Collaborative Research: Long Term Sublimation/Preservation of Two Separate, Buried Glacier Ice Masses, Ong Valley, Southern Transantarctic Mountains

Putkonen/1445205该奖项支持对埋藏在东南极横贯北极山脉Ong山谷约一米深的碎片下的大冰体的研究。对这种材料的初步分析表明，它可能有100多万年的历史。大多数冰川冰含有微小的气泡，这些气泡捕获了大气气体和其他在大气中传输的物质，如植物花粉、微生物和矿物粉尘。将从埋在地下的冰块中采集样本，深达10米，并将测量覆盖在冰层上的碎片和冰层中的宇宙成因核素浓度。这个地点可能包含一些地球上最古老的冰，对其中所含物质的研究可能有助于研究人员更好地了解它在如此长的一段时间内生存的过程。这项工作还将帮助科学家了解地球上以及火星上今天发现了类似的泥土覆盖的冰川的地貌形成过程。埋在王谷的冰样本将被收集并进行分析，以确定覆盖在上面的碎片和悬浮在冰中的矿物质中的宇宙成因核素浓度。对目标宇宙成因核素(铍-10、铝-26和霓21)的联合分析将能够唯一地确定冰的年龄，并能够确定冰升华的速度。这项研究的学术价值在于明确确定南极王谷冰层的年龄和升华速率，并更好地了解这是否是一个独特的南极过程，或者它是否可能存在于地球其他地方或其他行星上。这项工作还可能导致对地球上迄今发现的最古老的埋藏冰的认识，并将提供一个来源，从中可以测量到关于那个时代的大气化学、古代生命形式和地质的直接信息。这项工作的更广泛影响是，它将与许多不同领域的研究人员相关，包括冰川学、古气候学、行星地质学和生物学。几名学生还将参与该项目，进行南极实地考察，在实验室进行测量，参加会议，参加外联活动，并制作视频。一名研究生还将写一篇关于这项研究的论文。研究结果将发表在科学期刊上，并在会议上公布。该项目需要在南极洲进行实地工作。

Putkonen/1445205This award supports the study of a large body of ice that is buried beneath approximately a meter of debris in the Ong Valley of the Transantarctic Mountains of East Antarctica. Preliminary analyses of this material suggest that it could be over a million years old. Most glacial ice contains tiny air bubbles that have trapped the atmospheric gases and other atmospherically transported materials existing at the time that the ice was deposited such as plant pollen, microbes and mineral dust. Samples will be collected from this buried ice mass, down to a depth of 10 meters, and cosmogenic nuclide concentrations both in the overlying debris and in the till contained in the ice will be measured. This site could contain some of the oldest ice on Earth and studies of the material contained within it may help researchers to better understand the processes involved in its survival for such long periods of time. This work will also help inform scientists about the processes involved in the development of landforms here on earth as well as those on Mars where similar dirt covered glaciers are found today.Samples of the buried ice will be collected in Ong Valley and analyzed to determine the cosmogenic nuclide concentrations in both the overlying debris and in the mineral matter suspended in the ice. The combined analysis of the target cosmogenic nuclides (Beryllium-10, Aluminum-26, and Neon-21) will allow the age of the ice to be uniquely determined and will enable determination of the rate that the ice is sublimating. The intellectual merit of this research is to unequivocally determine the age of the ice and the sublimation rate of the ice in Ong Valley, Antarctica and to better understand if this an uniquely Antarctic process or whether it could exist elsewhere on earth or on other planets. The work may also lead to the recognition of the oldest buried ice ever found on Earth and would provide a source from which direct information about the atmospheric chemistry, ancient life forms, and geology of that time could be measured. The broader impacts of this work are that it will be relevant to researchers in a number of different fields including glaciology, paleoclimatology, planetary geology, and biology. Several students will also participate in the project, conducting Antarctic field work, making measurements in the lab, attending meetings, participating in outreach activities, and producing videos. A graduate student will also write a thesis on this research. The results will be published in scientific journals and presented at conferences. The project requires field work in Antarctica.