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，研究600米厚，水平暴露的冰与夹层火山灰层在山顶火山口的一部分。南极洲西部的莫尔顿。 火山灰层，已经使用氩-40/氩-39技术进行了初步的年代测定，年龄范围从15，000到480，000年，被认为是来自附近的火山，山。柏林。 这项研究的目标是重新审视Mt.莫尔顿蓝冰现场，以便对冰段和相关火山灰层进行详细取样。 除了对火山灰层进行详细研究（地球化学分析和进一步确定其他层的年代）外，还将对冰进行检查，以确定南极洲西部过去50万年来的气候变化。 这项研究将为拟议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.