Glacial-Age Dust Provenance in West Antarctica

Abstract:

Antarctic ice cores contain insoluble dust particles that may have been transported for thousands of miles, from distal continental sources, before being deposited on the ice sheet and incorporated into the ice core record. Knowing the dust sources, and observing how those sources have changed over time, informs our understanding of regional climate conditions in the potential source areas, as well as informing our reconstructions of atmospheric transport between the sources and the poles. Patagonia has been identified as a key dust source to East Antarctica during Ice Age climates; however, the dust sources to West Antarctica during these times have remained unknown.

We present radiogenic isotope (Sr, Nd, Pb isotopes) and trace element data of the insoluble dust extracted from 15 WAIS Divide ice core and 4 Byrd ice core samples between ~40ky and the end of the Last Glacial Maximum, and combine these with a novel set of observations on potential sources of dust from around the Pacific sector of the polar Southern Hemisphere. We use these geochemical tools to identify, in a multi-dimensional view, the source(s) of dust to West Antarctica. We also identify the sources of dust across two millennial-scale climate events. The data indicate that Patagonia was a dominant source of dust for West Antarctica during glacial periods, highlighting the importance of southern South America as a dust source for broad swaths of the polar and sub-polar Southern Hemisphere.