Dust Transport to the Taylor Glacier, Antarctica, During the Last Interglacial

Abstract Changes in the composition of dust trapped in ice provide evidence of past atmospheric circulation and earth surface conditions. Investigations of dust provenance in Antarctic ice during glacial and interglacial periods indicate that South America is the primary dust source during both clim...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Geophysical Research Letters
Main Authors: S. M. Aarons, S. M. Aciego, J. R. McConnell, B. Delmonte, G. Baccolo
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Wiley 2019
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1029/2018GL081887
https://doaj.org/article/b15c6abd88da425884580ac25bc8d54f
Description
Summary:Abstract Changes in the composition of dust trapped in ice provide evidence of past atmospheric circulation and earth surface conditions. Investigations of dust provenance in Antarctic ice during glacial and interglacial periods indicate that South America is the primary dust source during both climate regimes. Here, we present results from a new ice core dust archive extracted from the Taylor Glacier in coastal East Antarctica during the deglacial transition from Marine Isotope Stage 6 to 5e. Radiogenic strontium and neodymium isotopes indicate that last interglacial dust is young and volcanic, in contrast to the observed preindustrial and Holocene (Marine Isotope Stage 1) dust composition. The dust composition differences from the last interglacial and current interglacial period at the site require a profound difference in atmospheric transport and environmental conditions. We consider several potential causes for enhanced transport of volcanic material to the site, including increased availability of volcanic material and largeā€scale atmospheric circulation changes.