Detecting landscape transience with in situ cosmogenic 14C and 10Be

Daniel S. Skov*, David L. Egholm, John D. Jansen, Mike Sandiford, Mads F. Knudsen

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal/Conference contribution in journal/Contribution to newspaperJournal articleResearchpeer-review

8 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Constraining past variations in rates of erosion remains a key challenge in geomorphology, as estimates of erosion rate on different timescales must be bridged. The Late Pleistocene to Holocene represents a key timescale for studying landscape transience, as climatic change, increasing anthropogenic activity, and/or tectonic activity changed the rate of surface processes in many landscapes. Few chronometers are suitable for studying surface processes and landscape transience on these timescales, but, although not yet widely used, in situ 14C holds much promise due to its appropriate half-life of 5.7 kyr. Furthermore, by pairing in situ 14C with a stable or longer-lived nuclide, such as 10Be, 21Ne or 26Al, it is possible to compare surface process rates on distinctly different timescales. In this paper, we explore how these paired chronometers can be used to study landscape transience in non-glacial landscapes on Late Pleistocene to Holocene timescales. Indeed, we find that paired measurements of in situ 14C and a long-lived cosmogenic nuclide (CN) in samples from eroding landscapes enable the detection of changes in erosion rate during the Late Pleistocene to Holocene, if the increase or decrease in erosion rate was larger than a factor of two, and the landscape is eroding at rates that are typical for fluvial landscapes (5–500 mm/kyr). Similarly, detecting changes in catchment-wide denudation rates using paired CN measurements in stream-sediment samples is also possible in catchments with suitable conditions, such as short sediment transport times, minimal erosion from deep-seated mass movement, etc. (von Blanckenburg, 2006).

Original languageEnglish
Article number101008
JournalQuaternary Geochronology
Volume54
ISSN1871-1014
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Oct 2019

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Detecting landscape transience with in situ cosmogenic 14C and 10Be'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this