Changes in the occurrence of heavy metals in polar ice during the last climatic cycles, with special emphasis on the possible link between cosmic dust accretion rate and the 100 kyr cycle

Abstract

During the last decades, ice cores drilled in Antarctica and in Greenland have provided time series of data that have allowed the characterisation of variations of natural and anthropogenic heavy metals in the past atmosphere. Nevertheless, the interactions of heavy metals with climate change and their transport patterns remain largely unknown during the last climatic cycles. Hereafter we present our project dealing with the assessment of past changes of various heavy metals in Antarctic and Greenland ice during the past = 500 kyr anticipating some preliminary Zn measurements in the EPICA Dome C ice core back to about 200000 years. In our project special emphasis is given to Pt group elements (PGE) that are tracers of interplanetary dust particles (IDPs). Tracers of crustal material, volcanic activity and ocean paleoproductivity are also investigated. At the moment we are focusing especially on the ongoing EPICA Dome C Antarctic ice core, decontaminating mechanically some section and performing preliminary measurements of Zn and Al using Graphite Furnace Atomic Absorption Spectrometry and adopting ultraclean procedures. These data confirm the prominent continental origin of Zn in the East Antarctic ice during the last and penultimate glacial period.