The Camp Century ice core in northwestern Greenland unveils when Pleistocene-aged sediments were last exposed to sunlight.
It is a cylindrical column of ice, extracted using specialized drilling equipment, that provides a historical record of climate and environmental conditions dating back thousands of years.
However, the Camp Century ice core provides a unique exception, containing frozen subglacial sediments suggesting the region was ice-free during the Pleistocene. In other words, by understanding how long the sediments were exposed to cosmic radiation, they were able to gain crucial insights into the timing of events related to theThey also conducted luminescence dating on the sediments. This method measures the trapped energy from natural ionizing radiation that accumulates over time in minerals such as quartz and feldspar.
This means that the area was exposed to sunlight less than 16,000 years earlier, further supporting the idea of an ice-free Greenland during that period.
South Africa Latest News, South Africa Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Long-lost Greenland ice core suggests potential for disastrous sea level rise | CNNA recently-discovered ice core taken from beneath Greenland’s ice sheet decades ago reveals that much of the country was ice-free around 400,000 years ago – an alarming finding that could have disastrous implications for sea level rise.
Read more »
Much of Greenland's ice could melt even if world doesn't get warmerA sediment core from Greenland shows that even if the planet does not get any warmer than it is now, ice loss from Greenland alone would add at least 1.5 metres to the global average sea level and possibly as much as 5 metres.
Read more »
Greenland ice core suggests potential for disastrous sea level riseThe study overturns previous assumptions that most of Greenland’s ice sheet has been frozen for millions of years, the authors said. Instead, moderate, natural warming led to large-scale melting an…
Read more »
Ancient soil shows part of Greenland was ice-free — and could soon melt again, scientists sayLong-lost samples of twigs and rocks show that Greenland once lost a tremendous amount of ice under climate conditions very much like the ones humans have created and are currently living in — implying coasts could soon be submerged under several feet of sea level rise.
Read more »
Missing for decades, a stolen 15th-century letter from Christopher Columbus heads home to Italy | CNNThe letter, in which Columbus announced his discoveries on the American continent to Spain’s King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, has been repatriated after being stolen in the 1980s.
Read more »