Collaborative Research: Initial Examination of the 500,000-year Climate Record at Mt. Moulton, West Antarctica

该奖项支持一个为期两年的项目，该项目旨在研究山顶陨石坑中一段600米厚的水平裸露的冰层和夹层的火山灰。莫尔顿，在南极洲西部。使用Argon-40/Argon-39技术暂时确定了火山灰岩层的年代，年龄从15,000年到48,000年不等，据信来自附近的火山。柏林。这项研究的目的是重访这座山。Moulton Blue冰场，以便对冰段和相关的Tephra层进行详细采样。除了对特弗拉冰层进行详细研究(地球化学分析和进一步测定其他冰层的年代)外，还将对冰层进行研究，以确定过去500,000年来南极洲西部的气候变化。这项研究将为拟议中的西南极深冰芯提供补充数据，并有可能产生更长的气候记录。

This award supports a two year project to study a 600 meter thick, horizontally-exposed section of ice with intercalated tephra layers in the summit crater of Mt. Moulton, in West Antarctica. The tephra layers, which have been provisionally dated using the Argon-40/Argon-39 technique, range in age from 15,000 to 480,000 years old and are believed to be from a nearby volcano, Mt. Berlin. The objectives of this research are to revisit the Mt. Moulton blue ice site in order to undertake detailed sampling of the ice section and associated tephra layers. In addition to detailed study of the tephra layers (geochemical analysis and further dating of additional layers), the ice will be examined in order to determine climatic variations in West Antarctica over the last 500,000 years. This study will provide complimentary data for the proposed West Antarctic deep ice core and has the potential to yield a much longer climatic record.