cosmogenic 3he production rates from 39 n to 46 n latitude western usa and france the in situ production rate of cosmogenic 3he was determined in seven different olivine or pyroxene bearing rocks between the latitudes 39 n and 46 n the integrated production rate over the last 17 500 years is about 115 4 atoms gram yr for high latitude at sea level the variation in the integrated production rate between 2000 and 18 000 years is less than 30 and is probably on the order of 20 or less

cosmic ray labeling of erosion surfaces in situ nuclide production rates and erosion models a number of in situ cosmogenic radionuclides and stable nuclides have been measured in natural exposed rock surfaces with a view to study their in situ production and rock erosion rates 1 the in situ radionuclides can be used for a high resolution tomography of the erosional history of an exposed surface two stable nuclides 3he 21ne and five radionuclides 10be 26al 36cl 14c 39ar having half lives in the range of 300 1 5 106 yr half life are measurable in many rock types a prerequisite for the application of the in situ nuclides for the study of erosional histories of surfaces is a knowledge of their production rates under different irradiation conditions altitude latitude irradiation geometry and shielding relative nuclide production rates can be determined fairly accurately using the extensive available data on cosmic ray neutrons 2 absolute nuclide production rates cannot generally be predicted with any accuracy because of lack of data on excitation functions of nuclides unless some normalization is possible as was done in the case of several cosmic ray produced isotopes in the atmosphere 3 based on a recent natural calibration experiment in which erosion free surfaces exposed to cosmic radiation for 11 000 yrs were sampled the absolute production rates of 10be and 26al in quartz have been accurately estimated for mountain altitudes in sierra nevada 4 the absolute production rates of 10be and 26al in quartz can therefore be estimated fairly accurately for any given latitude and altitude some measurements of 14c in rocks of low erosion rate 5 similarly allow an estimate of its production rate attempts made to measure the in situ production rates of 3he in rocks have not yet led to a convergent production rate in view of the importance of knowing the production rates of isotopes of he ne and ar i present here theoretical estimates of their production rates based on available cross section data i discuss the information that can be extracted from the study of the in situ nuclides in rocks useful parameters characterizing the exposure history of a rock surface are 1 the effective surface exposure age and 2 the time averaged erosion rate the implications of these parameters for single and multiple nuclide studies are discussed in terms of the erosion models considered

calibration of cosmogenic 3he production rates from holocene lava flows in oregon usa and effects of the earth s magnetic field abstract we have measured cosmogenic 3he production rates in olivine phenocrysts from four radiocarbon dated holocene lava flows in oregon the flows span the period between 2 and 7 ka when there were significant fluctuations in the intensity of the earth s dipole moment our individual 3he production rate determinations are consistent with previous estimates and reinforce the feasibility of dating very young late holocene surfaces with the cosmogenic 3he method integrated cosmogenic 3he production rates exhibit small temporal variations during the holocene supporting predictions that production rates at mid latitudes are weakly affected by geomagnetic modulation of cosmic ray flux however the time varying difference between geographic and geomagnetic latitude caused by secular variation of dipole axis position may represent an important source of error as much as 5 in holocene surface exposure ages and production rate calibrations the best value for the integrated holocene production rate of cosmogenic 3he from calibration sites in this study is 116 3 atoms g 1 yr 1

cosmogenic 3he in himalayan garnets indicating an altitude dependence of the 3he 10be production ratio to investigate the potential of using cosmogenic helium in garnet as a dating tool 3hec and 10bec have been measured within garnets and coexisting quartz respectively sampled in the himalayan range at various elevations comparison and correlation of 3hec and 10bec concentrations demonstrate that cosmogenic 3he is well retained in himalayan garnets and can thus be used in this mineral to quantify precisely earth s surface processes this in the case of recently cooled orogenic samples which contain limited amounts of non cosmogenic helium for these high elevation samples the exposure ages derived from 3hec using classical scaling factors lead however to an overestimation of 3hec ages compared to 10bec ages 0 1 to 28 ky by up to a factor of 2 additionally over the samples altitude range 3000 4622 m the theoretically invariant polar 3hec 10bec production ratio 22 5 increases with increasing elevation challenging classical models of production rate evolution to explain this observation we propose a new 3hec production mechanism based on the altitudinal dependence of the energy spectrum of cosmic rays and according to which neutrons or protons resulting from a first spallation reaction within the rock tertiary particles may have sufficient energy to induce an additional in situ spallation reaction producing a second 3h or 3he but insufficient energy to produce 10be the probability of such a mechanism increasing with altitude according to these observations we propose for future and ongoing studies to use the empirically determined attenuation length of 121 g cm2 for helium production at high altitude

paleoseismology and seismic hazards evaluations in extensional volcanic terrains extensional structures in volcanic terrains are the surface expression of shallow dike intrusion and can be misinterpreted as structures associated with major tectonic faults dike induced structures can be distinguished from their tectonic counterparts by their association with cogenetic volcanic rocks and by several geometric relationships tensile fissures with little or no vertical displacement fissure swarms flexural monoclines and normal faults are commonly symmetrically distributed about a central eruptive fissure sometimes forming a graben above shallow dikes the structures typically occur within broad zones not narrow belts near a main fault zone reflecting their origin by repeated dike injection colluvial wedges containing records of single large earthquakes generally do not form instead fault scarps with several meter vertical displacements in volcanic bedrock may reflect the cumulative effects of many decimeter scale displacement events from several dike injection episodes the mechanism of dike intrusion and the nature of cointrusive seismicity have important implications for determination of the maximum magnitude and recurrence of earthquakes in extensional volcanic terrains observational seismicity from volcanic rift zones worldwide suggests the maximum magnitudes of dike induced earthquakes are 3 8 0 8 earthquakes are generally small to moderate because downdip extents of faults and fissures are controlled by the depth to the top of the associated dike usually 5 km permitting only small rupture areas also rupture and displacement on faults and fissures migrate incrementally at about the velocity of propagating dikes 0 5 m s as dike dilation stresses the zone above and ahead of the dike earthquake recurrence is tied to recurrence of volcanic cycles based on the geochronology of the associated volcanic materials based on these concepts innovative approaches have led to estimates of the maximum magnitude and recurrence for magma induced seismicity in eastern snake river plain esrp volcanic rift zones the most conservative approach uses surface length fault width downdip extent and rupture areas of normal faults and fissures produced by dike injection to estimate a maximum m5 5 earthquake for an episode of rift zone volcanism chronology of volcanic rocks suggests annual probabilities of 10 4 to 10 5 for volcanic rift zones near idaho national engineering laboratory facilities probabilistic assessments show that ground motion hazard due to volcanic rift zone seismicity is lower than the hazard from other earthquake sources this is because of the relatively low magnitudes and long recurrence intervals of cointrusive earthquakes in volcanic rift zones

importance of environment on the order of mineral weathering in olivine basalts hawaii examination of weathering rinds from lava flows on hawaii with backscatter electron microscopy and electron micro probe analysis reveals that olivine weathers more slowly than adjacent clinopyroxene and plagioclase in environments with a paucity of organic acids yet when weathering rinds are in contact with abundant organic acids secreted by lichens olivine weathers before clinopyroxene and plagioclase weathers last the exception to goldich s widely accepted mineral stability series in organic poor environments runs counter to a thermodynamics explanation for the order of mineral weathering and illustrates the importance of the biogeochemical environment

a noble gas study of a granulite sample from the nilgiri hills southern india implications for granulite formation the he and ar isotopic composition of several mineral separates from a 2 5 ga old enderbite sample from the nilgiri hills southern india were analyzed the sample contains abundant high density carbonic fluid inclusions which have been well characterized in previous studies 1 2 on this particular sample garnet contains synmetamorphic primary fluid inclusions while quartz and plagioclase contain re equilibrated secondary inclusions the noble gases were extracted by crushing or heating of the minerals all measured 3he 4he ratios are above the typical value of old crustal rocks which is about 0 01 0 02 times the atmospheric ratio ra fluid inclusions from the crushed garnet sample contain helium with the highest 3he 4he ratio of 2 34 0 36 ra the he excess is mantle derived and cannot be explained by a cosmogenic or nucleogenic 3he rich component the elemental and isotopic ratios of he ne and ar in all minerals can be explained by a combination of elemental fractionation during diffusional loss of noble gases production of radiogenic nucleogenic4he 21ne 22ne and40ar and atmospheric contamination depending on the assumptions made for the evolution of the he trapped in the garnet fluid inclusions we obtain mixing ratios between mantle derived he and crustal he ranging from 1 5 5 to essentially pure mantle he however probably pure mantle he was trapped in the minerals 2 5 ga ago these data suggest that the enderbite sample represents a former mantle derived tonalitic magma which exsolved its volatiles upon crystallization in the lower crust liberation of a huge amount of co2 by similar intrusions together with the heat provided by them might be responsible for the dehydration of the former amphibolite facies rocks to the north bordering the nilgiri hills

cosmogenic nuclide exposure ages and glacial history of late quaternary ross sea drift in mcmurdo sound antarctica 3he 10be and26al surface exposure ages were determined for rock samples from late quaternary drift sheets deposited on the coast of mcmurdo sound antarctica by the ross sea ice sheet the youngest drift previously believed to be late wisconsin in age has exposure ages of 8 106 kyr 19 samples these results suggest that the apparent late wisconsin ice margin may represent a number of ice sheet advances during the last glacial period 3he exposure ages from analogous stratigraphically older drift range from 104 to 567 kyr seven samples and clearly distinguish the youngest drift from older deposits comparison of10be and3he concentrations in ross sea drift quartz samples indicates significant3he loss in only one sample suggesting that cosmogenic3he is generally retained in young antarctic quartz samples exposure age 100 kyr of appropriate grain size in two of the five quartz samples analyzed significant excesses of26al relative to10be preclude meaningful26al exposure age calculations these excesses may be due to nucleogenic26al produced as a byproduct of uranium and thorium decay

cosmogenic 3he exposure ages of pleistocene debris flows and desert pavements in capitol reef national park utah abstract the quaternary history of the capitol reef area utah is closely linked to the basaltic andesite boulder deposits that cover much of the landscape understanding the age and mode of emplacement of these deposits is crucial to deciphering the quaternary evolution of this part of the colorado plateau using cosmogenic 3 he exposure age dating we obtained apparent exposure ages for several key deposits in the capitol reef area coarse boulder diamicts capping the johnson mesa and carcass creek terraces are not associated with the bull lake glaciation as previously thought but were deposited 180 15 to 205 17 ka minimum age and are the result of debris flow deposition desert pavements on the johnson mesa surface give exposure ranging from 97 8 to 159 14 ka and are 34 96 kyears younger than the boulder exposure ages the offset between the boulder and pavement exposure ages appears to be related to a delay in pavement formation until the penultimate glacial interglacial transition or periodic burial and exposure of pavement clasts since debris flow deposition incision rates for the capitol reef reach of the fremont river calculated from the boulder exposure ages range from 0 40 to 0 43 m kyear 1 maximum rates and are some of the highest on the colorado plateau

how fast does rock varnish grow rates of rock varnish accumulation have never been systematically documented owing to the difficulty in accurately determining both varnish thickness and age in this study we quantitatively assess varnish accumulation rates through thin sectioning and microscopic examination of rock varnish from radiometrically dated geomorphic features of late quaternary age in the western united states drylands our data indicate that rock varnish grows at rates ranging from 1 to 40 m k y on subaerially exposed rock surfaces and rarely reaches a thickness exceeding 200 m regardless of age our data also indicate that varnish accumulation rates vary greatly from sample to sample at a given site suggesting that varnish thickness does not correlate with the age of the associated geomorphic feature invalidating the potential use of varnish thickness as a relative age indicator in geomorphology and archaeology nevertheless being the slowest known accumulating terrestrial sedimentary deposit rock varnish constitutes a unique long term microscale sedimentary archive of past environmental changes in deserts

estimating erosion rates and exposure ages with 36cl produced by neutron activation the isotopic composition of water soluble cl extracted from mineral grains in granitic rocks appears to reflect the relative age of debris flow fan surfaces and the erosion rate of bedrock outcrops our data indicate that some granitic landforms are stable landscape elements eroding on the order of meters to tens of meters per million years samples collected from debris flow fan surfaces of three distinct relative ages show the expected increase of model age with time but the 36cl exposure ages for boulders on any particular surface vary by a factor of more than five the method we used for extracting cl was designed to isolate the 35cl n 36cl production pathway and to simplify the chemical preparation of samples such isolation from fluid inclusions allows direct interpretation of measured 36cl cl ratios but requires a model to predict the thermal neutron production and absorption profile below the rock surface using such a model we find good agreement between measured and predicted 36cl cl for eight samples collected below the ground surface as well as consistency between several groups of samples collected near one another using elemental abundance data for 129 granitic rocks we modeled 36cl cl supported by radiogenic neutrons and find that it varies from 4 to 125 10 15 mean 21 18 1 however from the surface to a depth of 10 m thermal neutrons resulting from muon interactions have the potential to generate more 36cl than do radiogenic neutrons the production of 36cl in the subsurface has important implications for surface exposure dating of young low altitude samples collected from moraines and debris flow or alluvial fans especially at ages where erosion of the boulder surface is significant or where the source area for boulders is at altitudes much higher than the landform to be dated

sorption and diffusion of helium in garnet implications for volatile tracing and dating abstract we present data on he sorption in garnet obtained by loading garnet samples with he at 250 10 bar in the temperature range 800 990 c for this temperature range we find a three fold decrease in he sorption from 2 1 10 5 800 c to 0 72 10 5 cm 3 stpg 1 bar 1 990 c we use the sorption data of partially saturated samples to obtain the activation energy e a 660 120 190 kj mol and frequency factor d 0 10 15 6 8 5 2 cm 2 s for he diffusion in garnet the results of our study suggest that garnet is probably one of the most retentive silicate minerals for he which is in agreement with its very low ion porosity the high retentivity results in a high closure temperature t c for the u th he system for cooling rates as low as 0 1 1 c ma t c lies between 590 and 630 c accordingly u th he dating of garnet may provide information about the medium to high temperature cooling path of a rock at the lower end of the temperature range of currently used isotopic systems in garnet in addition the high retentivity for he makes garnet a potentially useful mineral in the field of exposure age dating currently it is the only known common silicate mineral occurring in upper crustal rocks which probably retains cosmogenic noble gases under all climatic conditions for geochemical studies using noble gases as tracers for geofluids garnet is a perfect container if temperatures never exceed 600 c that is all originally trapped noble gases are quantitatively retained

cosmogenic 3he in terrestrial rocks the summit lavas of maui we have identified terrestrial cosmic rayproduced 3he in three lava flows on the crest of haleakala volcano on maui 3 km above sea level and 0 5 million years old although these lavas like all oceanic basalts contain primordial 3he from the mantle the cosmogenic component 3hec can be identified unambiguously because it is extractable only by high temperature vacuum fusion in contrast a large fraction of the mantle helium resides in fluid inclusions and can be extracted by vacuum crushing leaving a residual component with 3he 4he ratios as high as 75 those in the atmosphere which can be liberated by melting the crushed grains cosmogenic 3he is present in both olivines and clinopyroxenes at 0 8 1 2 10 12 ml stp g and constitutes 75 5 of the total 3he present the observed 3hec levels require a cosmic ray exposure age of only some 64 000 years much less than the actual age of the lavas if there is no erosion using a model that includes effects of uplift or submergence as well as erosion we calculate an apparent erosion rate of the order of 8 5 m 106 years for the western rim of the summit crater as an example of the application of measurements of cosmogenic rare gases to terrestrial geological problems

role of in situ cosmogenic nuclides 10be and 26al in the study of diverse geomorphic processes the central premises of applications of the in situ cosmogenic dating method for studying specific problems in geomorphology are outlined for simple and complex exposure settings in the light of these general models we discuss the information that can be derived about geomorphic processes utilizing concentrations of in situ produced cosmogenic radionuclides 10be half life 1 5 ma and 26a1 half life 0 7 ma in a variety of geomorphic contexts glacial polish and tills meteorite impact craters alluvial fans paleo beach ridges marine terraces sand dunes and bedrock slopes we also compare 10be 26al data with results obtained by other dating methods we conclude that the technique of measuring in situ cosmic ray produced nuclides holds promise for quantitative studies of processes and time scales in a wide range of geomorphological problems

a glacial chronology for the fish creek drainage of boulder mountain utah usa abstract boulder mountain located in south central utah is one of several mountain ranges on the colorado plateau that was glaciated during the late pleistocene using 3he exposure age dating corrected for non cosmogenic 3he with shielded samples we determined 3he exposure ages for boulders from the most well preserved moraines in the fish creek drainage of boulder mountain 3he exposure ages indicate a last glacial maximum lgm advance 23 100 1300 to 20 000 1400 yr ago and a later and smaller advance 16 800 500 to 15 200 500 yr ago this chronology is very similar to other cosmogenic glacial chronologies from the western u s and suggests that the timing of glacial advance and retreat on the colorado plateau was generally in phase with the rest of the western u s during the late pleistocene

cosmetic isotope analyses applied to river longitudinal profile evolution problems and interpretations the use of cosmogenic isotopes to determine surface exposure ages has grown rapidly in recent years the extent to which cosmogenic nuclides can distinguish between mechanistic hypotheses of landscape evolution is an important issue in geomorphology we present a case study to determine whether surface exposure dating techniques can elucidate the role knickpoint propagation plays in longitudinal profile evolution cosmogenically produced 10be 26al 36cl 3he and 21ne were measured in olivines collected from 5 2 ma basalt flows on kauai hawaii several obstacles had to be overcome prior to the measurement of in situ produced radionuclides including removal of meteoric 10be from the olivine grains discrepancies between the radionuclide and noble gas data may suggest limits for exposure dating approximate surface exposure ages calculated from the nuclide concentrations indicate that large boulders may remain in the hawaiian valley below the knickpoint for hundreds of thousands of years the ages of samples collected above the knickpoint are consistent with estimates of erosion based on the preservation of palaeosurfaces although the exposure ages can neither confirm nor reject the nickpoint hypothesis boulder ages downstream of the knickpoint are consistent with a wave of incision passing upvalley the long residence time off the coarse material in the valley bottom further suggests that knickpoint propagation beneath a boulder pile is necessary for incision of the bedrock underlying the boulders to occur 1997 by john wiley sons ltd

cosmogenic10be 26al and3he in olivine from maui lavas we report the presence of cosmogenic10be and26al in olivines from the maui haleakala basalts in which cosmogenic3he and21ne were discovered based on production rate calibrations in quartz crystals from late pleistocene granite exposures in the sierra nevada the haleakala crater erosion rates derived from10be and26al concentrations agree within 10 and give a mean rate of 12 m myr about 40 greater than the rate of 8 5 m myr previously derived from3he measurements these results establish the feasibility of the simultaneous use of radioactive and stable cosmogenic nuclides for studies of exposure ages and erosion rates in basaltic and andesitic terrains

3he surface exposure dating and its implications for magma evolution in the potrillo volcanic field rio grande rift new mexico usa dating of very young igneous activity has been hampered by lack of suitable chronometers we report here the results of 3he surface exposure dating kurz 1986a b craig and poreda 1986 for lavas from the potrillo volcanic field this field is particularly suited to the technique because it has well preserved young 700 ka surfaces the study applies 3he dating in a systematic manner to a well characterized volcanic field and shows the power of the technique in deciphering both relative and absolute chronologies dates are reproducible to within 14 for different samples from the same surface and are similar to within 8 for samples which based on field relations represent synchronous events cosmogenic 3he21ne confirms that 3he is retained by the samples comparison of the relative chronology with compositional trends of the lavas suggests that eruptive centers within the volcanic field are fed by individual magma chambers ages range from 80 ka to 17 ka consistent with estimates from geomorphology soil profile development and some k ar determinations

climate forcing of volcano lateral collapse evidence from mount etna sicily in this study we present evidence for early holocene climatic conditions providing circumstances favourable to major lateral collapse at mount etna sicily the volcano s most notable topographic feature is the valle del bove a 5 x 8 km cliff bounded amphitheatre excavated from the eastern flank of the volcano its origin due to prehistoric lateral collapse is corroborated by sturtzstrom deposits adjacent to the amphitheatre s downslope outlet but the age nature and cause of amphitheatre excavation remain matters for debate cosmogenic 3 he exposure ages determined for eroded surfaces within an abandoned watershed flanking the valle del bove support channel abandonment ca 7 5 ka bp as a consequence of its excavation in a catastrophic collapse event watershed development was largely dictated by pluvial conditions during the early holocene which are also implicated in slope failure a viable trigger is magma emplacement into rift zones in the eastern flank of a water saturated edifice leading to the development of excess pore pressures consequent reduction in sliding resistance detachment and collapse such a mechanism is presented as one potential driver of future lateral collapse in volcanic landscapes forecast to experience increased precipitation or melting of ice cover as a consequence of anthropogenic warming

geochemical discrimination of five pleistocene lava dam outburst flood deposits western grand canyon arizona abstract pleistocene basaltic lava dams and outburst flood deposits in the western grand canyon arizona have been correlated by means of cosmogenic 3he 3hec ages and concentrations of sio2 na2o k2o and rare earth elements these data indicate that basalt clasts and vitroclasts in a given outburst flood deposit came from a common source a lava dam with these data it is possible to distinguish individual dam flood events and improve our understanding of the interrelations of volcanism and river processes at least five lava dams on the colorado river failed catastrophically between 100 and 525 ka subsequent outburst floods emplaced basalt rich deposits preserved on benches as high as 200 m above the current river and up to 53 km downstream of dam sites chemical data also distinguishes individual lava flows that were collectively mapped in the past as large long lasting dam complexes these chemical data in combination with age constraints increase our ability to correlate lava dams and outburs

precision of terrestrial exposure ages and erosion rates estimated from analysis of cosmogenic isotopes produced in situ the concentration of cosmogenic isotopes produced within mineral grains varies with both the exposure age and erosion rate of the rock surface in principle therefore exposure age and erosion rate may be determined by analyzing two cosmogenic isotopes from the same sample provided the erosion rate is constant it is also possible to find either age or erosion rate from one isotope if the other parameter can be determined independently simple mathematical models predict the precision and accuracy of the exposure ages and erosion rates the results provide insight into the use of cosmogenic isotopes and a framework to optimize dating experiments and predict tractable geologic questions the precision and accuracy of the exposure ages and erosion rates depend on the precision of the measured isotope concentrations the half lives of the isotopes and the age and erosion rate of the sampled rock surface they also vary with the analytic strategy exposure age estimates from some isotope pairs approach measurement precision for late pleistocene surfaces eroding at 1 cm kyr 1 uncertainties in erosion rate for the same surfaces may be better than 0 2 cm kyr 1 for older surfaces the upper limits for both age and erosion rate estimates become infinite pairing of isotopes with different half lives may give misleading results unless the erosion rate is constant because they record different erosion histories analyzing a single isotope removes this source of error but is appropriate only if either the age or erosion rate can be well determined independently if the erosion rate is poorly constrained ages for some realistic situations may be inaccurate by 50 or more even though their precision may approach the measurement precision although it is important to understand the limitations of cosmogenic dating it is equally important not to lose sight of the potential of this powerful tool for quantitative geomorphologic studies

radiocarbon and cation radio ages for rock varnish on tioga and tahoe marainal boulders of pine creek eastern sierra nevada california and their paleoclimatic implications abstract accelerator mass spectrometry 14 c analyses of organic matter extracted from rock varnishes on morainal boulders yield limiting minimum ages for three crests of the tioga glaciation at pine creek in the eastern sierra nevada varnish started to form on boulders of the outermost tioga moraine before 19 000 yr b p and varnish originated on the innermost tioga moraine before 13 200 yr b p comparisons with lake level paleohydrological paleoecological colluvial and rock varnish micromorphological data indicate that central eastern california and western nevada experienced a moisture effective period during the late pleistocene but after the tioga maximum and perhaps as tioga glaciers receded from the mouth of pine creek canyon varnishes on tahoeage morainal boulders at pine creek have cation ratio ages of about 143 000 156 000 yr b p suggesting that the tahoe glaciation should not be correlated with oxygen isotope stage 4 in the early wisconsin but rather with stage 6 varnishes on morainal boulders of an older glaciation at pine creek are dated by cation ratio at about 182 000 187 000 yr b p

pleistocene cataclysmic flooding along the big lost river east central idaho relationships between cataclysmic flood generated landforms and flood hydraulics were investigated along box canyon an 11 km long bedrock gorge of the lower big lost river geomorphic mapping along box canyon indicates that a cataclysmic flood completely inundated the gorge resulting in large scale erosional and depositional features on the adjacent basalt upland step backwater hydraulic modeling indicates that a discharge of 60 000 m 3 s was required to produce the geologic paleostage evidence maximum stream power per unit area of bed locally attained values of 26 000 w m 2 during the peak ranking the big lost river flood third in terms of power behind the famous missoula and bonneville floods the spatial distribution of unit stream power indicates that bedrock erosion and boulder deposition on the basalt upland adjacent to box canyon were governed primarily by decreasing unit stream power and or fluctuating unit stream power gradients a preliminary depositional threshold for the largest flood boulders defines a lower limit of flood power required to sustain boulder transport along this bedrock fluvial system ultimately hydrodynamic controls on box canyon flood erosion and deposition derive from the irregular volcanic rift topography of the eastern snake river plain outburst floods from a glacial lake in headwater regions during the late pleistocene may have induced the torrential discharges within box canyon

cosmogenic chlorine 36 production rates in terrestrial rocks abstract chlorine 36 is produced in rocks exposed to cosmic rays at the earth surface through thermal neutron activation of 35cl spallation of 39k and 40ca and slow negative moun capture by 40ca we have measured the 36cl content of 14c dated glacial boulders from the white mountains in eastern california and in a 14c dated basalt flow from utah effective time intergrated production parameters were calculated by simultaneous solution of the 36cl production equations the production rates due to spallation are 4160 310 and 3050 210 atoms 36cl yr 1 mol 139k and 40ca respectively the thermal neutron capture rate was calculated to be 3 07 0 24 105 neutrons kg of rock 1 yr 1 the reported values are normalized to sea level and high geomagnetic latitudes production of 36cl at different altitudes and latitudes can be estimated by appropriate scaling of the sea level rates chlorine 36 dating was performed on carbonate ejecta from meteor crater arizona and late pleistocene morainal boulders from the sierra nevada california calculated 36cl ages are in good agreement with previously reported ages obtained using independent methods

asynchronous maximum advances of mountain and continental glaciers the last maximum glacier advance in many mountain ranges appears to have predated the last maximum advance of the wisconsinan continental ice sheets 20 000 years b p published evidence from widely spaced localities in north and south america europe asia and hawai i suggests that some mountain glaciers extended farther during one or more stades early in the last glaciation roughly 115 000 30 000 years b p than at its end when low global temperature and high precipitation presumably were most favorable for the growth of glaciers variations in the timing of glacier advances in different mountain ranges suggest that alpine glaciers are dependent on regional climate as well as global conditions their study might provide sensitive tests for theories of global climate change glacial deposits are often used as time markers in neotectonic and geomorphic studies and their ages sometimes are inferred from distant measurements or from proxy histories of global climate change undated geomorphic features such as moraines sharply incised streams and river terraces which commonly have been associated with the last maximum glacier advance 20 000 years b p or last deglaciation 13 000 years b p may actually be older by a factor of 2 to 4 or more conversely deposits assigned to the maximum advances of the penultimate global glaciation 130 000 years b p may actually date from early in the most recent glacial cycle and be younger by a comparable factor rates of faulting or folding estimated from displacements or deformation and the assumed ages of such geomorphic features might be too great or too small by corresponding factors

in situ cosmogenic 10be and 21ne in sanidine and in situ cosmogenic 3he in fe ti oxide minerals abstract we report concentrations of in situ cosmogenic 10 be and 21 ne from coexisting quartz and sanidine separates and of cosmogenic 3 he in coexisting fe ti oxide minerals from ignimbritic successions of northern chile oxaya and lauca ignimbrites new mineral isotope pairs such as sanidine and fe ti oxide minerals are helpful in quantitative geomorphology for geological settings where the lithology lacks the commonly used minerals quartz pyroxene or olivine production rates in sanidine and fe ti oxide minerals were determined by normalizing nuclide concentrations to established production rates in quartz the experimentally determined production rates are compared to model production rates calculated with new cross sections for 3 he 21 ne and 10 be production from the individual target elements the mean experimental 21 ne production rate for five sanidine samples is 30 4 3 7 atoms g 1 yr 1 30 4 5 4 atoms g 1 yr 1 including the uncertainty of the 21 ne production rate in quartz p 21 ne qtz this is in excellent agreement with the modelled value of 28 3 atoms g 1 yr 1 which has an estimated uncertainty of 20 the 21 ne production rate in sanidine is thus about 50 higher than that in quartz the cosmogenic neon in sanidine is entirely released in low temperature steps 400 600 c and no signs of an interfering nucleogenic neon component were observed this is in stark contrast to quartz and makes sanidine an attractive mineral for terrestrial cosmogenic neon studies 3 he diffuses out of the sanidine structure preliminary results also indicate that sanidine is well suited for 10 be studies the mean experimental 10 be production rate from two sanidine samples is 4 45 0 38 atoms g 1 yr 1 4 45 0 42 atoms g 1 yr 1 including uncertainty of p 10 be qtz very close to the modelled value of 4 55 atoms g 1 yr 1 which has an estimated uncertainty of 20 we emphasize that 10 be and 21 ne production in sanidine is composition dependent therefore major element analyses should be carried out and production rates calculated on a sample by sample basis fe ti oxide minerals retain 3 he quantitatively experimentally derived production rates are in excellent agreement with new values derived from physical modelling the mean experimental 3 he production rate for five fe ti oxide minerals samples is 120 11 atoms g 1 yr 1 120 12 atoms g 1 yr 1 including the uncertainties of p 21 ne qtz compared to a mean modelled value of 124 atoms g 1 yr 1 which has an estimated uncertainty of 20 the variable chemical and structural composition of the solid solution lines of fe ti oxide minerals has little effect on the total 3 he production rate cosmogenic 21 ne is not produced in significant quantities in fe ti oxide minerals due to the absence of suitable target elements

dating geomorphologic surfaces using cosmogenic 3he cosmogenically produced 3he in rocks can be used to date geomorphologic surfaces using the late pleistocene bonneville flood event the subsequent development of the provo shoreline and associated volcanic rocks a production rate of 432 atoms g yr in olivine is determined for 38 56 n latitude present geomagnetic latitude 46 5 at 1445 m altitude integrated over the last 14 400 years measurements of cosmogenic helium in flood deposits on river scoured surfaces and lava flows show that it is possible to date directly large scale events such as volcanic eruptions and catastrophic floods olivine and pyroxene are both satisfactory minerals for cosmogenic dating by the 3he method however in most cases plagioclase and quartz are unsuitable because they do not quantitatively retain helium isotopes in their lattices

age and duration of weathering by 40k 40ar and 40ar 39ar analysis of potassium manganese oxides supergene cryptomelane k1 2 mn3 mn4 8o16 h2o samples from deeply weathered pegmatites in southeastern brazil subjected to 40k 40ar and 40ar 39ar analysis yielded 40k 40ar dates ranging from 10 1 0 5 to 5 6 0 2 ma million years ago laser probe 40ar 39ar step heating of the two most disparate samples yielded plateau dates of 9 94 0 05 and 5 59 0 10 ma corresponding within 2 to the 40k 40ar dates the results imply that deep weathering profiles along the eastern brazilian margin do not reflect present climatic conditions but are the result of a long term process that was already advanced by the late miocene weathering ages predate pulses of continental sedimentation along the eastern brazilian margin and suggest that there was a time lag between weathering and erosion processes and sedimentation processes

cosmogenic 3he production rate in ilmenite and the redistribution of spallation 3he in fine grained minerals cosmogenic nuclide surface exposure dating and erosion rate measurements in basaltic landscapes rely primarily on measurement of 3he in olivine or pyroxene however geochemical investigations using 3he have been impossible in the substantial fraction of basalts that lack separable olivine or pyroxene crystals or where such crystals were present but have been chemically weathered fine textured basalts often contain small grains of ilmenite a weathering resistant mineral that is a target for cosmogenic 3he production with good he retention and straightforward mineral separation but with a poorly constrained production rate here we empirically calibrate the cosmogenic 3he production rate in ilmenite by measuring 3he concentrations in basalts with fine grained 20 m cross section ilmenite and co existing pyroxene or olivine from the columbia river and snake river plain basalt provinces in the western united states the concentration ratio of ilmenite to pyroxene and olivine is 0 78 0 02 yielding an apparent cosmogenic 3he production rate of 93 6 7 7 atom g 1 yr 1 that is 20 30 greater than expected from prior theoretical and empirical estimates for compositionally similar minerals the production rate discrepancy arises from the high energy with which cosmic ray spallation reactions emit tritium and 3he and the associated long stopping distances that cause them to redistribute within a rock fine grained phases with low cosmogenic 3he production rates like ilmenite will have anomalously high production rates owing to net implantation of 3he from the surrounding higher 3he production rate matrix semi quantitative modeling indicates implantation of spallation 3he increases with decreasing ilmenite grain size leading to production rates that exceed those in a large grain by 10 when grain radii are 150 m the modeling predicts that for the ilmenite grain size in our samples implantation causes production rates to be 20 greater than expected for a large grain and within uncertainty resolves the discrepancy between our calibrated production rate theory and rates from previous work the redistribution effect is maximized when the host rock and crystals differ substantially in mean atomic number as they do between whole rock basalt and ilmenite

cosmogenic 3he ages and frequency of late holocene debris flows from prospect canyon grand canyon usa abstract lava falls rapid which was created and is maintained by debris flows from prospect canyon is the most formidable reach of whitewater on the colorado river in grand canyon and is one of the most famous rapids in the world debris flows enter the colorado river at tributary junctures creating rapids the frequency of debris flows is an important consideration when management of regulated rivers involves maintenance of channel morphology we used cosmogenic 3 he 14 c and historical photographs to date 12 late holocene and historic debris flows from prospect canyon the highest and oldest deposits from debris flows on the debris fan yielded a 3 he date of about 3 ka which indicates predominately late holocene aggradation of one of the largest debris fans in grand canyon the deposit which has a 25 m escarpment caused by river reworking crossed the colorado river and raised its base level by 30 m for an indeterminate although likely short period we mapped depositional surfaces of 11 debris flows that occurred after 3 ka two deposits inset against the highest deposit yielded 3 he ages of about 2 2 ka and at least two others followed shortly afterwards at least one of these debris flows also dammed the colorado river the most recent prehistoric debris flow occurred no more than 0 5 ka the largest historic debris flow which constricted the river by 80 occurred in 1939 five other debris flows occurred after 1939 these debris flows constricted the colorado river by 35 80 assuming the depositional volumes of late holocene debris flows can be modeled using a lognormal distribution we calculated recurrence intervals of 15 to more than 2000 years for debris flows from prospect canyon

the use of in situ produced cosmogenic radionuclides in glaciology and glacial geomorphology the usefulness of in situ produced cosmogenic radionuclides in constraining glacial chronologies through exposure age dating has been demonstrated in numerous studies however an understanding of cosmogenic radionuclide techniques and their uncertainties opens up a wide range of other potential applications in glaciology and glacial geomorphology recently developed applications include estimation of spatial and temporal variations in the depth of glacial erosion from cosmogenic radionuclide inheritance which provides important constraints on process based erosion models and burial dating which can provide chronological control for glacial advances and the onset of till deposition an interesting new application currently at the level of theoretical model development concerns the unraveling of complex exposure and burial histories overall in situ produced cosmogenic radionuclide techniques provide a means with which to constrain a wide range of ice sheet and glacial models over time scales of a thousand to a few million years

relative and absolute dating of land surfaces abstract the dating of land surfaces has long posed problems for geomorphologists relative methods stratigraphic geomorphic topographic are sound and convincing exhumed forms may complicate identification and relationships for both epigene and etch forms have been buried and exhumed but in tectonically undisturbed areas the higher surfaces are older than those preserved at lower levels also surfaces have an age range the relationship of surfaces with volcanic deposits old shorelines and genetically related sedimentary sequences provides sound ages and correlation with dated duricrusts and faults is also useful there are no temporal limits to relative dating for the methods are equally applicable to the dating say of proterozoic surfaces as of those of pleistocene age the disadvantage of such methods is that the necessary evidence is frequently either not preserved or not exposed the so called absolute physical numerical methods and especially those based on exposure age dating with in situ cosmogenic radionuclides are appealing because they produce direct numerical ages and appear to be widely applicable but there are severe temporal limitations and sampling problems complicate and may invalidate interpretation absolute age determinations must be consistent with the stratigraphic and geomorphologic settings the best results are obtained when physicists and earth scientists pool their knowledge and experience a background in local and regional geology is especially important

cosmogenic noble gas paleothermometry we present a theoretical basis for reconstructing paleotemperatures from the open system behavior of cosmogenic noble gases produced in minerals at earth s surface experimentally determined diffusion kinetics predicts diffusive loss of cosmogenic 3he and 21ne from common minerals like quartz and feldspars at ambient temperatures incomplete retention has also been observed empirically in field studies we show that the theory of simultaneous production and diffusion that applies to radiogenic noble gases in minerals the basis of thermochronology can also be applied to cosmogenic noble gases to reconstruct past surface temperatures on earth we use published diffusion kinetics and production rates for 3he in quartz and 21ne in orthoclase to demonstrate the resolving power of cosmogenic noble gas paleothermometry with respect to exposure duration temperature and diffusion domain size calculations indicate that when paired with a quantitatively retained cosmogenic nuclide such as 21ne or 10be observations of cosmogenic 3he in quartz can constrain temperatures during surface exposure in polar and high altitude environments likewise 21ne retention in feldspars is sensitive to temperatures at lower latitudes and elevations expanding the potential geographic applicability of this technique to most latitudes as an example we present paired measurements of 3he and 10be in quartz from a suite of antarctic sandstone erratics to test whether the abundances of cosmogenic 3he agree with what is predicted from first principles and laboratory determined diffusion kinetics we find that the amounts of cosmogenic 3he present in these samples are consistent with the known mean annual temperature mat for this region of antarctica between 25 and 30 c these results demonstrate the method s ability to record paleotemperatures through geologic time

cosmogenic 10be and 3he accumulation in pleistocene beach terraces in death valley california u s a implications for cosmic ray exposure dating of young surfaces in hot climates to investigate the history of pleistocene lake levels in the southwestern u s a and to improve our understanding of the systematics of in situ produced cosmogenic nuclide accumulation in hot climates and young rocks we examined the 3he 10be and 26al contents of quartz separates from metamorphic quartzites and quartz rich felsic rocks incorporated in a series of stranded conglomerate beach ridges ranging from 3 to 160 m above sea level in death valley california calculated 10be ages range from 17 to 135 kyr with most ages between 20 and 60 kyr in contrast cosmogenic 3he contents indicate exposure ages of 1 kyr except for one sample at 18 4 kyr for which the 10be age is still significantly greater 44 11 kyr 26al10be ratios close to the cosmogenic production ratio rule out the presence of meteoric 10be and point to 3he loss as the cause of the age discrepancies comparison to laboratory diffusive loss measurements using a diurnal direct solar heating model implies the 3he loss occurs because the effective quartz grain sizes are 100 m far smaller than the 1 3 mm fracture spacings estimated from thin sections because direct insolation enhances 3he loss sampling from shallow depths 20 40 cm may be useful in some cases 4he and 20ne measurements demonstrate that small amounts of radiogenic and atmospheric 3he are also present at levels equivalent to a few kiloyears sea level exposure which should be taken into account when dating surfaces of similar age the lack of any clear progression with terrace altitude and the occurrence of two fold variations in apparent exposure ages within individual terraces suggest that the 10be contents do not solely represent accumulation in the present sample locations instead accumulation probably also occurred during sample exposure in the higher altitude beach rock source regions and during fluvial transport to the ancient lake shore thus the beach terrace exposure ages of 20 60 kyr are probably maximum ages for the times of these high lake level stands in death valley

the accumulation of cosmogenic chlorine 36 in rocks a method for surface exposure dating because of the reaction of cosmic rays with elements in minerals chlorine 36 accumulates in rocks exposed at the earth s surface this suggests that the ratio of chlorine 36 to stable chloride can be used as a geochronometer reasonable agreement has been obtained between measurements of chlorine 36 in volcanic rocks of known age and calculations of chlorine 36 production based on rock composition and cosmicray flux the buildup of chlorine 36 should be a useful means for measuring the surface exposure time of young volcanic rocks and geomorphic features in the age range of 10 3 to 10 6 years

testing helium equilibrium between quartz and pore water as a method to determine pore water helium concentrations abstract the effectiveness of carbon capture and geologic storage depends on many factors including and especially the permeability of the reservoir s caprock while caprock integrity is generally assumed if petroleum has been preserved it is poorly constrained in reservoirs containing only saline waters and co2 leakage poses a potential risk to shallow aquifers naturally occurring he accumulates in pore waters over time with the concentration being strongly dependent on the long term flux of fluid through the caprock furthermore a small fraction of pore water he diffuses into quartz and this may be used as a proxy for he concentrations in pore water where dissolved gas samples are difficult to obtain such as in deep sedimentary basins in this paper he contained in quartz grains is measured and compared to previously measured pore water concentrations quartz was purified from core samples from the san juan basin new mexico and the great artesian basin south australia quartz separates were heated at 290 c to release he from the quartz the quartz from the san juan basin and high purity quartz from the spruce pine intrusion north carolina was repeatedly impregnated at varying pressures using pure he heated and analyzed to build he sorption isotherms the isotherms appear linear but vary between samples possibly due to fluid inclusions within the quartz grains as high purity quartz samples partition only 1 5 of he that partitions into san juan basin samples concentrations of he in the pore water were calculated using the he accessible volume of the quartz and the air water he solubility the mean san juan basin he pore water concentration was 2 10 5 cc stp he g water 400 times greater than atmospheric solubility great artesian basin samples contain a mean he concentration of 3 10 6 cc stp he g water or 65 times greater than atmospheric solubility however pore water he concentrations in both the san juan and great artesian basins differ by up to an order of magnitude compared to samples collected with an alternate method the reason for the offset is attributable to either partial saturation of the pore volume or a lack of he equilibrium between quartz and pore water coating of clay or other mineral phases on quartz grains which tends to reduce the effective diffusion coefficient may cause the latter this technique of assessing permeability is promising due to the abundance of existing core samples from numerous basins where carbon sequestration may ultimately occur

late pleistocene basaltic ash and volcanic eruptions in the bonneville basin utah microprobe analyses of glass and radiocarbon dating of samples associated with three basaltic volcanic ashes in the deposits of lake bonneville make the ashes useful stratigraphic markers for correlation within the bonneville basin two of the ashes were derived from tuff cones pavant butte and tabernacle hill that erupted into lake bonneville in what is now the black rock desert of south central utah near kanosh utah the pavant butte ash is interbedded with barrier beach lagoon marl that is slightly less than 16 000 yr old five radiocarbon dates on carbonate materials stratigraphically associated with the ash elsewhere in the sevier desert average 15 300 yr b p lake bonneville was in its transgressive phase about 15 m below the bonneville shoreline when the pavant butte eruption began at the tabernacle hill tuff cone a basalt flow that has pillows wave rounded cobbles and tufa on its outer margins was erupted into lake bonneville shortly after the tuff cone at or near the provo shoreline the tabernacle hill tuff cone and basalt flow are older than a radio carbon date of about 14 300 yr b p on tufa collected from the outer margin of the basalt flow but younger than the bonneville flood at about 14 500 yr b p the third ash informally termed the thiokol ash has been found interbedded with lake bonneville deposits in two exposures in northern utah and in sediment cores from the great salt lake it is about 25 000 yr old and may have been erupted from a volcanic field on the northwest shore of great salt lake or from the snake river plain microprobe analyses of glass from samples of the black rock desert ashes show them to have similar chemical compositions but glass from tabernacle hill can be distinguished from pavant butte glass by its higher concentrations of cao and p 2 o 5 systematic differences in chemical composition between samples of pavant butte glass can be explained by comagmatic processes thiokol glass has less sio 2 ai 2 o 3 mgo and na 2 o but greater total iron and p 2 o 5 than do the black rock desert glasses

21ne versus 10be and 26al exposure ages of fluvial terraces the influence of crustal ne in quartz abstract the accuracy of 21 ne surface exposure ages depends critically on the correction for a trapped ne component commonly the amount of cosmogenic ne used to calculate 21 ne exposure ages is considered to be the ne excess relative to a trapped component of atmospheric composition 21 ne 20 ne 0 00296 here we document a trapped ne component in quartz samples from a series of river terraces at the northern margin of tibet hetzel et al nature 417 2002 428 432 which has a non atmospheric 21 ne 20 ne ratio varying from 0 00299 to 0 00398 vacuum crushing of amalgamated samples each derived from 30 80 quartz clasts revealed that the non atmospheric trapped component is present in fluid inclusions it has probably been incorporated into the quartz crystals during their growth in veins at low grade metamorphic conditions only if the amount of cosmogenic 21 ne is determined relative to this trapped component are the calculated 21 ne exposure ages consistent with the relative ages of the tectonically induced terraces and in agreement with independent 10 be and 26 al exposure ages of the fluvial terraces a significant in situ production of nucleogenic 21 ne by the reaction 18 o n 21 ne in the paleozoic quartz minerals is ruled out by extremely low u contents of the order of 1 5 ppb all ages have been corrected for an inherited cosmogenic component that results from cosmic ray exposure during erosion of the host rock and transport of the clasts to the terraces the origin of the trapped component from crustal fluids is supported by high 40 ar 36 ar ratios of 2000 6000 and slightly elevated 136 xe 132 xe ratios relative to air which can be explained by radioactive decay of 40 k and spontaneous fission of u in the crust

radiocarbon chronology of lake bonneville eastern great basin usa abstract lake bonneville occupied a series of connected topographically closed structural basins in the eastern great basin from about 30 ka to 12 ka the following synthesis of lake bonneville history is based on a critical evaluation of the stratigraphic and geomorphic contexts of 83 radiocarbon ages of a variety of samples including wood charcoal dispersed organic matter mollusk shells and tufa the lake began to rise from levels close to average holocene levels after about 28 ka by 22 ka it had transgressed approximately 100 m between 22 and 20 ka it regressed about 45 m in the stansbury oscillation and the stansbury shoreline was formed transgression after 20 ka proceeded in two phases a rapid phase from 20 to 18 ka and a slower phase from 18 to 15 ka the lake overflowed intermittently at its highest level the bonneville shoreline from about 15 to 14 5 ka then catastrophically dropped 100 m during the bonneville flood to the level of the provo shoreline which it occupied until about 14 ka subsequent closed basin regression was rapid and complete by 12 ka and was followed by a modest transgression to form the gilbert shoreline between 10 9 and 10 3 ka the lake bonneville record is an accurate proxy of the changing water balance in the bonneville basin during the late pleistocene although the nature of the climatic changes during this period are still uncertain

segmentation of alluvial fans in death valley california new insights from surface exposure dating and laboratory modelling laboratory experiments recent paleoenvironmental analyses of rock varnish and surface exposure dating of geomorphic units have led to new insights into the process of entrenchment and segmentation of alluvial fans and into the history of quaternary sedimentation in death valley entrenchment begins at the fanhead as the trench deepens its down slope end migrates down fan taking several tens of thousands of years to reach lower parts of the fan laboratory experiments suggest however that a new segment begins to grow at the toe long before the trench reaches this part of the fan furthermore the initial slope of the segment is not the equilibrium slope field evidence supports this model the tectonic tilting that caused entrenchment and segmentation in death valley may have been triggered by loading of the valley with water sedimentation on the salt pan in southern death valley is not at present in equilibrium with that on the fans rather it seems to be adjusting to an increase in the amount of fine material reaching the playa due in part to breaching of the outlet of lake tecopa somewhat after 600 ka bp and in part to subsidence of different parts of the valley at different rates failure to recognize this disequilibrium resulted in errors in earlier estimates of the age of the segmentation events

rock varnish evidence for latest pleistocene millennial scale wet events in the drylands of western united states rock varnish from late to latest pleistocene geomorphic features in the drylands of the western u s provides evidence of nine millennial scale wet events from 11 500 18 000 calendar yr b p represented by regionally replicable and approximately evenly spaced manganese and barium rich dark bands in varnish microstratigraphy preliminary radiometric age calibration indicates that these events appear to be broadly coeval with millennial scale cooling events identified in the greenland ice sheet project 2 gisp2 ice core record six of these wet events are associated with the cold intervals of the younger dryas and heinrich event h1 and the other three with the short lived cooling phases of the intra allerod cold period the older dryas and the oldest dryas these results combined with our previous documentation of millennial scale wet events in the holocene varnish record for the same region indicate that such wet oscillations in the western u s may be parts of regionally widespread manifestation of well documented pervasive millennial scale cycles of the north atlantic climate

chronology of tectonic geomorphic and volcanic interactions and the tempo of fault slip near little lake california new geochronologic and geomorphic constraints on the little lake fault in the eastern california shear zone reveal steady modest rates of dextral slip during and since the mid to late pleistocene we focus on a suite of offset fluvial landforms in the pleistocene owens river channel that formed in response to periodic interaction with nearby basalt flows thereby recording displacement over multiple time intervals overlap between 40 ar 39 ar ages for the youngest intracanyon basalt flow and 10 be surface exposure dating of downstream terrace surfaces suggests widespread channel incision during a prominent outburst flood through the little lake channel at ca 64 ka older basalt flows flanking the upper and lower canyon margins indicate localization of the owens river in its current position between 212 14 and 197 11 ka coupled with terrestrial light detection and ranging lidar and digital topographic measurements of dextral offset the revised little lake chronology indicates average dextral slip rates of at least 0 6 0 7 mm yr and 4 to 10 5 yr despite previous geodetic observations of relatively rapid interseismic strain along the little lake fault we find no evidence for sustained temporal fluctuations in slip rates over multiple earthquake cycles instead our results indicate that accelerated fault loading may be transient over much shorter periods 10 1 yr and perhaps indicative of time dependent seismic hazard associated with eastern california shear zone faults

cosmogenic 3he surface exposure dating of stone pavements implications for landscape evolution in deserts the formation of stone pavements a ubiquitous gravel armor mantling landforms in arid regions of the world has been previously attributed to erosion by wind and water or alternating shrinking and swelling of soil horizons implying that gravel is concentrated at the land surface in a time transgressive manner a newly proposed model for pavement evolution differs from these models in that pavement clasts are continuously maintained atthelandsurfaceinresponsetodepositionandpedogenicmodificationofwindblowndust in situ cosmogenic 3 he surface exposure ages on volcanic and alluvial landforms in the mojave desert of california are used to understand pavement evolution over geologic time scales and to test this new model these exposure ages are stratigraphically consistent show internal consistency at each site and for stone pavements adjacent to pristine continuously exposed volcanic bedrock are indistinguishable at the 1 level we conclude that stone pavements are born at the surface and that pavements may provide one of the longest term records of geologic hydrologic and climatic processes operating on desert surfaces

surface exposure chronology using in situ cosmogenic 3he in antarctic quartz sandstone boulders abstract in situ produced cosmogenic helium 3 he c provides a new tool for constraining histories of quaternary geomorphic surfaces before general application of the technique however the systematics and production rates of 3 he c must be well understood in a companion study 3 he and 10 be data from sandstone and granite boulders in the dry valleys region of antarctica have been used to constrain the ages of an important moraine sequence formed by the taylor glacier data from these deposits also provide information about the systematics of 3 he in quartz that has important implications for geochronology based on 3 hec in contrast to previous results from olivine and clinopyroxene crushing quartz in vacuo releases helium with high 3 he 4 he ratios up to 148 r a where r a is the atmospheric 3 he 4 he ratio indicating that crushing cannot be used to determine the isotopic composition of trapped i e noncosmogenic helium in quartz analysis of 3 he in different size fractions of the same samples indicates significant 3 he loss not predicted by existing 3 he diffusion data for quartz the origin of the discrepancy is not clear but loss from these samples is not as significant as suggested by the limited data of previous studies

holocene rock varnish microstratigraphy and its chronometric application in the drylands of western usa abstract analyses of hundreds of rock varnish samples from latest pleistocene and holocene geomorphic features in the drylands of western usa reveal a regionally replicable holocene microlamination sequence this sequence consists of 12 approximately evenly spaced weak dark layers intercalated with 13 orange yellow layers preliminary radiometric age calibration indicates that six dark layers in the upper portion of the sequence were deposited during the last 6000 yr diagnostic of the little ice age and late holocene wet events five dark layers in the lower portion of the sequence were deposited after the termination of the pleistocene but slightly before 7000 ybp indicative of the early holocene wet events and one dark layer in the middle portion of the sequence was deposited around 6500 ybp suggestive of the middle holocene wet phase our age calibration further indicates that the holocene wet events represented by the dark layers largely correlate in time with the millennial scale holocene cooling events in the north atlantic region this radiometrically calibrated and climatically correlated holocene microlamination sequence was then used as a unique correlative dating tool to determine surface exposure ages of geomorphic and geoarchaeological features in western usa deserts the varnish microlamination vml dating of debris flow fan deposits in death valley california yields minimum ages of 12 500 12 500 11 100 11 100 10 300 9400 and 2800 ybp for six debris flow fan building events suggesting that such events were more likely to have occurred during relatively wet periods of the holocene the vml dating of a prehistoric grinding stone from chili of northern new mexico yields a minimum age of 900 1100 ybp for the abandonment of this occupation site by the anasazi indians the vml dating of a prehistoric flaked stone a primary core from ocotillo southern california yields a minimum age of 12 500 ybp for the flaking of this stone artifact suggesting at least a paleo indian human occupation at ocotillo during the terminal pleistocene these results indicate that when properly applied the vml dating technique has the great potential to yield numerical age assignments for surface stone tools petroglyphs and geoglyphs of prehistoric age in the drylands of western usa

he diffusion in olivine helium diffusion in olivine dunite xenolith has been measured in the temperature range 1180 1460 c a linear arrhenius function was obtained with an activation energy of 120 27 32 kcal mole and a pre exponential factor d0 2 2 108 cm2 s diffusion mechanisms are not a viable means of degassing he from the mantle olivine phenocrysts can be expected to retain previously trapped he during cooling in extrusive basalts provided the flow units are thinner than 50 m xenoliths will retain mantle he signatures only if magma transport times are less than 50 years or if the he fugacity in the magma is high enough to prevent xenolith degassing the lower oceanic crust is probably substantially degassed of he trapped he will be qualitatively retained in quenched submarine basalt glass only if the cooling rate is faster than 5 1014 c m y glass at several centimeters depth in a basalt flow near the spherulite zone will have cooling rates lower than this so he loss may be significant in many basalt glass samples

cosmogenic 3he in igneous and fossil tooth enamel fluorapatite igneous fluorapatite samples from a suite of six granitic rocks from the transantarctic mountains have high 3he concentrations to 5 10 9 atoms g 1 and high 3he 4he ratios to 9 10 7 these values are far higher than those found in several hundred igneous apatites from elsewhere around the world and are higher than can be attributed to nuclear reactions on 6li this 3he is almost certainly derived from cosmic ray reactions in rocks with high exposure ages at high latitude and elevation several samples of fossil tooth enamel fluorapatite from the turkana basin of kenya are similarly rich in 3he with up to 1 10 7 atoms 3he g 1 and 3he 4he ratios up to 4 10 6 again this 3he is most logically attributed to cosmic ray reactions provided that cosmogenic 3he like radiogenic 4he is quantitatively retained in fluorapatite under earth surface conditions routine 3he exposure dating of this common phase may be possible based on its chemical composition the 3he production rate in fluorapatite is about 100 atoms g 1 yr 1 at sea level and high latitude using this rate the apatites from the transantarctic mountains have apparent exposure ages of 0 5 6 2 myr in agreement with values elsewhere in the range the fossil tooth enamel samples have apparent exposure ages ranging from a few up to 130 kyr such high exposure ages suggest some of these fossils may be lag deposits with a very long residence time at or near the earth s surface 3he exposure ages can provide insights to the depositional and reworking history of enamel bearing fossils at present the major limitations to 3he exposure dating of fluorapatite are purification of sufficient amounts of material and measurement of small amounts of 3he in the presence of large quantities of 4he in addition further work is necessary to establish the nucleogenic 3he background in fluorapatite

evaporite sedimentation in a tectonically active basin the lacustrine las minas gypsum unit late tortonian se spain abstract evaporite successions may undergo significant lithostratigraphic changes laterally and vertically in tectonically active basins the las minas gypsum a lacustrine unit of late tortonian age and up to 160 m thick in the las minas camarillas basin se spain consists of a number of shallowing upward cycles each cycle is made up of a lower interval with marl and carbonate and an upper interval with gypsum in the upper interval the base displays carbonate gypsum laminites couplets yearly microcycles showing a large variability of textures and fabrics gypsum textures are cumulates and bottom grown crystals laminites are overlain by selenitic gypsum the carbonate is a primary dolomite induced by sulphate reducing bacterial activity native sulphur was formed in early diagenesis and during exhumation was partly transformed into late diagenetic gypsum the isotopic compositions of gypsum suggest that the sulphate mainly derived from chemical recycling of triassic evaporites however marine sulphate was probably supplied by episodic marine incursions a perennial saline lake characterized by irregular bottom topography and depositional settings with variable subsidence ratios is interpreted in addition to climate saline diapirism neogene volcanism synsedimentary faulting and seismicity influenced the evaporitic deposition las minas camarillas basin is an example of how in tectonically active zones different factors interplay to produce significant variability of the evaporitic sedimentation and cyclicity

mass spectrometric identification of cosmic ray produced neon in terrestrial rocks with multiple neon components studies of cosmic ray produced nuclides in terrestrial rocks are expected to provide important geomorphological and glaciological information such as surface exposure ages erosion rates and extent of glacial cover in the case of the stable nuclide21ne the cosmic ray produced component may represent but one of several components and a component resolution based on three isotope correlations is essential we developed analytical techniques which permit accurate corrections for all interfering ions we show for our modified nier source that corrections for doubly charged species based on constant charge state ratios are not satisfactory the improved techniques permit isotopic studies of 106 atoms of21ne the spallation ratio 22ne 21ne c from si was calibrated using a quartz separate from an allan hills sandstone and yields a value of1 243 0 022 this ratio is expected to be essentially constant for terrestrial quartz samples and should be useful in component resolutions the stepwise release of ne at increasing temperatures shows that cosmic ray produced ne is released from quartz at rather low temperatures this permits an estimate of the activation energy for ne diffusion in quartz 90 10 kj mol

cosmogenic chlorine 36 from calcium spallation calcium is a major target element for cosmogenic 36cl production consequently 36cl rapidly reaches detectable levels in minerals such as calcite and calcium feldspar exposed at the earth s surface spallation of calcium isotopes typically accounts for 80 90 of 36cl production in these minerals with subsidiary contributions from negative muon capture by 40ca and thermal neutron capture by 35cl to provide a basis for surface exposure dating we have calibrated cosmogenic 36cl production in calcium feldspar from the 17 300 year old tabernacle hill basalt at an altitude of 1445 m and an effective geomagnetic latitude of 40 9 the calcium spallation rate is 152 11 atoms g ca 1 a 1 the corresponding rate at sea level and high latitude is estimated at 48 8 3 4 atoms g ca 1 a 1 the muon capture rate used to derive these values is 8 8 2 2 atoms g ca 1 a 1 at the tabernacle hill site scaled from a value of 4 8 1 2 atoms g ca 1 a 1 at sea level and high latitude the calcium spallation rate determined in this study is in excellent agreement with previous whole rock calibration measurements at tabernacle hill when these are recalculated with respect to the absolute timescale the calibration of 36c1 production from calcium underpins development of an exposure dating technique for calcite due to its high calcium content the 36cl production rate in calcite is higher than in any other common rock forming mineral measurement of 36cl in calcite with an accelerator mass spectrometric detection limit of 5 103 atoms per gram allows dating of limestone surfaces exposed for periods ranging from 102 106 years alternatively erosion rates from less than 1 to greater than 1000 m per year can be determined in the case of eroding karst surfaces though the 36cl production rate is lower in calcium feldspar than in calcite measurements on this mineral will provide a useful means of dating young basalt lavas