Proxies and measurement techniques for mineral dust in Antarctic ice cores.
To improve quantitative interpretation of ice core aeolian dust records, a systematic methodological comparison was made. This involved methods for water-insoluble particle counting (Coulter counter and laser-sensing particle detector), soluble ion analysis (ion chromatography and continuous flow analysis), elemental analysis (inductively coupled plasma mass spectroscopy at pH 1 and after full acid digestion), and water-insoluble elemental analysis (proton induced X-ray emission). Antarctic ice core samples covering the last deglaciation from the EPICA Dome C (EDC) and the EPICA Dronning Maud Land (EDML) cores were used. All methods correlate very well among each other, but the ratios of glacial age to Holocene concentrations, which are typically a factor approximately 100, differ between the methods by up to a factor of 2 with insoluble particles showing the largest variability. The recovery of ICP-MS measurements depends on the digestion method and is differentfor different elements and during different climatic periods. EDC and EDML samples have similar dust composition, which suggests a common dust source or a common mixture of sources for the two sites. The analyzed samples further reveal a change of dust composition during the last deglaciation.
Ruth
Urs
U
Alfred-Wegener-Institute for Polar and Marine Research, Bremerhaven, Germany. Urs.Ruth@awi.de
Barbante
Carlo
C
Bigler
Matthias
M
Delmonte
Barbara
B
Fischer
Hubertus
H
Gabrielli
Paolo
P
Gaspari
Vania
V
Kaufmann
Patrik
P
Lambert
Fabrice
F
Maggi
Valter
V
Marino
Federica
F
Petit
Jean-Robert
JR
Udisti
Roberto
R
Wagenbach
Dietmar
D
Wegner
Anna
A
Wolff
Eric W
EW