Abstract: Geochemical investigations using FTIR, ICP-AES and C-N analyses were carried out on a single-family semi-subterranean Inuit house in order to assess the contribution of Inuit domestic activities in the formation of cryosolic soils in a periglacial archaeological context (Kuuvik Bay, Nunavik, Canada). The geochemical elements data were analyzed using box plots and enrichment factors. The information was also summarized and visualized through principal component analysis (PCA). These complementary statistical approaches provided evidence of a moderate but identifiable and significant imprint of Inuit domestic activities on soil geochemistry. The box plots indicate moderate Ca, Mn, Cu and P enrichments and more noticeable Mg, Fe and S enrichments. These enrichment factors and the ICP-AES data show that samples from the peripheral wall and the tunnel entrance of the house and its vicinity are significantly enriched. While FTIR analysis highlighted the main soil element contents (e.g., organic and mineral components), ICP-AES analysis was used to further document variations in the background elements throughout the site. However, the obtained results do not allow us to undertake a spatial analysis of Inuit activities or to describe them in detail. In addition, the data highlight the difficulty of documenting the natural variability of element contents in cryosolic soils, especially in archaeological contexts. Cryo-pedological processes in the active layer as well as house cleaning and nutrient inputs resulting from Inuit occupations may have attenuated chemical signatures of previous Inuit domestic activities.

Abstract: The geothermal heat flux (GHF) is an important boundary condition for modeling the movement of the Antarctic ice sheet but is difficult to measure systematically at a continental scale. Earlier GHF maps suffer from low resolution and possibly biased assumptions in tectonism and crustal heat generation, resulting in significant uncertainty. We present a new GHF map for Antarctica constructed by empirically relating the upper mantle structure to known GHF in the continental United States. The new map, compared with previously seismologically determined one, has improved resolution and lower uncertainties. New features in this map include high GHF in the southern Transantarctic Mountains where warmer uppermost mantle is introduced by lithospheric removal and in the Thwaites Glacier region. Additionally, a modest GHF in the central West Antarctic Rift system near the Siple Coast and an absence of large-scale regions with GHF greater than 90 mW/m2 are found.