Not logged in
PANGAEA.
Data Publisher for Earth & Environmental Science

Meyer, Hanno; Schirrmeister, Lutz; Andreev, Andrei A; Wagner, Dirk; Hubberten, Hans-Wolfgang; Yoshikawa, Kenji; Bobrov, Anatoly A; Wetterich, Sebastian; Opel, Thomas; Kandiano, Evgenia S; Brown, Jerry (2010): Sediment and ice characteristics at a buried ice-wedge system at Barrow [dataset publication series]. PANGAEA, https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.816847, Supplement to: Meyer, H et al. (2010): Lateglacial and Holocene isotopic and environmental history of northern coastal Alaska – Results from a buried ice-wedge system at Barrow. Quaternary Science Reviews, 29(27-28), 3720-3735, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2010.08.005

Always quote citation above when using data! You can download the citation in several formats below.

RIS CitationBibTeX CitationShow MapGoogle Earth

Abstract:
Barrow, the northernmost point in Alaska, is one of the most intensively studied areas in the Arctic. However, paleoenvironmental evidence is limited for northern Alaska for the Lateglacial-Holocene transition. For a regional paleoenvironmental reconstruction, we investigated a permafrost ice-wedge tunnel near Barrow, Alaska. The studied site was first excavated in the early 1960s and intercepts a buried ice-wedge system at 3-6 m depth below the surface. A multi-methodological approach was applied to this buried ice-wedge system and the enclosing sediments, which in their combination, give new insight into the Late Quaternary environmental and climate history. Results of geochronological, sedimentological, cryolithological, paleoecological, isotope geochemical and microbiological studies reflect different stages of mid to late Wisconsin (MW to LW), Allerod (AD), Younger Dryas (YD), Preboreal (PB), and Late Holocene paleoenvironmental evolution. The LW age of the site is indicated by AMS dates in the surrounding sediments of 21.7 kyr BP at the lateral contact of the ice-wedge system as well as 39.5 kyr BP below the ice-wedge system. It is only recently that in this region, stable isotope techniques have been employed, i.e. to characterize different types of ground ice. The stable isotope record (oxygen: d18O; hydrogen: dD) of two intersecting ice wedges suggests different phases of the northern Alaskan climate history from AD to PB, with radiocarbon dates from 12.4 to 9.9 kyr BP (ranging from 14.8 to 10.6 kyr cal BP). Stable isotope geochemistry of ice wedges reveals winter temperature variations of the Lateglacial-Holocene transition including a prominent YD cold period, clearly separated from the warmer AD and PB phases. YD is only weakly developed in summer temperature indicators (such as pollen) for the northern Alaska area, and by consequence, the YD cold stadial was here especially related to the winter season. This highlights that the combination of winter and summer indicators comprehensively describes the seasonality of climate-relevant processes in discrete time intervals. The stable isotope record for the Barrow buried ice-wedge system documents for the first time winter climate change at the Lateglacial-Holocene transition continuously and at relatively high (likely centennial) resolution.
Keyword(s):
AWI
Project(s):
International Polar Year (2007-2008) (IPY)
Coverage:
Median Latitude: 71.304500 * Median Longitude: -156.684000 * South-bound Latitude: 71.295000 * West-bound Longitude: -156.724000 * North-bound Latitude: 71.314000 * East-bound Longitude: -156.644000
Date/Time Start: 2004-04-20T00:00:00 * Date/Time End: 2006-05-07T00:00:00
Event(s):
AK-Land_2004_Fairbanks_Barrow_all * Date/Time Start: 2004-04-20T00:00:00 * Date/Time End: 2004-05-11T00:00:00 * Location: Barrow, Alaska, USA * Campaign: AK-Land_2004_Fairbanks_Barrow (Alaska 2004) * Basis: AWI Arctic Land Expedition * Method/Device: Multiple investigations (MULT)
AK-Land_2006_Fairbanks_Barrow_all * Date/Time Start: 2006-04-18T00:00:00 * Date/Time End: 2006-05-07T00:00:00 * Location: Barrow, Alaska, USA * Campaign: AK-Land_2006_Fairbanks_Barrow (Alaska 2006) * Basis: AWI Arctic Land Expedition * Method/Device: Multiple investigations (MULT)
Barrow_transect * Latitude Start: 71.295000 * Longitude Start: -156.724000 * Latitude End: 71.314000 * Longitude End: -156.644000 * Elevation Start: 9.0 m * Elevation End: 6.0 m * Location: Barrow, Alaska, USA * Method/Device: Monitoring (MON)
Comment:
Data extracted in the frame of a joint ICSTI/PANGAEA IPY effort, see http://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.150150
License:
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported (CC-BY-3.0)
Size:
6 datasets

Download Data

Download ZIP file containing all datasets as tab-delimited text — use the following character encoding:

Datasets listed in this publication series

  1. Meyer, H; Schirrmeister, L; Andreev, AA et al. (2010): (Table 1b) Radiocarbon dating of organic remains in ice wedges of the Barrow permafrost tunnel in 2004. https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.816842
  2. Meyer, H; Schirrmeister, L; Andreev, AA et al. (2010): (Table 1a) Radiocarbon dating of organic remains in frozen sediments of the Barrow permafrost tunnel in 2004. https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.816841
  3. Meyer, H; Schirrmeister, L; Andreev, AA et al. (2010): (Table 5) Abundance of chemo-organotrophic bacteria and their activity in sediment samples from Barrow. https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.816846
  4. Meyer, H; Schirrmeister, L; Andreev, AA et al. (2010): (Table 3) Stable water isotope ratios of ice wedges, texture ice and recent snow at Barrow. https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.816844
  5. Meyer, H; Schirrmeister, L; Andreev, AA et al. (2010): (Table 4) Isotopic composition according to the distance from the upper contact of the ice wedge with the overlying sediment. https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.816845
  6. Meyer, H; Schirrmeister, L; Andreev, AA et al. (2010): (Table 2) Rhizopod distribution in the Barrow sediment sequence. https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.816843