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Abstract. We used mapping of bedrock lithology, bedrock fractures, and lake density in Inglefield Land, northwestern Greenland, combined with cosmogenic nuclide (10Be and 26Al) measurements in bedrock surfaces, to investigate glacial erosion and the ice sheet history of the northwestern Greenland Ice Sheet. The pattern of eroded versus weathered bedrock surfaces and other glacial erosion indicators reveal temporally and spatially varying erosion under cold- and warm-based ice. All of the bedrock surfaces that we measured in Inglefield Land contain cosmogenic nuclide inheritance with apparent 10Be ages ranging from 24.9 ± 0.5 to 215.8 ± 7.4 ka. The 26Al/10Be ratios require minimum combined surface burial and exposure histories of ∼ 150 to 2000 kyr. Because our sample sites span a relatively small area that experienced a similar ice sheet history, we attribute differences in nuclide concentrations and ratios to varying erosion during the Quaternary. We show that an ice sheet history with ∼ 900 kyr of exposure and ∼ 1800 kyr of ice cover throughout the Quaternary is consistent with the measured nuclide concentrations in most samples when sample-specific subaerial erosion rates are between 0 and 2 × 10−2 mm yr−1 and subglacial erosion rates are between 0 and 2 × 10−3 mm yr−1. These erosion rates help to characterize Arctic landscape evolution in crystalline bedrock terrains in areas away from focused ice flow.
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Cosmogenic nuclide dating of two stacked ice masses: Ong Valley, Antarctica
Abstract. We collected a debris-rich ice core from a buried icemass in Ong Valley, located in the Transantarctic Mountains in Antarctica. Wemeasured cosmogenic nuclide concentrations in quartz obtained from the icecore to determine the age of the buried ice mass and infer the processesresponsible for the emplacement of the debris currently overlaying the ice.Such ice masses are valuable archives of paleoclimate proxies; however, thepreservation of ice beyond 800 kyr is rare, and therefore much effort hasbeen recently focused on finding ice that is older than 1 Myr. In Ong Valley,the large, buried ice mass has been previously dated at > 1.1 Ma.Here we provide a forward model that predicts the accumulation of thecosmic-ray-produced nuclides 10Be, 21Ne, and 26Al in quartzin the englacial and supraglacial debris and compare the model predictionsto measured nuclide concentrations in order to further constrain the age.Large downcore variation in measured cosmogenic nuclide concentrationssuggests that the englacial debris is sourced both from subglacially derivedmaterial and recycled paleo-surface debris that has experienced surfaceexposure prior to entrainment. We find that the upper section of the icecore is 2.95 + 0.18 / −0.22 Myr old. The average ice sublimation rate duringthis time period is 22.86 + 0.10 / −0.09 m Myr−1, and the surfaceerosion rate of the debris is 0.206 + 0.013 / −0.017 m Myr−1. Burialdating of the recycled paleo-surface debris suggests that the lower sectionof the ice core belongs to a separate, older ice mass which we estimate tobe 4.3–5.1 Myr old. The ages of these two stacked, separate ice masses canbe directly related to glacial advances of the Antarctic ice sheet andpotentially coincide with two major global glaciations during the early andlate Pliocene epoch when global temperatures and CO2 were higher thanpresent. These ancient ice masses represent new opportunities for gatheringancient climate information.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1735676
- PAR ID:
- 10395169
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- The Cryosphere
- Volume:
- 16
- Issue:
- 7
- ISSN:
- 1994-0424
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 2793 to 2817
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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Richard B. Waitt; Glenn D. Thackray; Alan R. Gillespie (Ed.)The northward retreat history of the Laurentide ice sheet through the lowlands of the northeastern United States during the last deglaciation is well constrained, but its vertical thinning history is less well known because of the lack of direct constraints on ice thickness through time and space. In addition, the highest elevations in New England are characterized by gently sloping upland surfaces and weathered block fields, features with an uncertain history. To better constrain ice-sheet history in this area and its relationship to alpine geomorphology, we present 20 new 10Be and seven in situ 14C cosmogenic nuclide measurements along an elevation transect at Mount Washington, New Hampshire, the highest mountain in the northeastern United States (1917 m above sea level [a.s.l.]). Our results suggest substantially different exposure and erosion histories on the upper and lower parts of the mountain. Above 1600 m a.s.l., 10Be and in situ 14C measurements are consistent with upper reaches of the mountain deglaciating by 18 ka. However, some 10Be ages are up to several times greater than the age of the last deglaciation, consistent with weakly erosive, cold-based ice that did not deeply erode preglacial surfaces. Below 1600 m a.s.l., 10Be ages are indistinguishable over a nearly 900 m range in elevation and imply rapid ice-surface lowering ca. 14.1 ± 1.1 ka (1 standard deviation; n = 9). This shift from slow thinning early in the deglaciation on the upper part of the mountain to abrupt thinning across the lower elevations coincided with accelerated ice-margin retreat through the region recorded by Connecticut River valley varve records during the Bølling interstadial. The Mount Washington cosmogenic nuclide vertical transect and the Connecticut River valley varve record, along with other New England cosmogenic nuclide records, suggest rapid ice-volume loss in the interior northeastern United States in response to Bølling warming.more » « less
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Abstract. To understand the erosivity of the eastern portion of the Laurentide Ice Sheet and the isotopic characteristics of the sediment it transported, we sampled buried sand from deglacial features (eskers and deltas) across eastern Canada (n = 10), a landscape repeatedly covered by the Quebec-Labrador Ice Dome. We measured concentrations of 10Be and 26Al in quartz isolated from the sediment and, after correcting for sub-surface cosmic-ray exposure after Holocene deglaciation, used these results to determine nuclide concentrations at the time the ice sheet deposited the sediment. To determine what percentage of sediment moving through streams and rivers currently draining the field area was derived from incision of thick glacial deposits as opposed to surface erosion, we used 10Be and 26Al as tracers by collecting and analyzing modern river sand sourced from Holocene-exposed landscapes (n = 11). We find that all ten deglacial sediment samples contain measurable concentrations of 10Be and 26Al equivalent on average to several thousand years of surface exposure – after correction, based on sampling depth, for Holocene nuclide production after deposition. Error-weighted averages (1 standard deviation errors) of measured 26Al/10Be ratios for both corrected deglacial (6.1 ± 1.2) and modern sediment samples (6.6 ± 0.5) are slightly lower than the production ratio at high latitudes (7.3 ± 0.3) implying burial and preferential decay of 26Al, the shorter-lived nuclide. However, five deglacial samples collected closer to the center of the former Quebec-Labrador Ice Dome have much lower corrected 26Al/10Be ratios (5.2 ± 0.8) than five samples collected closer to the former ice margins (7.0 ± 0.7). Modern river sand contains on average about 1.75 times the concentration of both nuclides compared to deglacial sediment corrected for Holocene exposure. The ubiquitous presence of 10Be and 26Al in eastern Quebec deglacial sediment is consistent with many older-than-expected exposure ages, reported here and by others, for bedrock outcrops and boulders once covered by the Quebec-Labrador Ice Dome. Together, these data suggest that glacial erosion and sediment transport in eastern Canada were insufficient to remove material containing cosmogenic nuclides produced during prior interglacial periods both from at least some bedrock outcrops and from all glacially transported sediment we sampled. Near the center of the Quebec-Labrador Ice Dome, ratios of 26Al/10Be are below those characteristic of surface production at high latitude. This suggests burial of the glacially transported sediment for at least many hundreds of thousands of years and the possibility that ice at the center of the Quebec-Labrador Ice Dome survived many interglacials when more distal ice melted away.more » « less
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Abstract Measuring rates of valley head migration and determining the timing of canyon‐opening are insightful for the evolution of planetary surfaces. Spatial gradients of in situ‐produced cosmogenic nuclide concentrations along horizontal transects provide a framework for assessing the migration of valley networks and similar topographic features. We developed a new derivation for valley head retreat rates from the concentrations of in situ‐produced cosmogenic radionuclides in valley walls. The retreat rate is inversely proportional to the magnitude of the spatial concentration gradient and proportional to local nuclide production rates. By solving for a spatial gradient in concentration along a valley parallel transect, we created an expression for the explicit determination of valley head retreat, which we refer to herein as unzipping. We applied this expression to a seepage‐derived drainage network developing along the Apalachicola River, Florida, USA. Sample concentrations along a valley margin transect varied systematically from 2.9 × 105to 3.5 × 105atoms/g resulting in a gradient of 160 atoms/g/m, and from this value a valley head retreat rate of 0.025 m/y was found. The discrepancy between overall network age and current rates of valley head migration suggests intermittent network growth which is consistent with glacial‐interglacial precipitation variations during the Pleistocene. This method can be applied to a wide range of Earth‐surface environments. For the10Be system, this method should be sensitive to unzipping rates bounded between 10−6and 100 m/y.more » « less
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-2793-2022
