Direct Dating of Old Ice by Extraterrestrial Helium-3 and Atmospheric Beryllium-10 - A Proof of Concept

这项探索性研究的小额赠款支持开发一种创新的测年技术，应用于埋藏在南极洲西部干旱山谷的古老残留冰体。对周围沉积物和火山灰的年代测定表明，这些冰体的年龄可能高达600万年，提供了最古老的直接大气和气候记录。该SGER是一个概念验证，以开发一种新的测年技术，使用来自大气的宇宙起源铍（10 Be）和行星际尘埃颗粒中含有的外星氦（3 He）。这两种示踪剂都沉积在地球表面，并可能以恒定的速度融入冰基质。10Be的放射性衰变与稳定的地外3He信号可能提供直接测量冰的年龄的方法。这项工作的更广泛影响是开发一种新的分析技术，可以从深层时间记录的角度提高社会对全球气候变化潜力的理解。

This Small Grant for Exploratory Research supports development of an innovative dating technique for application to ancient, relict ice bodies buried in the Western Dry Valleys of Antarctica. Dating of surrounding sediments and volcanic ashes indicates that these ice bodies may be up to six million years in age, offering the oldest direct atmospheric and climate records available. This SGER is a proof of concept to develop a new dating technique using beryllium (10Be) of cosmogenic origin from the atmosphere and extraterrestrial helium (3He) contained in interplanetary dust particles. Both tracers are deposited to the Earth's surface and likely incorporated into the ice matrix at constant rates. Radioactive decay of 10Be versus the stable extraterrestrial 3He signal may offer way to directly measure the age of the ice.The broader impacts of this work are development of a new analytical technique that may improve society's understanding of the potential for global climate change from the perspective of the deep time record.