Nature 343, 56 - 58 (04 January 1990); doi:10.1038/343056a0

Palaeoclimatological and chronological implications of the Vostok core dust record

J. R. Petit^*†, L. Mourner^*, J. Jouzel^†*, Y. S. Korotkevich^‡, V. I. Kotlyakov^§ & C. Lorius^*

^*Laboratoire de Glaciologie et Geophysique de I'Environnement, BP 96, 38402, St Martin d'Heres Cedex, France
^†Laboratoire de Geochimie Isotopique, IRDI/DLPC CEN Saclay, 91191 Gif sur Yvette, France
^‡Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute, Beringa Street 38, 199226 Leningrad, USSR
^§Institute of Geography, Academy of Sciences of the USSR, Staromonetny per. 29, Moscow 109017, USSR

THE2,083-m Vostok ice core recovered by the Soviet Antarctic expeditions has provided much information of climatic and environmental interest, for a period covering a full glacial–inter-glacial cycle^1–6. Here we present and discuss the dust record obtained down to 2,202 m, the final depth to which this core was extended in 1986. First, we document the fact that major changes in aeolian deposits, as recorded in the Vostok core, appear to be of global significance and confirm the existence of a link between high-latitude aeolian deposits and the Earth's orbital parameters^7,8. Second, we propose atmospheric dust as a strati-graphic marker to compare timing with other records of palaeocli-mate, and use the magnetic-susceptibility profile measured along the RC11-120 Indian Ocean core⁹ for this purpose, assuming that major dust events correspond to common aeolian inputs. This approach indicates that the Vostok and marine records were roughly in phase at the previous glacial–interglacial transition.

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