where large samples are available, greatly enhancing their scientific value as archives of old ice and meteorites. At present, ATTA 81Kr analysis requires a 40-80 kg ice sample; as sample requirements continue to decrease 81Kr dating of ice cores is a future possibility. |
format |
Text |
author |
Buizert, Christo Baggenstos, Daniel Jiang, Wei Purtschert, Roland Petrenko, Vasilii V. Lu, Zheng-Tian Mueller, Peter Kuhl, Tanner Lee, James Severinghaus, Jeffrey P. Brook, Edward J. |
author_facet |
Buizert, Christo Baggenstos, Daniel Jiang, Wei Purtschert, Roland Petrenko, Vasilii V. Lu, Zheng-Tian Mueller, Peter Kuhl, Tanner Lee, James Severinghaus, Jeffrey P. Brook, Edward J. |
author_sort |
Buizert, Christo |
title |
Radiometric 81Kr dating identifies 120,000 year old ice at Taylor Glacier, Antarctica |
title_short |
Radiometric 81Kr dating identifies 120,000 year old ice at Taylor Glacier, Antarctica |
title_full |
Radiometric 81Kr dating identifies 120,000 year old ice at Taylor Glacier, Antarctica |
title_fullStr |
Radiometric 81Kr dating identifies 120,000 year old ice at Taylor Glacier, Antarctica |
title_full_unstemmed |
Radiometric 81Kr dating identifies 120,000 year old ice at Taylor Glacier, Antarctica |
title_sort |
radiometric 81kr dating identifies 120,000 year old ice at taylor glacier, antarctica |
publisher |
arXiv |
publishDate |
2014 |
url |
https://dx.doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.1403.6201 https://arxiv.org/abs/1403.6201 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(162.167,162.167,-77.733,-77.733) ENVELOPE(90.985,90.985,75.603,75.603) |
geographic |
McMurdo Dry Valleys Taylor Glacier Atta |
geographic_facet |
McMurdo Dry Valleys Taylor Glacier Atta |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctica McMurdo Dry Valleys Taylor Glacier |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctica McMurdo Dry Valleys Taylor Glacier |
op_relation |
https://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1320329111 |
op_rights |
arXiv.org perpetual, non-exclusive license http://arxiv.org/licenses/nonexclusive-distrib/1.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.1403.6201 https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1320329111 |
_version_ |
1766273513789849600 |