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，该项目研究南极洲西部莫尔顿山山顶火山口600米厚、水平暴露的冰段，其中有嵌入的冰层。用Argon-40/Argon-39技术暂时测定了这些tephra层的年代，它们的年龄在1.5万到48万年之间，据信来自附近的一座火山，柏林山。这项研究的目的是重新访问莫尔顿山蓝冰遗址，以便对冰段和相关的冰层进行详细采样。除了对冰层进行详细的研究（地球化学分析和对其他层的进一步测年）外，还将对冰进行检查，以确定过去50万年来西南极洲的气候变化。这项研究将为拟议的南极西部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.