Comparison of 105 years of oxygen isotope and insoluble impurity profiles from the Devon Island and Camp Century ice cores

Oxygen-isotope profiles for the Devon Island ice cap and Camp Century Greenland are affected by a number of variables, some of which must have been the same for both sites. The two δ(¹⁸O) records spanning about 120,000 years are brought into relative alignment by comparison of major δ features, and subsequent verification that the insoluble particulate concentration records were also in phase for this alignment. The difference between the δ profiles is shown to be mainly a function of the altitude of the accumulation area for Camp Century. This altitude seems to have been higher than present for the last 100,000 years, suggesting the present flow line through the site has never been shorter. The maximum altitude for the Camp Century accumulation area is 1500 m above the present site and is almost synchronous with the maximum in particulate concentration that occurs at 16,000 yr B.P. The synchronism is likely due to the maximum sea-level lowering that exposed vast areas of continental shelf to wind erosion.