Using ice core measurements from Taylor Glacier, Antarctica, to calibrate in situ cosmogenic 14C production rates by muons

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  • Michael N. Dyonisius
  • Vasilii V. Petrenko
  • Andrew M. Smith
  • Benjamin Hmiel
  • Peter D. Neff
  • Bin Yang
  • Quan Hua
  • Jochen Schmitt
  • Sarah A. Shackleton
  • Christo Buizert
  • Philip F. Place
  • James A. Menking
  • Ross Beaudette
  • Christina Harth
  • Michael Kalk
  • Heidi A. Roop
  • Bernhard Bereiter
  • Casey Armanetti
  • Isaac Vimont
  • Sylvia Englund Michel
  • And 4 others
  • Edward J. Brook
  • Jeffrey P. Severinghaus
  • Ray F. Weiss
  • Joseph R. McConnell

Cosmic rays entering the Earth's atmosphere produce showers of secondary particles such as protons, neutrons, and muons. The interaction of these particles with oxygen-16 (O-16) in minerals such as ice and quartz can produce carbon-14 (C-14). In glacial ice, C-14 is also incorporated through trapping of C-14-containing atmospheric gases ((CO2)-C-14,(CO)-C- 14, and (CH4)-C-14). Understanding the production rates of in situ cosmogenic C-14 is important to deconvolve the in situ cosmogenic and atmospheric( 14)C signals in ice, both of which contain valuable paleoenvironmental information. Unfortunately, the in situ C-14 production rates by muons (which are the dominant production mechanism at depths of > 6 m solid ice equivalent) are uncertain. In this study, we use measurements of in situ C-14 in ancient ice (> 50 ka) from the Taylor Glacier, an ablation site in Antarctica, in combination with a 2D ice flow model to better constrain the compound-specific rates of C-14 production by muons and the partitioning of in situ( 14)C between CO2, CO, and CH4. Our measurements show that 33.7 % (+/- 11.4%; 95 % confidence interval) of the produced cosmogenic C-14 forms (CO)-C-14 and 66.1 % (+/- 11.5%; 95 % confidence interval) of the produced cosmogenic C-14 forms (CO2)-C-14. (CH4)-C-14 represents a very small fraction (< 0.3%) of the total. Assuming that the majority of in situ muogenic 14C in ice forms (CO2)-C-14, (CO)-C-14, and (CH4)-C-14, we also calculated muogenic( 14)C production rates that are lower by factors of 5.7 (3.6-13.9; 95 % confidence interval) and 3.7 (2.0-11.9; 95 % confidence interval) for negative muon capture and fast muon interactions, respectively, when compared to values determined in quartz from laboratory studies (Heisinger et al., 2002a, b) and in a natural setting (Lupker et al., 2015). This apparent discrepancy in muogenic C-14 production rates in ice and quartz currently lacks a good explanation and requires further investigation.

Original languageEnglish
JournalCryosphere
Volume17
Issue number2
Pages (from-to)843-863
Number of pages21
ISSN1994-0416
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 20 Feb 2023

    Research areas

  • POLAR ICE, CARBON-DIOXIDE, DOME ICE, CLIMATE HISTORY, ATMOSPHERIC CO2, DRY EXTRACTION, ANCIENT ICE, RADIOCARBON, (CO)-C-14, HOLOCENE

ID: 341014977