Modern and Holocene aeolian dust variability from Talos Dome (Northern Victoria Land) to the interior of the Antarctic ice sheet

• Published in: Quaternary Science Reviews
• Main Authors: Frezzotti, M., Scarchilli, C., Narcisi, B.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: 2013
• Subjects: Antarctica; Dust; Holocene; Ice core; Sr-Nd isotopes; Antarctic; The Antarctic; Victoria Land; Talos Dome; Antarc*; ice core; Ice Sheet
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12079/697; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2012.11.033; http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?eid=2-s2.0-84873265469&partnerID=40&md5=bc48e7eb872a355334223e928c419281

High-elevation sites from the inner part of the East Antarctic plateau sample windborne dust representative of large portions of the Southern hemisphere, and are sensitive to long-range atmospheric transport conditions to polar areas. On the periphery of the ice sheet, conversely, the aeolian transport of particles from high-elevation ice-free areas can locally represent a relatively important additional input of dust to the atmosphere, and the interplay of atmospheric dynamics, dust transport and deposition is strictly related to the regional atmospheric circulation behaviour both at present-day and in the past. The understanding of the spatial extent where local sources can influence the mineral dust budget on the ice sheet is fundamental for understanding the atmospheric dust cycle in Antarctica and for the interpretation of the dust history in marginal glaciological settings.In this work we investigate the spatial variability of dust flux and provenance during modern (pre-industrial) and Holocene times along a transect connecting Talos Dome to the internal sites of the Antarctic plateau and we extend the existing documentation of the isotopic (Sr-Nd) fingerprint of dust-sized sediments from Victoria Land source areas.Dust flux, grain size and isotopic composition show a marked variability between Talos Dome, Mid Point, D4 and Dome C/Vostok, suggesting that local sources play an important role on the periphery of the ice sheet. Microscope observations reveal that background mineral aerosol in the TALDICE core is composed by a mixture of dust, volcanic particles and micrometric-sized fragments of diatoms, these latter representing a small but pervasive component of Antarctic sediments. A set of samples from Victoria Land, mostly consisting of regolith and glacial deposits from high-elevation areas, was collected specially for this work and the isotopic composition of the dust-sized fraction of samples was analyzed. Results reveal a close relationship with the parent lithologies, but direct comparison between ...