Cosmogenic Nuclides

October 2014, Vol. 10, No. 5

The Earth’s surface is the thin, ever-changing layer on which we live. The geochemical study of cosmogenic nuclides is currently revolutionizing our understanding of the processes that shape this surface layer by providing their rates and dates. The underlying physical principles are simple and elegant: when rock or soil moves into the shallow zone of surface irradiation, cosmic rays interact with elements in minerals to produce very rare isotopes—the radioactive nuclides 10Be, 14C, 26Al, 36Cl, and 53Mn and the rare gases 3He and 21Ne. At this exact moment, the nuclide clock begins to tick. These nuclides can reveal the times when a river cuts down through a mountain range, when a glacial moraine was deposited, or when a river or marine terrace was abandoned. Cosmogenic nuclides also serve to measure erosion rates directly: the longer a soil resides at the surface before being eroded, the more nuclides accumulate. Hence, these nuclides provide rates of erosion, from the scale of a pebble to as large as an entire river basin.

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