Glaciation of the East Siberian Arctic during the late Quaternary (GESAQ)

• Applicant: Dr. Sebastian Wetterich
• Subject Area: Palaeontology
• Term: from 2017 to 2021
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 317774679

The main research questions of the proposed project arise from the currently limited knowledge about glaciations of the East Siberian Arctic and its impact on ocean and atmosphere circulation regimes. The proposed study on Novaya Sibir Island in the Arctic Ocean aims to uncover the glacial origin of the massive ground ice as buried basal glacier ice and to date the age of the ice by use of cosmogenic nuclides (chlorine-36, beryllium-10). The study of its stratigraphic context of terrestrial and marine permafrost deposits highlights the unique deposition and preservation history of the massive ground ice. By doing so, the proposed project contributes to improved baseline data for scenarios of the Arctic climate history during Quaternary. The massive ground ice of Novaya Sibir Island holds extraordinary potential for direct evidence of the age and the extent of the shelf glaciation which assumed took place during the mid-Pleistocene (Marine Isotope Stage 6, MIS6); based on geophysical data from the shelf area.The research is strongly based on field campaigns on Novaya Sibir Island by a joint German-Russian team to study the exposed stratigraphy and to obtain sample material of terrestrial and marine frozen ground, ground ice and buried glacier ice. To characterise the deposits in a multidisciplinary approach and highlight their origin, the team will employ glaciological, cryolithological, sedimentological, biogeochemical and micropaleontological methods. Various dating approaches will be applied to establish a reliable chronology of the studied permafrost and ice strata. To explore the formation conditions of the buried glacier ice, stable water isotope geochemistry, glaciohydrochemistry, physical properties of ice, gas content and composition will be studied.Novaya Sibir is a poorly studied but unique study area for understanding the natural history of the Eastern Eurasian Arctic as well as the linkage of Quaternary glacial, periglacial and marine interactions. The project focusses on the Novaya Sibir Island's frozen deposits and buried glacier ice to uncover the glacial and inundation history of the East Siberian Arctic before and after the Last Interglacial, and further to enhance our understanding of the Arctic geoecosystem response to Quaternary climate change.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• International Connection: Russia
• Co-Investigators: Professor Dr. Alexander Blinov; Professor Dr. Vladislav Kuznetsov; Dr. Vladimir Tumskoy