Climatic and sea-level changes during the glacial/Holocene transition inferred from isotope ratios of trace metals in Law Dome ice cores

Project aim

Records of past climate change are a key to gaining an understand the mechanisms driving climatic change and the likely effects of anthropogenic inputs to the atmosphere. The study will use as tracers the isotope ratios of lead and strontium to identify the sources of dust found in ice during the Glacial/Holocene Transition - the Earths last major climate change. Although metals are potentially powerful tracers of sources their use is only now becoming feasible with improvements in sample handling and isotope measurement techniques.