Cosmogenic Chronology of the Holocene Deglaciation of Iceland

该奖项将有助于制定冰岛冰川波动的准确年表，以便了解末次盛冰期以来北大西洋地区气候变化的性质和时间。研究人员将利用宇宙形成的氦和氯的表面暴露来测定冰岛保存完好的冰川特征。这项工作代表了对冰岛冰川沉积物和地貌进行地表暴露测年的重大努力。这项研究工作的主要目标是建立全新世早期至中期冰盖波动的准确年代记录。研究人员和其他人之前的研究表明，宇宙形成的表面暴露年代测定可以达到500到1000年的分辨率，这足以允许使用冰川地质记录作为千年时间尺度上气候强迫的指标。初步的野外和实验室研究表明，在冰岛进行的测年工作将产生类似分辨率的结果，并有可能在北大西洋中部建立前所未有分辨率的冰川作用陆地记录。改进的冰岛冰川年表将为北大西洋气候突变对陆地的影响提供一个新的视角，并且当与来自海洋沉积物和冰芯的其他成熟的气候代用指标相结合时，将对进一步了解这些环境变化作出重大贡献。

This award will help develop an accurate chronology of Icelandic glacier fluctuations in order to understand the nature and timing of climate variability in the North Atlantic region since the Last Glacial Maximum. The investigators will apply cosmogenic 3Helium and 36Clorine surface exposure dating to well-reserved glacial features in Iceland. This effort represents a significant effort to apply surface exposure dating to glacial deposits and landforms in Iceland.The primary goal of the research effort is to establish a well-dated record of ice cap fluctuations during the early to-mid-Holocene. Prior research by the investigators and others has shown that cosmogenic surface exposure dating can achieve 500 to 1,000 year resolution, which is sufficient to allow the use of glacial geologic records as indicators of climate forcing at millennial time scales. Preliminary field and laboratory studies suggest that dating efforts in Iceland will yield results of similar resolution and have the potential to establish a terrestrial record of glaciation in the central North Atlantic of unprecedented resolution.An improved chronology of glaciation in Iceland will provide a new perspective on the terrestrial consequences of abrupt North Atlantic climate change and, when integrated with other well-established climate proxies from marine sediment and ice cores, will contribute significantly to further understanding these environmental changes.