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...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Climate of the Past
Main Authors: J. A. Menking, E. J. Brook, S. A. Shackleton, J. P. Severinghaus, M. N. Dyonisius, V. Petrenko, J. R. McConnell, R. H. Rhodes, T. K. Bauska, D. Baggenstos, S. Marcott, S. Barker
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Copernicus Publications 2019
Subjects:
Environmental pollution
TD172-193.5
Environmental protection
TD169-171.8
Environmental sciences
GE1-350
Taylor Glacier
Taylor Dome
Antarc*
Antarctica
ice core
Ice Sheet
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-15-1537-2019
https://doaj.org/article/23a3e9ab4aa2465cb01b883a1bd7078f
Description
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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