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Updated: Aug 2, 2025

Removal of Exogenous Materials from the Outer Portion of Frozen Cores to Investigate the Ancient Biological Communities Harbored Inside
Published on: July 3, 2016
First evidence of industrial fly-ash in an Antarctic ice core
E R Thomas1, D R Tetzner2, S L Roberts3
1Ice Dynamics and Paleoclimate, British Antarctic Survey, High Cross, Madingley Road, Cambridge, CB3 0ET, UK. lith@bas.ac.uk.
Abstract:
Spheroidal carbonaceous particles (SCPs) are a component of fly-ash, the particulate by-product of industrial high temperature combustion of fuel-oil and coal-series fuels. We provide the first evidence that these indelible markers of industrialisation have been deposited in Antarctic ice, thousands of kilometres from any potential source. The earliest observed particle was deposited in an ice layer from 1936 CE. While depositional fluxes are low, chemical analysis of individual SCPs indicates a coal combustion origin.
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