Chronology of the Late Pleistocene Yellowstone Ice Cap

晚更新世黄石冰盖的年表

• 批准号: 0125625
• 负责人: Joseph Licciardi
• 金额: $ 16.71万
• 依托单位: Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2002
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2002-02-15 至 2006-01-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0125625&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Chronology; Late; Pleistocene; Yellowstone; Ice

ABSTRACTChronology of the Late Pleistocene Yellowstone Ice CapbyJoseph M. Licciardi and Mark D. Kurz An understanding of climatic linkages between western North America and the North Atlantic region is essential for identifying causes of abrupt climate variability in the Northern Hemisphere during the last glacial period (over the past ~21,000 years). Advances and retreats of alpine glaciers are sensitive indicators of changes in Ice Age climate. The former Yellowstone Ice Cap was the largest alpine glacier system in the western U.S., and the deposits it left behind preserve a valuable record of past climates in western North America. In prior research, we successfully established a high-resolution chronology of fluctuations of the northern Yellowstone outlet glacier. The initial investigation at Yellowstone, however, was restricted to a single drainage, and therefore did not resolve many aspects of the complex Yellowstone glacial history. Here we propose a further investigation of this important climate signal and its origin. We will apply isotopic dating techniques to glacial deposits in additional drainages within the Yellowstone region. The new results will greatly enhance current knowledge of the Yellowstone glacial history, and will provide an alpine glacial chronology of unprecedented resolution in the western U.S. An improved chronology of Yellowstone glaciation will enable a compelling and detailed comparison with alpine glacier records elsewhere in the western U.S., and with the timing of abrupt climate events in the North Atlantic region. Consequently, the improved chronology will strengthen and refine climatic interpretations derived from the glacial record, and will provide an important base of evidence for further evaluating the origin of millennial-scale climate variability in the Northern Hemisphere.

晚更新世黄石冰盖的年代学约瑟夫·M·利恰尔迪和马克·D·库尔茨了解北美西部和北大西洋地区之间的气候联系，对于确定北半球上一次冰期(过去约21,000年)气候突变的原因至关重要。高山冰川的进退是冰河时代气候变化的敏感指标。前黄石冰帽是美国西部最大的高山冰川系统，它留下的沉积物保存了北美西部过去气候的宝贵记录。在先前的研究中，我们成功地建立了北部黄石出口冰川的高分辨率年代学。然而，黄石公园最初的调查仅限于一次排水，因此没有解决黄石复杂的冰川历史的许多方面。在这里，我们建议对这一重要的气候信号及其来源进行进一步的研究。我们将把同位素测年技术应用于黄石地区其他水系中的冰川沉积。新的结果将极大地增强人们对黄石冰川历史的现有认识，并将在美国西部提供前所未有的分辨率的高山冰川年表。改进的黄石冰川年表将使人们能够与美国西部其他地区的高山冰川记录以及北大西洋地区突然气候事件的时间进行令人信服和详细的比较。因此，改进的年表将加强和完善从冰川记录得出的气候解释，并将为进一步评估北半球千年尺度气候变率的起源提供重要的证据基础。