Continuous Ice-Core Chemical Analyses Using Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry

Impurities trapped in ice sheets and glaciers have the potential to provide detailed, high temporal resolution proxy information on paleo-environments, atmospheric circulation, and environmental pollution through the use of chemical, isotopic, and elemental tracers. We present a novel approach to ice-core chemical analyses in which an ice-core melter is coupled directly with both an inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer and a traditional continuous flow analysis system. We demonstrate this new approach using replicated measurements of ice-core samples from Summit, Greenland. With this method, it is possible to readily obtain continuous, exactly coregistered concentration records for a large number of elements and chemical species at ppb and ppt levels and at unprecedented depth resolution. Such very-high depth resolution, multiparameter measurements will significantly expand the use of ice-core records for environmental proxies.