Radiometric 81Kr dating identifies 120,000-year-old ice at Taylor Glacier, Antarctica
Significance Past variations in Earth’s climate and atmospheric composition are recorded in accumulating polar meteoric ice and the air trapped within it. Ice outcrops provide accessible archives of old ice but are difficult to date reliably. Here we demonstrate 81Kr radiometric dating of ice, allowing accurate dating of up to 1.5 million-year-old ice. The technique successfully identifies valuable ice from the previous interglacial period at Taylor Glacier, Antarctica. Our method will enhance the scientific value of outcropping sites as archives of old ice needed for paleoclimatic reconstructions and can aid efforts to extend the ice core record further back in time. We present successful 81Kr-Kr radiometric dating of ancient polar ice. Krypton was extracted from the air bubbles in four ∼350-kg polar ice samples from Taylor Glacier in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica, and dated using Atom Trap Trace Analysis (ATTA). The 81Kr radiometric ages agree with independent age estimates obtained from stratigraphic dating techniques with a mean absolute age offset of 6 ± 2.5 ka. Our experimental methods and sampling strategy are validated by (i) 85Kr and 39Ar analyses that show the samples to be free of modern air contamination and (ii) air content measurements that show the ice did not experience gas loss. We estimate the error in the 81Kr ages due to past geomagnetic variability to be below 3 ka. We show that ice from the previous interglacial period (Marine Isotope Stage 5e, 130–115 ka before present) can be found in abundance near the surface of Taylor Glacier. Our study paves the way for reliable radiometric dating of ancient ice in blue ice areas and margin sites where large samples are available, greatly enhancing their scientific value as archives of old ice and meteorites. At present, ATTA 81Kr analysis requires a 40–80-kg ice sample; as sample requirements continue to decrease, 81Kr dating of ice cores is a future possibility.