NSF Proposal accepted for funding March 22, 2007 Target Program: National Science Foundation (NSF) Directorate of Geosciences (GEO): Division of Earth Sciences (EAR): Sedimentary Geology and Paleobiology (SGP) Program – proposal submitted July 16, 2006 – proposal accepted for funding March 22, 2007 Title: Consolidation and Calibration of the New England Varve Chronology (NEVC): An Annual Continental Record of Ice Dynamics and Terrestrial Change, 18-11.5 kyr BP John C. Ridge 617-627-3494 or 617-627-2890 Dept. of Geology
[email protected] Tufts University Medford, MA 02155 1 1. Project Summary Intellectual merit. Rapid climate change events during deglaciation are closely linked to ice sheet, ocean, and atmosphere interactions. Understanding these interactions requires high resolution comparisons of climate and continental ice dynamics. Although general patterns of Laurentide Ice Sheet (LIS) variation have been discerned, they are not continuously resolved at a sub-century scale. This lack of continuous, high-resolution terrestrial glacial chronologies with accurate radiometric controls continues to be a limiting factor in understanding deglacial climate. Such records, especially from the southeastern sector of the LIS, can provide critical comparisons to N. Atlantic climate records (marine and ice core) and a rigorous test of hypotheses linking glacial activity to climate change. Consolidation of the New England Varve Chronology (NEVC), and development of its records of glacier dynamics and terrestrial change, is a rare opportunity to formulate a complete, annual-scale terrestrial chronology from 18-11.5 kyr BP. Glacial varve deposition, which is linked to glacial meltwater discharge, can be used to monitor ice sheet ablation and has a direct tie to glacier mass balance and climate.