Continuous ice-core chemical analyses using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry

Area of Science:

• Paleoclimatology
• Environmental Science
• Glaciology

Background:

• Ice sheets and glaciers contain trapped impurities that serve as valuable proxies for past environmental conditions.
• These impurities offer high temporal resolution data on paleo-environments, atmospheric circulation, and pollution.
• Traditional chemical, isotopic, and elemental analyses of ice cores are crucial for reconstructing Earth's history.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce a novel, integrated approach for high-resolution chemical analysis of ice cores.
• To demonstrate the capability of the new method for detailed environmental proxy reconstruction.
• To enhance the depth resolution and multiparameter analysis of ice core data.

Main Methods:

• Coupling an ice-core melter directly with an inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer (ICP-MS).
• Integrating the ICP-MS with a traditional continuous flow analysis (CFA) system.
• Performing replicated measurements on ice-core samples from Summit, Greenland.

Main Results:

• Achieved continuous, exactly coregistered concentration records for numerous elements and chemical species.
• Demonstrated detection limits at parts per billion (ppb) and parts per trillion (ppt) levels.
• Obtained unprecedented depth resolution in ice core analyses.

Conclusions:

• The novel coupled analytical system significantly advances ice core analysis capabilities.
• This method enables highly detailed multiparameter measurements at very high depth resolution.
• The expanded use of ice core records will improve our understanding of paleo-environments and pollution history.