Mt. Moulton Ice Trench Mass Spectrometry, Antarctica

This data set contains measurments from co-registered samples from a horizontal trench in the Mt. Moulton Blue Ice Area in Antarctica. All 3795 repeat-cut samples were analyzed for their soluble major anion content by ion chromatography and for trace elements by inductively coupled plasma sector field mass spectrometry .

The data are available via FTP in Microsoft Excel format (.xls). Accompanying documentation is in a Microsoft Word document (.doc).

Citing These Data

The following example shows how to cite the use of this data set in a publication. For more information, see our Use and Copyright Web page.

The following example shows how to cite the use of this data set in a publication. List the principal investigators, year of data set release, publisher: NSIDC, and digital media.

Mayewski, P. 2010. Mt. Moulton Ice Trench Mass Spectrometry, Antarctica Boulder, Colorado, USA: National Snow and Ice Data Center. http://dx.doi.org/10.7265/N5VH5KSV.

Overview Table

Category	Description
Data format	Data are in Microsoft Excel format (.xls).
Spatial coverage and resolution	Southernmost Latitude: 76.06°S Northernmost Latitude: 76.06°S Westernmost Longitude: 134.7°W Easternmost Longitude: 134.7 °W
Temporal coverage and resolution	2003-2004 Antarctic Field Season.
File naming convention	Moulton_chemistry_short.xls
File size	Files range in size from to 40 to 1.2 MB.
Parameter(s)	Anion content. Trace elements
Procedures for obtaining data	Data are available via FTP.

Table of Contents

1. Contacts and Acknowledgments
2. Detailed Data Description
3. Data Access and Tools
4. Data Acquisition and Processing
5. References and Related Publications
6. Document Information

1. Contacts and Acknowledgments

Investigator(s)

Dr. Paul A Mayewski
Climate Change Institute
Global Science Center, University of Maine
Orono, ME, USA

Elena Korotkikh
Climate Change Institute
Global Science Center, University of Maine
Orono, ME, USA

Technical Contact

Acknowledgements

This research was supported by NSF OPP grant 0636506.

2. Detailed Data Description

Format

Data are in Microsoft Excel format (.xls) and Microsoft Word document (.doc).

File and Directory Structure

Data are available on the FTP site in the ftp://sidads.colorado.edu/pub/DATASETS/AGDC/nsidc0472_mayewski_V01/ directory.

Table 1. Directory Description

Directory	Description
Moulton_chemistry_short.xls	Major ion analyses (IC)
Mt. Moulton.doc	Microsoft Office Word document

File Naming Convention

Files are named according to the following convention and as described in Table 2:

.xls

Where:

Table 2. File Naming Convention

Variable	Description
IceCore	Name of ice core: Mt. Moulton Blue Ice Area Ice Trench
Parameter	Major ion analyses (IC)
.xls	Microsoft Excel file extension

File Size

Files range in size from 40 KB to 1.2 MB.

Spatial Coverage

Mt. Moulton Blue Ice Area, Antarctica

Southernmost Latitude: 76.06°S
Northernmost Latitude: 76.06°S
Westernmost Longitude: 134.7°W
Easternmost Longitude: 134.7°W

Parameter or Variable

Parameters include anion and trace elements as listed in Table 3.

Parameter Description

Table 3. Parameter Description

Parameter	Description
Distance	along trench A  in meters
Age	k.a. BP
Cl-	chlorine
NO3-	nitrate
SO42-	sulfate
Na	sodium
Mg	magnesium
Ca	calcium
Sr	strontium
Cd	cadmium
Cs	cesium
Ba	barium
La	lathanum
Ce	cerium
Pr	praseodymium
Pb	lead
Bi	bismuth
U	uranium
As	arsenic
Al	aluminium
S	sulfer
Ti	titanium
V	vanadium
Cr	chromium
Mn	manganese
Fe	iron
Co	cobalt
Cu	copper
Zn	zinc

Sample Data Record

Sample data record from Moulton_chemistry_short.xls. This sample shows only the first eight records in the file.

Distance along trench A	Age	Cl-	NO3-	SO42-	Sr	Ba	La	Ce	Pr	Al	Ca	Ti	V	Mn	Fe	Co	Na
meters	ka B.P.	ug/L	ug/L	ug/L	ng/L	ng/L	ng/L	ng/L	ng/L	ug/L	ug/L	ng/L	ng/L	ng/L	ug/L	ng/L	ug/L
203.088	107.227	100.67	13.27	82.49	44.96	51.68	1.77	3.83	0.35	5.62	10.87	371.32	6.70	247.67	43.67	10.65	78.26
203.097	107.236	42.13	7.86	75.94	20.43	8.14	0.29	0.60	0.04	0.78	2.79	46.60	1.11	33.95	1.36	0.91	22.16
203.107	107.244	39.82	7.66	62.10	10.71	4.67	0.17	0.28	0.01	0.44	1.74	20.56	0.78	18.66	0.32	0.31	12.55
203.117	107.253	39.00	6.97	55.94	7.35	4.68	0.18	0.24	0.00	1.46	1.07	16.24	0.57	14.35	0.26	0.26	9.52
203.127	107.261	44.63	7.02	62.50	14.21	5.62	0.19	0.30	0.01	0.46	1.63	15.23	0.72	18.55	0.37	0.22	13.29
203.137	107.270	49.24	6.66	78.02	21.51	5.29	0.43	0.78	0.06	0.44	2.95	24.10	0.81	33.04	0.43	0.35	22.79
203.147	107.278	54.72	6.22	99.26	30.77	10.05	0.59	1.16	0.09	0.84	4.84	26.10	1.55	38.53	1.13	0.98	44.30
203.157	107.287	58.48	5.95	99.38	29.55	5.57	0.44	0.81	0.06	0.59	3.56	23.05	1.06	26.59	0.54	0.64	50.76

 

3. Data Access and Tools

Data Access

Data are available via FTP.

Volume

The total volume of this data set is 1.24 MB.

Software and Tools

Data are accessible using spreadsheet software.

Related Data Collections

• South Pole Ice Core Climate Reconstruction, Antarctica (nsidc-0471)

4. Data Acquisition and Processing

Theory of Measurements

Mt. Moulton Blue Ice Area (BIA) is located in the Flood Range of Marie Byrd Land in West Antarctica at an elevation of 2820 masl. It is the first ice record of the last interglacial and transition to the subsequent glacial period from West Antarctica (Korotkikh et al., in review) and the first constrained by 40Ar/39Ar radiometric dates from englacial tephra layers (Dunbar et al., 2008). Rather than using a standard vertical ice core investigators used samples collected by N. Dunbar, W. McIntosh and G. Zielinski) from a horizontal trench in the Mt. Moulton Blue Ice Area (BIA). The record is high resolution (~6-8 years per sample) and contains a suite of 28 measurements, including major anions, trace elements and water hydrogen isotopes.

Forty-two meters of the Mt. Moulton ice trench were melted using the University of Maine continuous melting system at a sample resolution of ~0.8-1cm. There are three gaps in the melted section totaling 1.62m. Each block of ice (~50 cm length) extracted from the horizontal trench was cut into 3.5 x 3.5 centimeter sections. The ends of each ice block were scraped using a clean ceramic knife before melting to prevent contamination. Samples were collected from the inner and outer parts of the samples. To avoid contamination only the inner portion of each sample was used for major anion and trace element analysis. The meltwater from the potentially contaminated outer part was collected for stable isotope analysis.

All 3795 co-registered samples were analyzed for their soluble major anion content (Cl-, NO3-, SO42-) by ion chromatography (IC) and for trace elements (Na, Mg, Ca, Sr, Cd, Cs, Ba, La, Ce, Pr, Pb, Bi, U, As, Al, S, Ti, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Cu, Zn) by inductively coupled plasma sector field mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). Major anions were analyzed on a Dionex DX-500 ion chromatograph coupled to a Gilson autosampler, and concentrations are reported in ug/L (ppb). Trace elements analyses were performed with the University of Maine Thermo Electron Element2 ICP-MS coupled to a Cetac Model ASX- 260 autosampler. Isotopes were measured in low and medium resolution (GIVE range ppt-ppq). The ICP-MS samples were acidified to 1% with double-distilled HN03 under a class-100 High Efficiency Particle Air (HEPA) clean bench and allowed to react with the acid for approximately 1 week before being frozen. Approximately every fifth sample (713 total) was analyzed for dD by isotope ratio mass spectrometry (IRMS) using a Micromass Isoprime mass spectrometer. Data are reported in delta (d) notation relative to standard mean ocean water (SMOW).

 

5. References and Related Publications

Dunbar, N. W., McIntosh, W. C., and Esser, R. P. (2008). Physical setting and tephrochronology of the summit caldera ice record at Mount Moulton, West Antarctica. Geological Society of America Bulletin 120, 796-812.

 

The following related documents are available

Table 4. Related Documents

Document	Description	URL
Antarctic Glaciological Data Center (AGDC)	Data Center Web site	http://nsidc.org/agdc/

6. Document Information

Acronyms

The following acronyms are used in this document.

Table 5. Acronyms and Abbreviations

Acronym	Description
FTP	File Transfer Protocol
ICPMS	Inductively Coupled Plasma Sector Field Mass Spectrometry
IC	Ion Chromatography
NSIDC	National Snow and Ice Data Center
masl	meters above sea level
SMOW	standard mean ocean water
BIA	Blue Ice Area
URL	Uniform Resource Locator

Document Creation Date

August 2010

Document URL

http://nsidc.org/data/docs/agdc/nsidc0472_mayewski_V01/index.html