Beryllium Isotope Signatures of Antarctic Ice Shelf and Sub-Ice Shelf Circulation

A 2019 study measured beryllium isotopes in sediments from Prydz Bay, one of Antarctica's largest ice drainage systems. The dataset, published in Earth and Planetary Science Letters, includes measurements from open marine, sub-ice shelf, and subglacial depositional environments. It was contributed by the Australian Ocean Data Network.

Use Cases

• Tracing sediment sources and transport pathways based on beryllium isotope concentrations.
• Modeling sub-ice shelf and bottom current circulation patterns based on 10Be and 9Be ratios.
• Discriminating between open marine and sub-ice shelf sediment depositional environments using HCl-extractable 10Be/9Be ratios.
• Reconstructing paleo-ice sheet margin conditions using isotopic signatures as tracers.

Strengths

• Focuses on Prydz Bay, described as one of Antarctica's largest ice drainage systems.
• Includes measurements from three distinct depositional environments: open marine, sub-ice shelf, and subglacial.
• Based on peer-reviewed research published in Earth and Planetary Science Letters, Volume 505, 2019.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Data may reflect geographic bias inherent to the specific study sites in Prydz Bay.

Provenance

Source

Australian Ocean Data Network

Collection Method

Measurements of beryllium isotopes in sediment samples collected from Prydz Bay.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-06-17 01:44:12.248095; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Prydz Bay, Antarctica