Published in

American Geophysical Union, Geophysical Research Letters, 5(43), p. 2019-2026, 2016

DOI: 10.1002/2015gl066476

Links

Tools

Export citation

Search in Google Scholar

Assessing the continuity of the blue ice climate record at Patriot Hills, Horseshoe Valley, West Antarctica

This paper was not found in any repository, but could be made available legally by the author.
This paper was not found in any repository, but could be made available legally by the author.

Full text: Unavailable

Green circle
Preprint: archiving allowed
Green circle
Postprint: archiving allowed
Orange circle
Published version: archiving restricted
Data provided by SHERPA/RoMEO

Abstract

© 2016. The Authors.We use high-resolution ground-penetrating radar (GPR) to assess the continuity of the Blue Ice Area (BIA) horizontal climate record at Patriot Hills, Horseshoe Valley, West Antarctica. The sequence contains three pronounced changes in deuterium isotopic values at ~18 cal ka, ~12 cal ka, and ~8 cal ka. GPR surveys along the climate sequence reveal continuous, conformable dipping isochrones, separated by two unconformities in the isochrone layers, which correlate with the two older deuterium shifts. We interpret these unconformities as discontinuities in the sequence, rather than direct measures of climate change. Ice sheet models and Internal Layer Continuity Index plots suggest that the unconformities represent periods of erosion occurring, as the former ice surface was scoured by katabatic winds in front of mountains at the head of Horseshoe Valley. This study demonstrates the importance of high-resolution GPR surveys for investigating both paleoflow dynamics and interpreting BIA climate records.