Determining erosion rates in allchar (Macedonia) to revive the lorandite neutrino experiment

205 Tl in the lorandite (TiAsS2) mine of Allchar (Majdan, FYR Macedonia) is transformed to 205 Pb by cosmic ray reactions with muons and neutrinos. At depths of more than 300 m, muogenic production would be sufficiently low for the 4.3Ma old lorandite deposit to be used as a natural neutrino detector. Unfortunately, the Allchar deposit currently sits at a depth of only 120m below the surface, apparently making the lorandite experiment technically infeasible. We here present 25 erosion rate estimates for the Allchar area using in situ produced cosmogenic 36 Cl in carbonates and 10 Be in alluvial quartz. The new measurements suggest long-Term erosion rates of 100-120mMa-1 in the silicate lithologies that are found at the higher elevations of the Majdanksa River valley, and 200-280mMa -1 in the underlying marbles and dolomites. These values indicate that the lorandite deposit has spent most of its existence at depths of more than 400 m, sufficient for the neutrinogenic 205 Pb component to dominate the muon contribution. Our results suggest that this unique particle physics experiment is theoretically feasible and merits further development

Early Pleistocene age of fluvial sediment in the Stará Garda Cave revealed by 26Al/10Be burial dating: implications for geomorphic evolution of the Malé Karpaty Mts. (Western Carpathians)

Assessment of vertical movements of tectonically boundedblocks is crucial for determination of geohazards in denselyinhabited zones, such as the border zone of western Slovakiaand eastern Austria. The morphostructure of the Malé KarpatyMts. divides the Vienna and Danube basins in the WesternCarpathian – Eastern Alpine junction, and its neotectonicactivity is of high importance. This study was focused on26Al/10Be burial dating of fluvial sediment in the Stará GardaCave, located in the central part of the mountains. The structuralresearch revealed predisposition of forming of horizontalpassages in low angle to subhorizontal bedrock stratificationtogether with low-grade metamorphic foliation. Fluvial originof the passages was inferred from mezoscale erosional featureson the bedrock as well as from facies character of the well preservedsedimentary profile. Cave sediment was according topetrographic analysis derived from a watershed comparableto recent one of the Stupavský Potok Stream. Three analyseddating samples provided low values of isotopic concentrations,allowing us only to calculate the minimum burial age of thedeposit of 1.72 Ma. Assuming the low position of the caveabove recent surface streams, resulting maximum incision rateof 26 m/Ma indicates very low uplift of the mountains horstduring the Quaternary. The slow incision of the river network is in good agreement with a widespread preservation of theplanation surface called "Mid-mountain level". In contrast arerelatively high values of palaeodenudation rates inferred fromisotopic concentrations. Generally, our results indicate that theMalé Karpaty Mts. horst underwent relatively intense but shortuplift in the Early Pleistocene, followed by very moderate upliftup to the recent.Key words: Western Carpathians, Malé Karpaty Mts., fluvialcave sediment, burial dating, Early Pleistocene, neotectonics.Zgodnja pleistocenska starost fluvialnihsedimentov v jami Stará Garda, ki jo je dala 26Al/10Be datacija:uporabnost za geomorfni razvoj Nizkih Karpatov (ZahodniKarpati)Ocena vertikalnih premikov tektonsko omejenih blokov jeključna za določitev geohazardov v gosto naseljenih območjih.Morfostruktura Malih Karpatov deli Dunajski in Donavski bazenna stičišču Zahodnih Karpatov – Vzhodnih Alp in njegovaneotektonska aktivnost je zelo pomembna. Študija se je posvetila26Al/10Be dataciji fluvialnih sedimentov v jami Stará Gardav osrednjem delu gorovja. Strukturna raziskava je razkrilapredispozicijooblikovanja vodoravnih jamskih rovov pod nizkimkotom v odvisnosti od subhorozontalne stratifikacije kamnineter tudi z nizko stopnjo metamorfne foliacije. Na fluvialnoporeklo rovov smo sklepali iz srednje velikih erozijskih oblik nanjihovih stenah kot tudi iz lastnosti faciesov dobro ohranjenegasedimentnega profila. Glede na petrografske analizejamskisediment izhaja iz povodja, ki je primerljiv z recentnim povodjempotoka Stupavský. Trije analizirani vzorci so nam dalinizke vrednosti koncentracij izotopov, ki so nam omogočilele izračun najnižje pokopne starosti sedimenta, ki je znašala1,72 Ma. Če upoštevamo, da leži jama nizko nad recentnimivodnimi tokovi, dobimo maksimalno hitrost vrezovanja dolinsamo 26 m/Ma, kar kaže na zelo majhen tektonski dvig v časukvartarja. Počasno vrezovanje rečne mreže se dobro ujema sširoko ohranjenim uravnanim površjem, imenovanim »Srednjegorskauravnava«. V nasprotju pa so sorazmerno visoke vrednosti hitrosti paleodenudacije, ki izhajajo iz koncentracijizotopov. Na splošno naši rezultati kažejo, da je bil horst NizkihKarpatov podvržen relativno močnemu, toda kratkemu dvigovanjuv spodnjem pleistocenu, ki mu je sledil zmeren dvig dosedanjosti.Ključne besede: Zahodni Karpati, Nizki Karpati, fluvialnijamski sedimenti, pokopna datacija, starejši pleistocen, neotektonika.

Rapid deglaciation during the Bølling-Allerød Interstadial in the Central Pyrenees and associated glacial and periglacial landforms

The Central Pyrenees hosted a large ice cap during the Late Pleistocene. The cirques under relatively low-altitude peaks (2200-2800 m) include the greatest variety of glacial landforms (moraines, fossil debris-covered glaciers and rock glaciers), but their age and formation process are poorly known. Here, we focus on the headwaters of the Garonne River, namely on the low-altitude Bacivèr Cirque (highest peaks at ~2600 m), with widespread erosive and depositional glacial and periglacial landforms. We reconstruct the pattern of deglaciation from geomorphological observations and a 17-sample dataset of 10Be Cosmic-Ray Exposure (CRE) ages. Ice thickness in the Bacivèr Cirque must have reached ~200 m during the maximum ice extent of the last glacial cycle, when it flowed down towards the Garonne paleoglacier. However, by ~15 ka, during the Bølling-Allerød (B-A) Interstadial, the mouth of the cirque was deglaciated as the tributary glacier shrank and disconnected from the Garonne paleoglacier. Glacial retreat was rapid, and the whole cirque was likely to have been deglaciated in only a few centuries, while paraglacial processes accelerated, leading to the transformation of debris-free glaciers into debriscovered and rock glaciers in their final stages. Climate conditions prevailing at the transition between the B-A and the Younger Dryas (YD) favored glacial growth and the likely development of small moraines within the slopes of the cirque walls by ~12.9 ka, but the dating uncertainties make it impossible to state whether these moraines formed during the B-A or the YD. The melting of these glaciers favored paraglacial dynamics, which promoted the development of rock glaciers as well as debris-covered glaciers. These remained active throughout the Early Holocene until at least ~7 ka. Since then, the landscape of the Bacivèr Cirque has seen a period of relative stability. A similar chronological sequence of deglaciation has been also detected in other cirques of the Pyrenees below 3000 m. As in other mid-latitude mountain regions, the B-A triggered the complete deglaciation of the Garonne paleoglacier and promoted the development of the wide variety of glacial and periglacial landforms existing in the Bacivèr cirque

What are the main factors that trigger the giant-landslides in the Peruvian western Andes? The Aricota giant-landslide case study

The central part of western Andes concentrates giant paleo-landslides that mobilized large volumes of rock, well preserved due to hyper arid climate of this region (Audin and Bechir, 2006; Pinto et al., 2008; Crosta et al., 2014; Crosta et al., 2015; Crosta et al., 2017; Mather et al., 2014; Zerathe et al., 2017) and bring us the opportunity to study the sequence of ancient events. The main goal of this study is to identifiy the role of climate and tectonics phenomena’s on the triggering of giant-landslides in Peruvian western Andes. We realized a multidisciplinary study on the Aricota landslide by using high-resolution DEM derived from Pléiades satellite image (Lacroix et al, 2016. Zerathe et al, 2016.) and coupled with cosmogenic nuclide methodology, We realize dating on the main body of landslides and main scarps in order to obtain chronological constraints of the gravitational destabilization events. We identified two events: (1) a first event with an estimated volume of ~2 km3 that event generated an impressive dam in the main valley and formed a lake approximately 6 km long upstream; and (2) a second event of rocks avalanche with an estimated volume of ~0.3 km3. 10Be dating (17 samples) suggest ages of 17.9 ± 0.7 ka and 12.1 ± 0.2 ka (weighted mean and 1 sigma uncertainty of the weighted mean) for these two events. Comparing those mean ages with local paleoclimatic reconstructions, we noticed that the failures match well with two important wet events of the Altiplano: Heinrich 1 (14 - 18 ka) and Younger Dryas (11 - 13 ka), which correspond to the formation of the Tauca and Copiasa lakes respectively (Placzek et al., 2013). This suggests that the climate probably played an important role in the triggers of landslides. However, as several neotectonic faults also affect this area (in the 50 km of radius, e.g. Incapuquio fault or Purgatorio fault), we can’t rule out a possible seismic trigger or even an earthquake/climate coupling. On the western flank of the Andes, the Aricota landslide is one of the few dating events. Although there are numerous recognized paleo-landslides. So, other new landslides ages, should also allow us to know more about the origin of these phenomena in this arid region

Using 10Be cosmogenic surface exposure dating to determine the evolution of the Purgatorio active fault in the Andean forearc, southern Peru

Active transpressive deformation has been occurring along the Andean hyperarid forearc for the last 3 Myrs but many of these faults are still not described even if able to produce large damaging earthquakes. Active faulting along the northern part of the Arica Bend can be recognized due to the presence of well-preserved and sharp fault scarps indicating recent surface slip. During the Mio-Pliocene, deposition within the forearc continental basins resulted in the formation of vast fan deposits and conglomerates of the Moquegua Formation, which can be considered as bedrock in this exposure study (~45-4 Ma; Tosdal et al., 1984; Sebrier et al., 1988a; Roperch et al., 2006). The typical vertical Purgatorio fault scarps offset both the Moquegua bedrock and several younger geomorphic features associated with <300kyrs climatic and 400 years old volcanic extreme events. This study focus on quantifying slip rate variations in time along a 5-meters high vertical fault scarp to understand how the fault is evolving. These results are achieved via surface exposure dating of the sampled seismically broken cobbolds of the Moquegua formation outcroping vertically along the fault scarp. These samples are well-suited to the application of in situ produced cosmogenic radionuclides for surface exposure dating, as the hyperarid region has extremely low erosion rates. We sampled the scarp away from any significant drainage so as to avoid possibly disturbed areas. The sampling did involve extracting quarzite conglomeratic material along the bedrock scarp and on the upper surrounding crests. The aim has been to measure Berylium-20 TCN (Terrestrial in situ Cosmogenic Nuclides) concentrations to determine exposure age as a function of height on the scarp. This has been successfully employed on one scarp in Italy based on Chlorine-36 TCN (Palumbo et al., 2004). However, slow faults behaviour remains unclear and more contributions are needed. Quaternary activity of the Purgatorio fault system was evidenced by Hall et al. (2008). They highlighted a vertical offset of about ~100 m for a pediment surface intercepted by the fault, and dated at ~280 ka. Considering that the pediment surface is horizontal, this would gave a maximum of ~0.3 mm/yr of vertical deformation since 280 ka. Our new data provide evidences of constant activity of the fault during the Holocene with a mean vertical motion of 2 ± 1 mm/ yr. These news results strengthen the idea that the Andean forearc is still submitted to contratile deformation, bring additional knowledge on the structural model of the area, and raise the question of the local seismological hazard

Implications of 36Cl exposure ages from Skye, northwest Scotland for the timing of ice stream deglaciation and deglacial ice dynamics

The French national AMS facility ASTER (CEREGE, Aix en Provence) is supported by the INSU/CNRS, the ANR through the "Projets thématiques d’excellence" program for the "Equipements d’excellence" ASTER-CEREGE action, IRD and CEA. The authors would like to thank Shasta Marrero for helpful and informative discussion on the CRONUScalc online calculator. DS was supported by a SAGES studentship and fieldwork by funds from the QRA and BSG.Geochronological constraints on the deglaciation of former marine based ice streams provide information on the rates and modes by which marine based ice sheets have responded to external forcing factors such as climate change. This paper presents new 36Cl cosmic ray exposure dating from boulders located on two moraines (Glen Brittle and Loch Scavaig) in southern Skye, northwest Scotland. Ages from the Glen Brittle moraines constrain deglaciation of a major marine terminating ice stream, the Barra-Donegal Ice Stream that drained the former British-Irish Ice Sheet, depending on choice of production method and scaling model this occurred 19.9 ± 1.5–17.6 ± 1.3 ka ago. We compare this timing of deglaciation to existing geochronological data and changes in a variety of potential forcing factors constrained through proxy records and numerical models to determine what deglaciation age is most consistent with existing evidence. Another small section of moraine, the Scavaig moraine, is traced offshore through multibeam swath-bathymetry and interpreted as delimiting a later stillstand/readvance stage following ice stream deglaciation. Additional cosmic ray exposure dating from the onshore portion of this moraine indicate that it was deposited 16.3 ± 1.3–15.2 ± 0.9 ka ago. When calculated using the most up-to-date scaling scheme this time of deposition is, within uncertainty, the same as the timing of a widely identified readvance, the Wester Ross Readvance, observed elsewhere in northwest Scotland. This extends the area over which this readvance has potentially occurred, reinforcing the view that it was climatically forced.PostprintPeer reviewe

Toward the feldspar alternative for cosmogenic 10Be applications in mafic environment

In situ-produced 10Be is one of the most commonly used TCN in quantitative geomorphology due to the fact that its production rate is relatively well constrained in the ubiquitous quartz mineral whose integrity minimizes the possibility of contamination by meteoric 10Be. Easily decontaminated from meteoric 10Be, it is in addition reliably measured using the Accelerator Mass Spectrometry technique for which its detection limit is lower than 104 at.g-1. However, volcanic or mafic areas are generally quartz free, which hamper the routine use of 10Be. In the case of a quartz poor lithology, an alternative possibility is to rely on 10Be - feldspars. Two preliminary studies (Kober et al., 2005 and Blard et al., 2013a) already provided promising results, demonstrating that (1) the decontamination protocol classically applied to quartz (Brown et al., 1991) efficiently removes all the meteoric 10Be contamination from the feldspar grains and (2) the total production rate of 10Be in feldspar is 8 to 10 % lower than that in quartz. However, only two samples were analyzed in both studies. In order to better constrain the 10Be in situ-production rate within feldspars, the number of samples analyzed needs to be increased. In this study, we developed a new chemical protocol for the 10Be extraction from feldspar matrices, and to cross-calibrate the total 10Be in situ-production rate in feldspar (P10fsp) against the total 3He production rate in pyroxene (P3px). The cosmogenic 3He and 10Be concentrations were measured, respectively, in pyroxene and feldspar extracted from eight samples of ignimbrite boulders from a giant landslide located between 800 and 2500 m in the high central Andes of Southern Peru. This area is ideally located, since two studies have already determined the local total 3He production rate in pyroxene on the nearby Altiplano (Blard et al., 2013b; Delunel et al., 2016)

Datación de depósitos coluviales utilizando nucleídos cosmogénicos (10Be) - Cronología del deslizamiento Aricota

Los nucleídos cosmogénicos producidos in situ (10Be, 3He, 26Al) son ampliamente utilizados para fechar eventos geomorfológicos que ocurrieron los últimos millones de años (e.g. Gosse y Phillips, 2001). La aplicación más común de este método es el de fechar superficies glaciales expuestas (Bromley et al., 2009). Los nucleídos cosmogénicos también se utilizan para fechar escarpes de fallas e identificar sus reactivaciones (Benavente et al., in prep), eventos volcánicos (Samaniego et al., 2016) y el origen y cronología de grandes deslizamientos al datar sus depósitos o escarpes (Zerathe et al., 2014). Los nucleídos cosmogénicos permiten determinar la edad de estos eventos y su recurrencia. Asimismo nos permite proponer una cronología y discutir el origen o posible detonante (sismotectónico y/o climático). A comparación de otros métodos, los nucleídos cosmogénicos tienen una clara ventaja, porque la datación se realiza directamente en la superficie de rocas que quedaron expuestas luego de ocurrido el evento. La alta topografía de los Andes Centrales, la geodinámica regional y sus abruptas pendientes permiten el desarrollo de grandes deslizamientos. Uno de los ejemplos más importantes es el de Aricota, ubicado en la Cordillera Occidental del sur del Perú, cuya masa deslizada represo el río Curibaya, formando una laguna de 6 km de largo (Figura 1). Sin embargo, no se conoce el origen, detonante ni el tiempo en que se generó. Por consiguiente, los objetivos de este estudio, fueron: (1) cartografiar la estructura de la masa deslizada en base a datos de campo e imágenes pleiades (0.5 m de resolución); (2) Proponer una cronología de los diferentes eventos utilizando dataciones con 10Be. Geológicamente, en la zona de estudio afloran rocas volcánicas de la formación Samanape, rocas volcánicas de la formación Tarata, tobas de la formación Huilacollo, ignimbritas de la formación Huaylillas, depósitos cuaternarios y cuerpos intrusivos cretáceos del Batolito de la Costa. Asimismo, se evidencian fallas con orientación noroeste-sureste

Cuantificación de la tasa de denudación de los últimos 20 Ka utilizando nucleídos cosmogénicos (10Be) en el suroeste de los Andes Peruanos: Laguna Aricota

Existe un debate actual sobre el principal factor que controla los procesos de erosión en los Andes occidentales: McPhillips et al., 2014 proponen que la erosión depende fuertemente de la ocurrencia de terremotos mientras que otros estudios, reportan correlaciones positivas entre las variaciones climáticas y la erosión de la cuenca (Carretier et al., 2014; Reber et al., 2017) basadas en dataciones con nucleídos cosmogénicos (10Be). En el sector de Curibaya el deslizamiento Aricota, rellenó el valle y formó un gran dique que dio origen a la laguna Aricota, utilizando nucleídos cosmogénicos (10Be), Delgado et al., (2016) fecharon el deslizamiento (dique) en ~17 ka. Nosotros en este estudio tenemos la oportunidad de comparar (1) la tasa de erosión a partir del volumen de sedimentos acumulados en la laguna desde su formación, y (2) la tasa de denudación a partir de la concentración de isotopos de 10Be. Los resultados obtenidos en general muestran una importante correspondencia, indicando de esta manera que no hay influencia de productos volcánicos y de las superficies cuaternarias heredadas (morrenas)