Ice-core radionuclide analysis reveals elevated beryllium-10 and chlorine-36 around 5259 BCE, confirming an extreme solar energetic particle storm and synchronizing global chronologies.
Key Points
Determine whether polar ice cores contain cosmogenic radionuclide evidence of an extreme solar energetic particle event corresponding to a prominent 5259 BCE radiocarbon spike in tree rings.
Measured beryllium-10 (10Be) and chlorine-36 (36Cl) profiles in Greenland (NGRIP and GRIP) and Antarctic (EDML) ice cores across the 5259 BCE (7208 BP) interval.
Calculated atmospheric particle fluence above 200 MeV and compared ice-core signatures with existing tree-ring radiocarbon (14C) records.
Ice-core records reveal synchronized increases in 10Be and 36Cl around 5259 BCE, confirming the occurrence of an extreme solar energetic particle event.
The 10Be magnitude and estimated fluence above 200 MeV match those of the extreme 7176 BCE solar event and other known prehistoric particle storms.
The co-occurrence of the spike in both ice cores and tree rings provides a precise time-marker that links and synchronizes global ice-core and tree-ring chronologies.