Circumpolar deep water upwelling is a primary source of 10Be in Antarctic continental shelf sediments

• Published in: Global and Planetary Change
• Main Authors: Jeromson, Matthew R., Fujioka, Toshiyuki, Fink, David, Simon, Krista, Smith, James, Hillenbrand, Claus-Dieter, Kuhn, Gerhard, Post, Alexandra L., Sánchez-Palacios, Jose Tonatiuh, Blaxell, Marcello, Enge, T. Gabriel, White, Duanne A.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Published: Elsevier 2024
• Subjects: Antarc*; Antarctic; Ice Sheet; Ice Shelf
• Online Access: http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/537174/; https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921818124000717

Beryllium-10 (10Be) is proposed to be a potential proxy for investigating ice shelf presence and absence, or meltwater discharge in coastal polar environments. However, the sources and distribution of atmospherically produced meteoric-10Be in the Antarctic marine realm are yet to be fully characterized. We present a dataset of 9Be and 10Be concentrations, and 10Be/9Be ratios in seafloor surface sediments from the Antarctic continental shelf to assess the sources and processes contributing Be-isotopes to ice-sheet proximal marine settings. We show that upwelling waters (e.g. Circumpolar Deep Water) are a significant source of 10Be to continental shelf sediments. This limits the use of 10Be/9Be as a proxy for ice shelf environment or meltwater discharge, but instead provides a potential proxy for reconstructing Circumpolar Deep Water incursions onto Antarctic continental shelves.