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SCPs in Antarctic ice

As part of the study to assess SCP records in different natural archives to determine whether they might act as a reliable stratigraphic marker for the proposed Anthropocene Epoch, SCPs have been observed for the first time in ice cores collected from Antarctica.

Thomas, E.R. et al. (2023). First evidence of industrial fly-ash in an Antarctic ice core. Scientific Reports: 13: 6529 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-33849-x

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SCP analyses were undertaken on annual samples (1900 – 1998 CE) taken from an ice core collected from the Palmer Land region of the Antarctic Peninsula (73.86° S, 65.46° W; see map and Site Locations), thousands of kilometres from any industrial source. Although SCPs have previously been found in Antarctic lake and marine sediments, the SCPs identified were the first to be found in Antarctic ice. Chemical analysis of individual SCPs indicated that they were derived from coal combustion, while back-trajectory analysis suggested South America and possibly Australia as most likely source regions. More details are in the paper (below).

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