Project Details
Projekt
Glacial ice-sheet dynamics and retreat deduced from southeastern Weddell Sea sediment (LAMINAE)
Applicants
Dr. Gerhard Kuhn; Privatdozent Dr. Michael E. Weber
Subject Area
Oceanography
Term
from 2010 to 2016
Project identifier
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 171971379
As part of research bundle RIDDLE (Reconstructing ice-sheet dynamics on different scales), the key goal of project LAMINAE is to provide detailed insight into glacial ice sheet dynamics in the southeastern Weddell Sea section of Antarctica. Ten existing sediment sites that preserved at least five millennia of varved sequences during the last glacial maximum (LGM) will be studied with a multi-proxy approach. First, the final retreat of the Antarctic Ice Sheet at the end of the LGM will be dated with 14C. The results will help to confine the timing of the initial sea-level rise for both the West and East Antarctic Ice Sheets, including potential asynchronies. Second, we will establish floating chronologies from new methods for laminae recognition and varve counting. Thereby, it will be possible to study glacial ice sheet dynamics at unprecedented resolution, including the role of decadal-centennial scale solar cycles in climate change, and the detection of Antarctic Isotopic Maxima in sites penetrating Marine Isotopic Stage 3. Third, with the combination of absolute and floating chronologies, we will define marker horizons in core sections that are rich in bioturbation, ice-rafted debris, or ash layers, for correlation between the sites and to the EDML ice core. This will put our results into a larger-scale perspective and allow for synchronization of the atmospheric and oceanic response to climate change.
DFG Programme
Infrastructure Priority Programmes
