Journal article
Lead isotopic evidence for an Australian source of aeolian dust to Antarctica at times over the last 170,000 years
P De Deckker, M Norman, ID Goodwin, A Wain, FX Gingele
Palaeogeography Palaeoclimatology Palaeoecology | ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV | Published : 2010
Abstract
Systematic analysis of Pb, Sr and Nd isotopes of 32 fluvial clay samples (< 2 μm fraction) from many of the major tributaries of the vast (1.106 km2) Murray Darling Basin (MDB), located in semiarid southeastern Australia, displays similar isotopic values between some MDB clays and dust from several ice core samples from the EPICA Dome C in Antarctica. Close scrutiny of several ratios of the four Pb isotopes, and in particular 208Pb/207Pb versus 206Pb/207Pb, shows that several samples from the Darling-sub-basin of the MDB display similar values for the same isotopes for Dome C samples from different ages, and more particularly during wet phases in Australia [Marine Isotopic Stages 5e, 3 and 1..
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Awarded by ARC Discovery
Funding Acknowledgements
Funding for the Pb isotopes was provided to PDD by a grant from the Murray Darling Basin Commission. Some aspects of the research were also supported by ARC Discovery grant 0772180 awarded to PDD and colleagues. PDD is also grateful to Dr B. Delmonte who provided unpublished data and for numerous discussions at an early stage of the manuscript preparation. Mrs J. Shelley also provided much help with referencing and also commenting on the manuscripts during its many stages. Goodwin's work on Antarctic ice cores is collaborative with Drs T. Van Ornmen and M. Curran at the Australian Antarctic Division, and is partly supported by an Australian Antarctic Science (AAS) grant. Goodwin is grateful to Dr M. Curran for personal communication of preliminary sea-salt sodium concentrations from the Law Dome ice core during late Stage 3 and Stage 2 layers.