Cosmogenic Nuclides in Weathering and Erosion
2013
Author
Granger D.
Abstract
The buildup of cosmogenic nuclides in mineral grains provides a way to quantify their exposure time to cosmic rays in the uppermost few meters of rock and soil. The authors present a variety of methods for interpreting cosmogenic nuclide concentrations in terms of surface exposure ages and rates of chemical and physical erosion of rock and soil. A suite of examples illustrates both strengths and complications for each method. The authors show how cosmogenic nuclides are used in three different ways: first, to date bedrock surfaces, glacial moraines, and vertically mixed soils developed on marine and alluvial terraces; second, to estimate denudation rates over hillslope and catchment scales from a variety of materials, including bedrock, saprolite beneath a soil cover, soil, and stream sediment; third, to determine chemical erosion rates of saprolite, soils, and entire watersheds by using denudation rates and geochemical mass balances. © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
DOI
10.1016/B978-0-08-095975-7.00514-3
Journal
Treatise on Geochemistry: Second Edition
Source
Scopus