Radiocarbon Date List XI: Radiocarbon Dates from Marine Sediment Cores of the Iceland, Greenland, and Northeast Canadian Arctic Shelves and Nares Strait

Radiocarbon Date List XI contains an annotated listing of 178 AMS radiocarbon dates on samples from marine (169 samples) and lake (9 samples) sediment cores. Marine sediment cores, from which the samples for dating were taken, were collected on the Greenland Shelf, Baffin Bay, and the Eastern Canadian Arctic shelf. About 80% of the marine samples for dating were collected on the SW to N Icelandic shelf. The lake sediment cores were collected in northwestern Iceland. For dating of the marine samples, we submitted molluscs (117 samples), benthic and planktic foraminifera (45 samples), plant macrofauna (3 samples), and one serpulid worm. For dating of the lake cores, we submitted wood (8 samples) and one peat sample. The Conventional Radiocarbon Ages range from 294±9114C yr BP to 34,600±640 14C yr BP. The dates have been used to address a variety of research questions. The dates constrain the timing of high northern latitude late Quaternary environmental fluctuations, which include glacier extent, sea level history, isostatic rebound, sediment input, and ocean circulation. The dates also allowed assessment of the accuracy of commonly used reservoir correction. The samples were submitted by INSTAAR and affiliated researchers

IJEMS: Iowa Joint Experiment in Microgravity Solidification

The Iowa Joint Experiment in Microgravity Solidification (IJEMS) is a cooperative effort between Iowa State University and the University of Iowa to study the formation of metal-matrix composites in a microgravity environment. Of particular interest is the interaction between the solid/liquid interface and the particles in suspension. The experiment is scheduled to fly on STS-69, Space Shuttle Endeavor on August 3, 1995. This project is unique in its heavy student participation and cooperation between the universities involved

Kinematic Analysis of the 2020 Elliot Creek Landslide, British Columbia, Using Remote Sensing Data

The 2020 Elliot Creek landslide-tsunami-flood cascade originated from an 18.3 Mm3 rock slope failure in quartz diorite bedrock in a valley undergoing rapid glacial retreat. We used airborne LiDAR and optical imagery to characterize the slope and its surroundings. Using the LiDAR, we determined that two rockslides (2020 and an older undated one) occurred on this slope and shared a common basal rupture surface. We mapped two main sets of lineaments that represent structures that controlled the orientation of the lateral and rear release surfaces. Analysis of the topographic profile indicates a wedge-shaped failure block and a stepped rupture surface. Further topographic profile analysis indicates the possibility of a structurally controlled geomorphic step in the valley that corresponds with a change in the orientation of the valley. The rapid retreat of the West Grenville Glacier and the positions of the rupture surfaces suggest glacial retreat played a role in the landslides

Orion Guidance and Control Ascent Abort Algorithm Design and Performance Results

During the ascent flight phase of NASA s Constellation Program, the Ares launch vehicle propels the Orion crew vehicle to an agreed to insertion target. If a failure occurs at any point in time during ascent then a system must be in place to abort the mission and return the crew to a safe landing with a high probability of success. To achieve continuous abort coverage one of two sets of effectors is used. Either the Launch Abort System (LAS), consisting of the Attitude Control Motor (ACM) and the Abort Motor (AM), or the Service Module (SM), consisting of SM Orion Main Engine (OME), Auxiliary (Aux) Jets, and Reaction Control System (RCS) jets, is used. The LAS effectors are used for aborts from liftoff through the first 30 seconds of second stage flight. The SM effectors are used from that point through Main Engine Cutoff (MECO). There are two distinct sets of Guidance and Control (G&C) algorithms that are designed to maximize the performance of these abort effectors. This paper will outline the necessary inputs to the G&C subsystem, the preliminary design of the G&C algorithms, the ability of the algorithms to predict what abort modes are achievable, and the resulting success of the abort system. Abort success will be measured against the Preliminary Design Review (PDR) abort performance metrics and overall performance will be reported. Finally, potential improvements to the G&C design will be discussed

Accelerating glacier volume loss on Juneau Icefield driven by hypsometry and melt-accelerating feedbacks

Globally, glaciers and icefields contribute significantly to sea level rise. Here we show that ice loss from Juneau Icefield, a plateau icefield in Alaska, accelerated after 2005 AD. Rates of area shrinkage were 5 times faster from 2015–2019 than from 1979–1990. Glacier volume loss remained fairly consistent (0.65–1.01 km3 a−1) from 1770–1979 AD, rising to 3.08–3.72 km3 a−1 from 1979–2010, and then doubling after 2010 AD, reaching 5.91 \ub1 0.80 km3 a−1 (2010–2020). Thinning has become pervasive across the icefield plateau since 2005, accompanied by glacier recession and fragmentation. Rising equilibrium line altitudes and increasing ablation across the plateau has driven a series of hypsometrically controlled melt-accelerating feedbacks and resulted in the observed acceleration in mass loss. As glacier thinning on the plateau continues, a mass balance-elevation feedback is likely to inhibit future glacier regrowth, potentially pushing glaciers beyond a dynamic tipping point

Evaluating the use of lake sedimentary DNA in palaeolimnology:A comparison with long‐term microscopy‐based monitoring of the phytoplankton community

Palaeolimnological records provide valuable information about how phytoplankton respond to long-term drivers of environmental change. Traditional palaeolimnological tools such as microfossils and pigments are restricted to taxa that leave sub-fossil remains, and a method that can be applied to the wider community is required. Sedimentary DNA (sedDNA), extracted from lake sediment cores, shows promise in palaeolimnology, but validation against data from long-term monitoring of lake water is necessary to enable its development as a reliable record of past phytoplankton communities. To address this need, 18S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing was carried out on lake sediments from a core collected from Esthwaite Water (English Lake District) spanning ~105 years. This sedDNA record was compared with concurrent long-term microscopy-based monitoring of phytoplankton in the surface water. Broadly comparable trends were observed between the datasets, with respect to the diversity and relative abundance and occurrence of chlorophytes, dinoflagellates, ochrophytes and bacillariophytes. Up to 20% of genera were successfully captured using both methods, and sedDNA revealed a previously undetected community of phytoplankton. These results suggest that sedDNA can be used as an effective record of past phytoplankton communities, at least over timescales of <100 years. However, a substantial proportion of genera identified by microscopy were not detected using sedDNA, highlighting the current limitations of the technique that require further development such as reference database coverage. The taphonomic processes which may affect its reliability, such as the extent and rate of deposition and DNA degradation, also require further research

The micromorphology of glaciolacustrine varve sediments and their use for reconstructing palaeoglaciological and palaeoenvironmental change

Former glaciolacustrine systems are an important archive of palaeoglaciological, palaeoenvironmental and palaeoclimatic change. The annually laminated (varved) sediments that, under certain conditions, accumulate in former glacial lakes, offer a rare opportunity to reconstruct such changes (e.g. glacier advance and retreat cycles, glacier ablation trends, permafrost melt, nival events) at annual or even sub-annual temporal resolution. Data of this kind are desirable for their ability to guide and test numerical model simulations of glacier dynamics and palaeoclimatic change that occur over rapid time intervals, with implications for predicting future glacier response to climatic change, or the effects of weather and climate events on lake sedimentation. The most valuable records preserved in glaciolacustrine systems are continuous varved sequences formed in the distal parts of glacial lakes, where microscale lamination structures can accumulate relatively undisturbed. Technological advances, in the last few decades, have enabled improved characterisation of glaciolacustrine varve microfacies and the precise measurement of varve thickness at the micrometre scale. However, unlike in cognate fields (e.g. soil science), protocols for the robust and consistent description and interpretation of glaciolacustrine varve sediments are lacking. To fill this gap, and to provide a resource for future studies of glaciolacustrine varved sediments, this paper reviews the processes of sedimentation in glacial lake basins, and presents the defining microfacies characteristics of glacial varves using a descriptive protocol that uses consistent examination of grain size, sorting, structure, nature of contacts, development of plasmic fabrics and features such as dropgrains and intraclasts within individual laminations. These lamination types are then combined into lamination sets, whose structures can be interpreted as glaciolacustrine varves. Within this framework, we define five principal assemblages of glaciolacustrine varve microfacies which, if clearly identified in palaeoglaciolacustrine settings, enable more detailed palaeoenvironmental interpretations to be made. Finally, we discuss the utility and complexities of reconstructing the evolution of former glacial lake systems using varve microfacies and thickness datasets

The glacial geomorphology of the Lago Buenos Aires and Lago Pueyrredón ice lobes of central Patagonia

<p>This paper presents a glacial geomorphological map of landforms produced by the Lago General Carrera–Buenos Aires and Lago Cochrane–Pueyrredón ice lobes of the former Patagonian Ice Sheet. Over 35,000 landforms were digitized into a Geographical Information System from high-resolution (<15 m) satellite imagery, supported by field mapping. The map illustrates a rich suite of ice-marginal glacigenic, subglacial, glaciofluvial and glaciolacustrine landforms, many of which have not been mapped previously (e.g. hummocky terrain, till eskers, eskers). The map reveals two principal landform assemblages in the central Patagonian landscape: (i) an assemblage of nested latero-frontal moraine arcs, outwash plains or corridors, and inset hummocky terrain, till eskers and eskers, which formed when major ice lobes occupied positions on the Argentine steppe; and (ii) a lake-terminating system, dominated by the formation of glaciolacustrine landforms (deltas, shorelines) and localized ice-contact glaciofluvial features (e.g. outwash fans), which prevailed during deglaciation.</p

Reply to comments by Bourgois et al. (2019) on: “Glacial lake evolution and Atlantic-Pacific drainage reversals during deglaciation of the Patagonia Ice Sheet”

No abstract available

Reply to comments by Bourgois et al. (2019) on: “Glacial lake evolution and Atlantic-Pacific drainage reversals during deglaciation of the Patagonia Ice Sheet”

We welcome the comments of Bourgois et al. (2019) and the opportunity to debate geomorphology, geochronology and palaeoclimate during the Late Glacial Interglacial Transition (LGIT, ~18.0-8.0 ka) in the region of the Río Baker, central Patagonia. Bourgois et al. (2019) conclude that we have propagated inconsistencies in our proposed reconstruction of palaeolake evolution due to geomorphic analytical bias. However, in our view the empirical geomorphological data we have compiled over many field seasons has resulted in a data-rich (though still incomplete) relative chronology that enables us to evaluate inconsistencies in landscape interpretations from previously published geochronological datasets. We would argue that a geochronological bias, over any geomorphological bias, has represented the main reason for multiple landscape interpretations in this region. Indeed, the conflicting palaeolake evolution models published for the Río Baker basin (Turner et al. 2005; Bell, 2008; Hein et al., 2010; Bourgois et al., 2016; Glasser et al., 2016; Martinod et al., 2016) was a major impetus for our paper. These contrasting models were in part a result of the coincident publication of two separate geochronological datasets in 2016, one focused on optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating of palaeolake landforms (Glasser et al., 2016), the other cosmogenic nuclide exposure ages (Bourgois et al., 2016). Both datasets provided updates on what we termed the Turner/Hein model in Thorndycraft et al. (2019), but as they did not have access to each other’s datasets they ended up with different landscape interpretations