Studies on microparticles contained in medium-depth ice cores retrieved from east Dronning Maud Land, Antarctica

Abstract

SEM observations of microparticles in ice-core samples retrieved by the Japanese Antarctic Research Expedition in east Dronning Maud Land have been carried out since 1987. Morphology and elemental composition by EDS of many microparticles taken from various depths of the 700 m Mizuho ice core were compared with each other and with those of stratospheric microparticles in NASA Cosmic Dust Catalogs and microparticles hitherto found in deep ice cores retrieved in Antarctica. Number concentrations of microparticles were measured on all samples throughout the 700 m Mizuho ice core. Remarkable fluctuations found in the depth profile of the concentration seem to coincide with cold climates indicated by δ18O of the same core. Compositional analysis of volcanic ash at a depth of 500.7 m in the Mizuho ice core, dated at approximately 6000 years BP, indicates that the ash originated from the South Sandwich Islands.