Marine sediments, obtained from cores and captures from deep sea and continental shelf sites of West Antarctica, contain rich records of latest Miocene to Present glacial and deglacial processes and conditions at the margin of the West Antarctic ice sheet (WAIS). The materials we are investigating were recovered from a) Resolution Drift on the Amundsen Sea continental rise (water depths >3900m), b)the continental shelf in the Amundsen Sea, Wrigley Gulf, and Sultzberger Bay (water depths <1000m). Resolution Drift cores were drilled by IODP Expedition 379 (Gohl et al., doi:10.14379/iodp.proc.379.2021) in sediments dominated by compacted clay and silty clay, with conglomeratic intervals of ice-rafted detritus (IRD) and downslope deposits. The shelf sediments were recovered by piston core, trigger core, and Smith McIntyre Grab (SMG) during USA research cruises of the RVIB Nathaniel B Palmer (1999, 2000, 2007) and USCGC Glacier (1983). The shelf samples are non-compacted clay, containing abundant cobbles, pebbles and biogenic fragments.
Our research focuses upon rock clasts, detrital apatite and zircon, felsic volcanic tephra, and micro-manganese nodules separated from marine and glaciomarine clay. The rock clasts and detrital minerals represent samples of continental crust that we characterise according to rock type, petrology, geochemistry, and geo-thermochronology [U-Pb, (U-Th)/He, and fission track methods]. These characteristics illuminate solid Earth processes, including the development of subglacial topography . We compared clasts’ petrology and age data to the exposed onshore geology and thermochronology of bedrock, and determined that ≥90% of clasts likely originated in West Antarctica. Therefore the materials can be used to assign roughness, erodibility, and heat production factors for subglacial bedrock, which constitute boundary conditions used by ice sheet modelers.
Rhyolite ash and fragments provide new evidence for explosive eruptions (dated ca. 2.55 to 2.92 Ma; feldspar 40Ar/39Ar) delivered to sea as airfall, IRD, and possible subglacial water transport. Silicic eruptions produce ash and aerosols that may screen solar energy, and provide bio-available nutrients that produce phytoplankton blooms leading to sequestration of carbon. The rhyolite dates coincide with the end of a Pliocene warm period recorded in IODP379 cores (Gille-Petzoldt et al., 10.3389/feart.2022.976703). Our work in progress seeks to obtain higher resolution geochronology in order to determine whether silicic continental volcanism occurred in response to ice unloading due to deglaciation (cf. Lin et al., 10.5194/cp-18-485-2022) and whether erupted products contributed to latest Pliocene significant cooling and WAIS re-glaciation.
Another distinctive sediment constituent is micro-manganese nodules of unusual form. Whereas typical micro-MN nodules are dark, formed of concentric layers, this form is pale in color, ‘barbell’ shaped, and transparent in transmitted light. Scanning electron microscopy shows these to be microcrystalline Mn-oxide with embedded grains of quartz and feldspar, which likely served as seed material. Mn-oxides form by authigenesis at/near the seafloor surface, requiring high oxygen concentrations in the bottom water and low sedimentation rates, generally associated with the end of glacials/during interglacials (Hillenbrand et al. 2021, 10.1029/2021GL093103). Work is in progress to determine whether Mn oxides formed through passive accretion upon seed grains or microbially-mediated precipitation from Mn-oxyhydroxides or colloids, of possible relevance for coastal carbon budgets.
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu23-9728
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This content will become publicly available on July 1, 2024
Meteoric 10Be speciation in subglacial sediments of East Antarctica
A sequential chemical extraction procedure was developed and tested to investigate the utility of meteoric 10Be as a tracer for authigenic mineral formation beneath the East Antarctic Ice Sheet. Subglacial meltwater is widely available under the Antarctic Ice Sheet and dissolved gases within it have the potential to drive chemical weathering processes in the subglacial environment. Meteoric 10Be is a cosmogenic nuclide with a half-life of 1.39⋅10^6 years that is incorporated into glacier ice, therefore its abundance in the subglacial environment in Antarctica is meltwater dependent. It is known to adsorb to fine-grained particles in aqueous solution, precipitate with amorphous oxides/hydroxides, and/or be incorporated into authigenic clay minerals during chemical weathering. The presence of 10Be in chemical weathering products derived from beneath the ice therefore indicates chemical weathering processes in the subglacial environment. Freshly emerging subglacial sediments from the Mt. Achernar blue ice moraine were subject to chemical extractions where these weathering phases were isolated and 10Be concentrations therein quantified. Optimization of the phase isolation was developed by examining the effects of each extraction on the sample mineralogy and chemical composition. Experiments on 10Be desorption revealed that pH 3.2–3.5 was optimal for the extraction of adsorbed 10Be. Vigorous disaggregation of the samples before grain size separations and acid extractions is crucial due to the incorporation of the nuclide in clay minerals and its preferential absorption to clay-sized particles. 10Be concentrations of 2–22⋅10^7 atoms⋅g^ -1 measured in oxides and clay minerals in freshly emerging sediments strongly indicate subglacial chemical weathering in the catchment of the Mt. Achernar moraine. Based on total 10Be sample concentrations, local basal melt rates, and 10Be ice concentrations, sediment-meltwater contact in the subglacial environment is on the order of thousands of years per gram of underlying fine sediment. Strong correlation (R = 0.97) between 10Be and smectite abundance in the sediments supports authigenic clay formation in the subglacial environment. This suggests meteoric 10Be is a useful tool to characterize subglacial geochemical weathering processes under the Antarctic Ice Sheet.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1744879
- NSF-PAR ID:
- 10470221
- Publisher / Repository:
- Elsevier
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Quaternary Geochronology
- Volume:
- 77
- Issue:
- C
- ISSN:
- 1871-1014
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 101458
- Subject(s) / Keyword(s):
- ["Meteoric 10Be","Antarctic ice sheet","Subglacial processes","Chemical weathering","Sequential extractions","Clays"]
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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