Abstract:
This dataset consists of measurements of cosmogenic 10Be in quartz from a set of 41 erratic cobbles and boulders collected from the surfaces of nunataks in West Antarctica. The erratics were collected during the 2019-20 Antarctic field season from the Hudson Mountains, which are situated immediately to the north of Pine Island Glacier. The samples in this dataset were collected from nunataks (Webber Nunatak, Mount Moses, Slusher Nunatak, Dean Nunataks, Wold Nunatak, and Siren Rock) located adjacent to Larter and Lucchitta glaciers which dissect the area. The dataset includes cosmogenic nuclide (10Be) exposure ages and all field (sample locations and elevations) and analytical laboratory (quartz and beryllium carrier masses, 10Be/9Be ratios) data for field samples and procedural blanks required to calculate the exposure ages.
This project was funded by Natural Environment Research Council (NERC: Grants NE/S006710/1, NE/S006753/1, and NE/S00663X/1) and National Science Foundation (NSF: Grant OPP 2317097). Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) Centre for Accelerator Science award AP12872, through the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS).
Keywords:
Antarctica, Cosmogenic nuclides, Glacial geology, Holocene, ITGC, Larter Glacier, Lucchitta Glacier, Pine Island Glacier, Surface exposure ages
Nichols, K., Rood, D., Johnson, J., Wilcken, K., & Brown, K. (2025). Cosmogenic 10Be data and calculated surface exposure ages for 41 cobbles and boulders collected from nunataks adjacent to Larter and Lucchitta glaciers in the Hudson Mountains, West Antarctica (Version 1.0) [Data set]. NERC EDS UK Polar Data Centre. https://doi.org/10.5285/de4a62bc-9c01-4aa3-9fd8-c64d706cfc13
| Access Constraints: | Data is under embargo until the publication of an associated paper |
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| Use Constraints: | This data is governed by the NERC data policy (http://www.nerc.ac.uk/research/sites/data/policy/) and supplied under Open Government Licence v.3 (http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/). |
| Creation Date: | 2025-03-04 |
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| Dataset Progress: | Planned |
| Dataset Language: | English |
| ISO Topic Categories: |
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| Parameters: |
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| Personnel: | |
| Name | UK PDC |
| Role(s) | Metadata Author |
| Organisation | British Antarctic Survey |
| Name | Keir A Nichols |
| Role(s) | Investigator, Technical Contact |
| Organisation | Imperial College London |
| Name | Dylan H Rood |
| Role(s) | Investigator |
| Organisation | Imperial College London |
| Name | Joanne S Johnson |
| Role(s) | Investigator |
| Organisation | British Antarctic Survey |
| Name | Klaus Wilcken |
| Role(s) | Investigator |
| Organisation | Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation |
| Name | Katie Brown |
| Role(s) | Investigator |
| Organisation | University College London |
| Parent Dataset: | N/A |
| Reference: | Lineage reference list: Balco, G., Stone, J.O., Lifton, N.A., and Dunai, T.J., 2008. A complete and easily accessible means of calculating surface exposure ages or erosion rates from 10Be and 26Al measurements: Quaternary Geochronology, v. 3, p. 174-195. Corbett, L.B., Bierman, P.R., Rood, D.H., 2016. An approach for optimizing in situ cosmogenic 10Be sample preparation. Quaternary Geochronology, 33, 24-34. Kohl, C.P., Nizhiizumi, K., 1992. Chemical isolation of quartz for measurement of in-situ -produced cosmogenic nuclides. Geochim Cosmochim Acta 56, 3583-3587. Lifton, N., Sato, T., and Dunai, T. J., 2014. Scaling in situ cosmogenic nuclide production rates using analytical approximations to atmospheric cosmic-ray fluxes, Earth Planet. Sc. Lett., 386, 149-160. Nishiizumi, K., Imamura, M., Caffee, M.W., Southon, J.R., Finkel, R.C., McAninch, J., 2007. Absolute calibration of 10Be AMS standards. Nucl. Instrum. Methods B 258, 403-413. Stone, J., 2000. Air pressure and cosmogenic isotope production. Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth, 105 (B10), p23753-23759. Wilcken, K.M., Fink, D., Hotchkis, M., Garton, D., Button, D., Mann, M., Kitchen, R., Hauser, T., O'Connor, A., 2017. Accelerator mass spectrometry on SIRIUS: new 6MV spectrometer at ANSTO. Nucl. Instrum. Methods B, 406, 278-282. Wilcken, K.M., Codilean, A.T., Fülöp, R.-H., Kotevski, S., Rood, A.H., Rood, D.H., Seal A.J., Simon, K., 2022. Technical note: Accelerator mass spectrometry of 10Be and 26Al at low nuclide concentrations. Geochronology, 4, 339-352. Quality reference list: Balco, G., Brown, N., Nichols, K. A., Venturelli, R. A., Adams, J., Braddock, S., Campbell, S., Goehring, B. M., Johnson, J.S., Rood, D.H., Wilcken, K., Hall, B., Woodward, J., 2023. Reversible ice sheet thinning in the Amundsen Sea Embayment during the Late Holocene. The Cryosphere, 17(4), 1787-1801. Marschalek, J.W., Thomson, S.N., Hillenbrand C.-D., Vermeesch, P., Siddoway, C., Carter, A., Nichols, K.A., Rood, D.H., Venturelli, R.A., Hammond, S.J., Wellner, J., van de Flierdt, T., 2024. Geological insights from the newly discovered granite of Sif Island between Thwaites and Pine Island glaciers. Antarctic Science, 36 (2), 51-74. Nichols, K.A., Rood, D.H., Venturelli, R.A., Balco, G., Adams, J.R., Guillaume, L., Campbell, S., Goehring, B.M., Hall, B.L., Wilcken, K., Woodward, W., Johnson, J.S., 2023. Offshore-onshore record of Last Glacial Maximum-to-present grounding line retreat at Pine Island Glacier, Antarctica. Geology 2023, 51 (11): 1033-1037. |
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| Quality: | Quartz purity was tested using inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES). For isotope dilution chemistry, one procedural blank (carrier-only) was processed for every 11 samples, and each batch of samples is assigned a batch number. The procedural blank used to correct the 10Be concentration of each sample is dependent on the time period during which it was processed in the CosmIC Laboratory (processed_blank_data.csv). Beryllium was extracted from samples in batch one at the same time as the samples presented in Balco et al. (2023), Nichols et al. (2023), and Marschalek et al. (2024). Therefore, the blank value used to correct the 10Be concentrations in batch one is the same as that used to correct 10Be concentrations in the aforementioned studies (the mean and standard deviation of 12 batches of samples, 10Be/9Be = 1.73 x 10-15 ± 4.82 x 10-16; 30287 ± 8456 10Be atoms; processed_blank_data.csv). Samples in batch two were processed in the year following those in batch one. Therefore, samples in batch two are corrected with a different blank value (the mean and standard deviation of two process blanks, BLK300822 and BLK050922, 10Be/9Be = 2.71 x10-15 ± 3.61 x 10-16, 47410 ± 6255 10Be atoms; processed_blank_data.csv). Samples in batches three, four, and five were processed later in the same year as those in batch two. A batch-specific blank value is therefore used to correct the 10Be concentrations of samples in batches three (BLK120922, 10Be/9Be = 2.13 x10-15 ± 3.41 x 10-16, 37088 ± 5939 10Be atoms), four (BLK260922, 10Be/9Be = 1.86 x10-15 ± 3.88 x 10-16, 32550 ± 6786 10Be atoms), and five (BLK041022, 10Be/9Be = 4.50 x 10-15 ± 5.31 x 10-16, 78589 ± 9262 10Be atoms; processed_blank_data.csv). In all cases, uncertainties in the sample and blank values are propagated in quadrature. | |
| Lineage/Methodology: | Samples from erratic cobbles and boulders perched on presently exposed mountain peaks next to Larter and Lucchitta glaciers were collected by Dr Joanne S Johnson (British Antarctic Survey) during the 2019-20 austral summer. Latitude, altitude, and elevation measurements of the location of the samples were made using a Javad Triumph II GPS receiver. The sample heights above ellipsoid were corrected to orthometric heights (height above geoid EGM08 in metres above sea level) using Precise Point Positioning software. Laboratory chemistry was conducted in the CosmIC Laboratory at Imperial College London, UK. Quartz purification followed the methods of Kohl and Nishiizumi (1992). Isotope dilution chemistry and beryllium purification used the methods of Corbett et al. (2016). 10Be/9Be ratios were measured by accelerator mass spectrometry at ANSTO using the methods of Wilcken et al. (2017; 2022) and normalised to the standard values of Nishiizumi et al. (2007). Laboratory data were then converted to 10Be concentrations and, finally, exposure ages, using an online exposure age calculator (Balco et al., 2008). Exposure ages were calculated using the default global production rate calibration dataset and two different cosmogenic nuclide scaling methods known as St (Stone, 2000) and LSDn (Lifton et al., 2014). | |
| Temporal Coverage: | |
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| Start Date | 2019-11-25 |
| End Date | 2019-12-31 |
| Spatial Coverage: | |
| Latitude | |
| Southernmost | -74.78862 |
| Northernmost | -74.45906 |
| Longitude | |
| Westernmost | -99.83072 |
| Easternmost | -98.32637 |
| Altitude | |
| Min Altitude | 175 |
| Max Altitude | 830 |
| Depth | |
| Min Depth | N/A |
| Max Depth | N/A |
| Location: | |
| Location | Antarctica |
| Detailed Location | Webber Nunatak |
| Location | Antarctica |
| Detailed Location | Mount Moses |
| Location | Antarctica |
| Detailed Location | Slusher Nunatak |
| Location | Antarctica |
| Detailed Location | Dean Nunatak |
| Location | Antarctica |
| Detailed Location | Wold Nunatak |
| Location | Antarctica |
| Detailed Location | Siren Rock |
| Location | Antarctica |
| Detailed Location | Larter Glacier |
| Location | Antarctica |
| Detailed Location | Lucchitta Glacier |
| Location | Antarctica |
| Detailed Location | Pine Island Glacier |
| Location | Antarctica |
| Detailed Location | West Antarctica |
| Location | Antarctica |
| Detailed Location | Amundsen Sea Embayment |