Glacial and volcanic history of Icelandic table mountains from cosmogenic 3He exposure ages

Abstract

Basaltic table mountains in the neovolcanic zones of Iceland have been interpreted as subglacial volcanoes that emerged through an ice sheet. Using their distinctive morphological and lithostratigraphic characteristics, the approximate surface elevation and thickness of the ice sheet at the time of eruption can be determined. We measured cosmogenic 3He concentrations in olivine phenocrysts from subaerially erupted basaltic lava caps of table mountains to determine their exposure ages. We argue that these exposure ages closely approximate eruption ages; the possibility of past snow cover is the main uncertainty. The resulting 3He exposure (eruption) ages, calculated using a locally derived 3He production rate calibration, and comprising 42 individual ages from 13 table mountains, allow reconstruction of ice sheet surface profiles through time. The new 3He chronology indicates that 12 of the 13 dated table mountains experienced their final eruptive phase during the last deglaciation. This eruptive chronology is broadly consistent with the hypothesis that melt production in Iceland is enhanced by pressure release from ice sheet unloading during deglaciation. The clustered distribution of table mountain ages suggests that distinct episodes of ice sheet thinning may have coincided with, or closely followed, the two strongest warming events in the North Atlantic region during the last deglaciation: the Bølling warming (ca 14.5 ka) and the warming at the end of the Younger Dryas.