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1. 10Be age constraints on latest Pleistocene and Holocene cirque glaciation across the western United States

   https://doi.org/10.1038/s41612-019-0062-z  

   Marcott, Shaun A. ; Clark, Peter U. ; Shakun, Jeremy D. ; Brook, Edward J. ; Davis, P. Thompson ; Caffee, Marc W. ( January 2019 , npj Climate and Atmospheric Science)

   Well-dated records of alpine glacier fluctuations provide important insights into the temporal and spatial structure of climate variability. Cirque moraine records from the western United States have historically been interpreted as a resurgence of alpine glaciation in the middle-to-late Holocene (i.e., Neoglaciation), but these moraines remain poorly dated because of limited numerical age constraints at most locations. Here we present 130¹⁰Be ages on 19 moraines deposited by 14 cirque glaciers across this region that have been interpreted as recording these Neoglacial advances. Our¹⁰Be chronology indicates instead that these moraines were deposited during the latest Pleistocene to earliest Holocene, with several as old as 14–15ka. Our results thus show that glaciers retreated from their Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) extent into cirques relatively early during the last deglaciation, experienced small fluctuations during the Bølling–Allerød–Younger Dryas interval, and remained within the maximum limit of the Little Ice Age (LIA) advance of the last several centuries throughout most of the Holocene. Climate modeling suggests that increasing local summer insolation and greenhouse gases were the primary controls on early glacier retreat from their LGM positions. We then infer that subsequent intrinsic climate variability and Younger Dryas cooling caused minor fluctuations during the latest Pleistocene,more »while the LIA advance represents the culmination of a cooling trend through the Holocene in response to decreasing boreal summer insolation.

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2. Expedition 397 Preliminary Report: Iberian Margin Paleoclimate

   Hodell, D.A. ; Abrantes, F. ; Alvarez Zarikian, C.A. ( February 2023 , Preliminary report)

   During International Ocean Discovery Program Expedition 397, we recovered a total of 6176.7 m of core (104.2% recovery) at four sites (U1586, U1587, U1385, and U1588) from the Promontório dos Principes de Avis (PPA) (Figure F1), a plateau located on the Portuguese continental slope that is elevated above the Tagus Abyssal Plain and isolated from the influence of turbidites. The drill sites are arranged along a bathymetric transect (4691, 3479, 2590, and 1339 meters below sea level [mbsl], respectively) to intersect each of the major subsurface water masses of the eastern North Atlantic (Figures F2, F7). Multiple holes were drilled at each site to ensure complete spliced composite sections (Figure F3; Table T1), which will be further refined postcruise by a campaign of X-ray fluorescence core scanning. At Site U1586 (4691 mbsl), the deepest and farthest from shore, a 350 m sequence was recovered in four holes that extend as far back as the middle Miocene (14 Ma), which is nearly twice as old as initially predicted from seismic stratigraphy. Sedimentation rates are lower (averaging 5 cm/ky in the Quaternary) at Site U1586 than other Expedition 397 sites (Figure F4), and a few slumped intervals were encountered in the stratigraphicmore »sequence. Despite these limitations, Site U1586 anchors the deep end-member of the bathymetric transect and provides an important reference section to study deepwater circulation, ventilation and carbon storage in the deep eastern North Atlantic. At Site U1587 (3479 mbsl), the second deepest site along the depth transect, we recovered a 567 m sequence of late Miocene to Holocene sediments that accumulated at rates between 6.5 and 11 cm/ky (Figure F4). The high sedimentation rates and long continuous record at this site will permit climate reconstruction at high temporal resolution (e.g., millennial) for the past 7.8 My. A complete Messinian Stage (7.246–5.333 Ma) was recovered, which provides a valuable opportunity to study the Messinian Salinity Crisis in an open marine setting adjacent to the Mediterranean. Site U1385 (Shackleton site) was a reoccupation of a position previously drilled during Integrated Ocean Drilling Program Expedition 339. Expedition 339 Site U1385 has yielded a remarkable record of millennial-scale climate change for the past 1.45 My (Marine Isotope Stage [MIS] 47) (Figure F6). During Expedition 397, we deepened the site from 156 to 400 meters below seafloor (mbsf), extending the basal age into the early Pliocene (4.5 Ma). Sedimentation rates remained high, averaging between 11 and 9 cm/ky throughout the sequence (Figure F4). The newly recovered cores at Expedition 397 Site U1385 will permit the study of millennial climate variability through the entire Quaternary and into the Pliocene, prior to the intensification of Northern Hemisphere glaciation. Site U1588 is the shallowest, closest to shore, and youngest site drilled during Expedition 397 and is also the one with the highest sedimentation rate (20 cm/ky). The base of the 412.5 m sequence is 2.2 Ma, providing an expanded Pleistocene sequence of sediment deposited under the influence of the lower core of the Mediterranean Outflow Water (MOW). Together with other Expedition 339 sites, Site U1588 will be important for determining how the depth and intensity of the MOW has varied on orbital and millennial timescales. In addition, it also provides a marine reference section for studying Quaternary climate variability at very high temporal resolution (millennial to submillennial). A highlight of the expedition is that sediment at all sites shows very strong cyclicity in bulk sediment properties (color, magnetic susceptibility, and natural gamma radiation). Particularly notable are the precession cycles of the Pliocene that can be correlated peak-for-peak among sites (Figure F10). These cyclic variations will be used to derive an orbitally tuned timescale for Expedition 397 sites and correlate them into classic Mediterranean cyclostratigraphy. The cores recovered during Expedition 397 will form the basis of collaborative postcruise research to produce benchmark paleoclimate records for the late Miocene through Quaternary using the widest range of proxy measurements. It will take many years to complete these analyses, but the records will lead to major advances in our understanding of millennial and orbital climate changes and their underlying causes and evolving contextuality. Outreach during Expedition 397 was highly productive, reaching a record number of students and the general public across the world through several diverse platforms, including live ship-to-shore events, webinars, social media, videos, radio pieces, blog posts, and in-person activities.« less
3. Volcanic stratospheric sulfur injections and aerosol optical depth during the Holocene (past 11 500 years) from a bipolar ice-core array

   https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-3167-2022  

   Sigl, Michael ; Toohey, Matthew ; McConnell, Joseph R. ; Cole-Dai, Jihong ; Severi, Mirko ( January 2022 , Earth System Science Data)

   Abstract. The injection of sulfur into the stratosphere by volcanic eruptions is thedominant driver of natural climate variability oninterannual to multidecadal timescales. Based on a set of continuous sulfateand sulfur records from a suite of ice cores from Greenland and Antarctica,the HolVol v.1.0 database includes estimates of the magnitudes andapproximate source latitudes of major volcanic stratospheric sulfurinjection (VSSI) events for the Holocene (from 9500 BCE or 11 500 years BP to1900 CE), constituting an extension of the previous record by 7000 years.The database incorporates new-generation ice-core aerosol records with asub-annual temporal resolution and a demonstrated sub-decadal dating accuracyand precision. By tightly aligning and stacking the ice-core records on theWD2014 chronology from Antarctica, we resolve long-standing inconsistenciesin the dating of ancient volcanic eruptions that arise from biased (i.e.,dated too old) ice-core chronologies over the Holocene for Greenland. Wereconstruct a total of 850 volcanic eruptions with injections in excess of 1 teragram of sulfur (Tg S); of these eruptions, 329 (39 %) are located in the low latitudes with bipolarsulfate deposition, 426 (50 %) are located in the Northern Hemisphere extratropics (NHET) and 88 (10 %) are located in the Southern Hemisphere extratropics (SHET). The spatial distribution of the reconstructed eruption locationsis in agreement with prior reconstructions for the past 2500 years. Intotal,more »these eruptions injected 7410 Tg S into thestratosphere: 70 % from tropical eruptions and 25 % from NHextratropical eruptions. A long-term latitudinally and monthly resolvedstratospheric aerosol optical depth (SAOD) time series is reconstructed fromthe HolVol VSSI estimates, representing the first Holocene-scalereconstruction constrained by Greenland and Antarctica ice cores. These newlong-term reconstructions of past VSSI and SAOD variability confirm evidencefrom regional volcanic eruption chronologies (e.g., from Iceland) in showingthat the Early Holocene (9500–7000 BCE) experienced a higher number ofvolcanic eruptions (+16 %) and cumulative VSSI (+86 %) compared withthe past 2500 years. This increase coincides with the rapid retreat of icesheets during deglaciation, providing context for potential future increasesin volcanic activity in regions under projected glacier melting in the 21stcentury. The reconstructed VSSI and SAOD data are available at https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.928646 (Sigl et al., 2021).« less
4. Holocene thinning of Darwin and Hatherton glaciers, Antarctica, and implications for grounding-line retreat in the Ross Sea

   https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-3329-2021  

   Hillebrand, Trevor R. ; Stone, John O. ; Koutnik, Michelle ; King, Courtney ; Conway, Howard ; Hall, Brenda ; Nichols, Keir ; Goehring, Brent ; Gillespie, Mette K. ( January 2021 , The Cryosphere)

   Abstract. Chronologies of glacier deposits in the Transantarctic Mountains provide important constraints on grounding-line retreat during the last deglaciation in the Ross Sea. However, between Beardmore Glacier and Ross Island – a distance of some 600 km – the existing chronologies are generally sparse and far from the modern grounding line, leaving the past dynamics of this vast region largely unconstrained. We present exposure ages of glacial deposits at three locations alongside the Darwin–Hatherton Glacier System – including within 10 km of the modern grounding line – that record several hundred meters of Late Pleistocene to Early Holocene thickening relative to present. As the ice sheet grounding line in the Ross Sea retreated, Hatherton Glacier thinned steadily from about 9 until about 3 ka. Our data are equivocal about the maximum thickness and Mid-Holocene to Early Holocene history at the mouth of Darwin Glacier, allowing for two conflicting deglaciation scenarios: (1) ∼500 m of thinning from 9 to 3 ka, similar to Hatherton Glacier, or (2) ∼950 m of thinning, with a rapid pulse of ∼600 m thinning at around 5 ka. We test these two scenarios using a 1.5-dimensional flowband model, forced by ice thickness changes at the mouth of Darwin Glacier and evaluated by fit tomore »the chronology of deposits at Hatherton Glacier. The constraints from Hatherton Glacier are consistent with the interpretation that the mouth of Darwin Glacier thinned steadily by ∼500 m from 9 to 3 ka. Rapid pulses of thinning at the mouth of Darwin Glacier are ruled out by the data at Hatherton Glacier. This contrasts with some of the available records from the mouths of other outlet glaciers in the Transantarctic Mountains, many of which thinned by hundreds of meters over roughly a 1000-year period in the Early Holocene. The deglaciation histories of Darwin and Hatherton glaciers are best matched by a steady decrease in catchment area through the Holocene, suggesting that Byrd and/or Mulock glaciers may have captured roughly half of the catchment area of Darwin and Hatherton glaciers during the last deglaciation. An ensemble of three-dimensional ice sheet model simulations suggest that Darwin and Hatherton glaciers are strongly buttressed by convergent flow with ice from neighboring Byrd and Mulock glaciers, and by lateral drag past Minna Bluff, which could have led to a pattern of retreat distinct from other glaciers throughout the Transantarctic Mountains.« less
5. Modeling glacier extents and equilibrium line altitudes in the Rwenzori Mountains, Uganda, over the last 31,000 yr

   Doughty AM, Kelly MA ( April 2021 , Special paper Geological Society of America)

   Waitt RB, Thackray GD (Ed.)

   Mountain glacier moraine sequences and their chronologies allow us to evaluate the timing and climate conditions that underpin changes in the equilibrium line altitudes (ELAs), which can provide valuable information on the paleoclimatology of understudied regions such as tropical East Africa. However, moraine sequences are inherently discontinuous, and the precise climate conditions that they represent can be ambiguous due to the sensitivity of mountain glaciers to temperature, precipitation, and other environmental variables. Here, we used a two-dimensional (2-D) iceflow and mass-balance model to simulate glacier extents and ELAs in the Rwenzori Mountains in East Africa over the past 31,000 yr (31 k.y.), including the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), late glacial period, and the Holocene Epoch. We drove the glacier model with two independent, continuous temperature reconstructions to simulate possible glacier length changes through time. Model input paleoclimate values came from branched glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraether (brGDGT) temperature reconstructions from alpine lakes on Mount Kenya for the last ~31 k.y., and precipitation reconstructions for the LGM came from various East African locations. We then compared the simulated fluctuations with the positions and ages (where known) of the Rwenzori moraines. The simulated glacier extents reached within 1.1 km of the dated LGMmore »moraines in one valley (93% of the full LGM extent) when forced by the brGDGT temperature reconstructions (maximum cooling of 6.1 °C) and a decrease in precipitation (-10% than modern amounts). These simulations suggest that the Rwenzori glaciers required a cooling of at least 6.1 °C to reach the dated LGM moraines. Based on the model output, we predict an age of 12–11 ka for moraines located halfway between the LGM and modern glacier extents. We also predict ice-free conditions in the Rwenzori Mountains for most of the early to middle Holocene, followed by a late Holocene glacier readvance within the last 2000 yr.« less