ANSTO :: Browsing by Author "Fülöp, RH"

Browsing by Author "Fülöp, RH"

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15th International Conference on Accelerator Mass Spectrometry
(Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation, 2021-11-15) Bertuch, F; Child, DP; Fink, D; Fülöp, RH; Hotchkis, MAC; Hua, Q; Jacobsen, GE; Jenkinson, A; Levchenko, VA; Simon, KJ; Smith, AM; Wilcken, KM; Williams, AA; Williams, ML; Yang, B; Fallon, SJ; Wallner, T
On behalf of the AMS-15 Organising committee, we would like to thank you for attending the 15th International Conference on Accelerator Mass Spectrometry. Held as an online event for the first time, the 2021 conference attracted over 300 attendees with presentations delivered by colleagues and professionals from around the globe.Applications of AMS to the world’s most pressing problems/questions: A-1 : Earth’s dynamic climate palaeoclimate studies, human impacts on climate, data for climate modelling. A-2 : Water resource sustainability groundwater dating, hydrology, water quality and management A-3 : Living landscapes soil production, carbon storage, erosion, sediment transport, geomorphology. A-4 : Catastrophic natural events volcanoes, cyclones, earthquakes, tsunamis, space weather, mass extinctions. A-5 : Advancing human health metabolic and bio-kinetic studies, bomb-pulse dating, diagnostics and bio-tracing. A-6 : Challenges of the nuclear age nuclear safeguards, nuclear forensics, nuclear waste management, nuclear site monitoring, impacts of nuclear accidents. A-7 :Understanding the human story archaeology, human evolution and migration, history, art and cultural heritage A-8 : Understanding the cosmos fundamental physics, nuclear astrophysics, nuclear physics AMS Research and Development: T-1 : Novel AMS systems, components and techniques T-2 : Suppression of isobars and other interferences T-3 : Ion sourcery T-4 : New AMS isotopes T-5 : Advances in sample preparation T-6 : Data quality and management T-7 : Facility Reports (Poster Presentation only)
26Al/10Be ratios reveal the source of river sediments in the Kimberley, NW Australia
(Wiley, 2020-02-07) Cazes, G; Fink, D; Codilean, AT; Fülöp, RH; Fujioka, T; Wilcken, KM
We use cosmogenic 10Be and 26Al in both bedrock and fluvial sediments to investigate controls on erosion rates and sediment supply to river basins at the regional scale in the Kimberley, NW Australia. The area is characterised by lithologically controlled morphologies such as cuestas, isolated mesas and extensive plateaus made of slightly dipping, extensively jointed sandstones. All sampled bedrock surfaces at plateau tops, ridgelines, and in the broader floodplain of major rivers over the region show similar slow lowering rates between 0.17 and 4.88 m.Myr-1, with a mean value of 1.0 ± 0.6 m.Myr-1 (n=15), whilst two bedrock samples collected directly within river-beds record rates that are one to two orders of magnitude higher (14.4 ± 1.5 and 20.9 ± 2.5 m.Myr-1, respectively). Bedrock 26Al/10Be ratios are all compatible with simple, continuous sub-aerial exposure histories. Modern river sediment yield lower 10Be and 26Al concentrations, apparent 10Be basin-wide denudation rates ranging between 1.8 and 7.7 m.Myr-1, with a median value of 2.6 m.Myr-1, more than double the magnitude of bedrock erosion rates. 26Al/10Be ratios of the sediment samples are lower than those obtained for bedrock samples. We propose that these depleted 26Al/10Be ratios can largely be explained by the supply of sediment to river basins from the slab fragmentation and chemical weathering of channel gorge walls and plateau escarpments that result in diluting the cosmogenic nuclide concentration in river sediments measured at the basin outlets. The results of a mass-balance model suggest that ~60–90% of river sediment in the Kimberley results from the breakdown and chemical weathering of retreating vertical sandstone rock-walls in contrast to sediment generated by bedrock weathering and erosion on the plateau tops. This study emphasises the value of analysing two or more isotopes in basin-scale studies using cosmogenic nuclides, especially in slowly eroding post-orogenic settings. © 2019 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
The ANSTO – University of Wollongong in-situ 14C extraction laboratory
(Elsevier, 2019-01-01) Fülöp, RH; Fink, D; Yang, B; Codilean, AY; Smith, AM; Wacker, L; Levchenko, VA; Dunai, TJ
We present our first 14C in-situ results for calibration and system blanks from the recently completed Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) – University of Wollongong (UOW) in-situ 14C extraction system. System performance parameters and quality is evidenced by low 14C blanks and good reproducibility for multiple targets from different reference materials. The 14C extraction scheme exploits the high temperature phase transformation of quartz to cristobalite in order to quantitatively extract the carbon as CO2. The in-situ 14C extraction system comprises three independently operated and modular units that are used for initial in-vacuo removal of meteoric 14C, followed by offline high-temperature heating of quartz to release trapped cosmogenic in-situ 14C, and finally CO2 gas purification and mass measurement. The design allows for rapid sample throughput of about 6 samples per week with samples masses ranging between 0.5 and 4 g of clean quartz. Other features include single-pass catalytic oxidation using mixed copper (I,II) oxide as catalyst, use of UHV-compatible components and of vacuum annealed copper tubing. We present results for sets of purified quartz samples prepared from CRONUS-A, CRONUS-R and CRONUS-N inter-comparison materials, with final averages consistent with published values. Following extraction and cleaning, CO2 gas aliquots for some of the samples were analysed using the ETH Zürich CO2 gas ion source at the ETH MICADAS AMS facility in addition to CO2 being graphitised using the ANSTO laser-heated graphitisation micro-furnace and then analysed on ANSTO’s ANTARES AMS facility. System blanks using either CO2 or graphite ion-sources at both facilities are on the order of ∼1 × 104 atoms. © 2018 Elsevier B.V.
Constraining the age of Aboriginal rock art using cosmogenic Be-10 and Al-26 dating of rock shelter collapse in the Kimberley region, Australia
(Australian National University, 2019-09-09) Cazes, G; Fink, D; Fülöp, RH; Codilean, AT
The Kimberley region, northwest Australia, possesses an extensive and diverse collection of aboriginal rock art that potentially dates to more than 40,000 years ago. However, dating of such art using conventional techniques remains problematic. Here, we develop a new approach which makes use of the difference in production rates of in-situ 10Be and 26Al between intact rock walls and exposed surfaces of detached slabs from rock art shelters to constrain the age of Aboriginal rock-art. In the prevailing sandstone lithology of the Kimberley region, open cave-like rock shelters with cantilevered overhangs evolve by the collapse of unstable, partially rectangular, blocks weakened typically along joint-lines and fractures. On release, those slabs which extend outside the rock face perimeter will experience a higher production rate of cosmogenic 10Be and 26Al than the adjacent rock which remains intact within the shelter. The dating of these freshly exposed slabs can help reconstruct rock-shelter formation and provide either maximum or minimum ages for the rock art within the shelter. At each site, both the upper-face of the newly exposed fallen slab and the counterpart intact rock surface on the ceiling need to be sampled at their exact matching-point to ensure that the initial pre-release cosmogenic nuclide concentration on slab and ceiling are identical. The calculation of the timing of the event of slab release is strongly dependent on the local production rate, the new shielding of the slab surface and the post-production that continues on the ceiling sample at the matching point. The horizon, ceiling and slab shielding are estimated by modelling the distribution of neutron and muon trajectories in the irregular shaped rock-shelter and slab using 3D photogrammetric reconstruction from drone flights and a MATLAB code (modified from G. Balco, 2014) to estimate attenuation distances and model the production rate at each sample. Five rock-art sites have been dated and results range from 9.8±1.9 ka to 180.8±22.3 ka. While the date obtained for the youngest site can be interpreted as both a maximum and minimum age for the art due to its positioning over different walls of this specific shelter, all the other sites give maximum art ages which are significantly older than presumed human occupation in Australia. However, within the context of regional landscape geomorphology, these relatively young ages give new insights into the contrasting modes of landscape evolution in the Kimberley, and the importance of episodic escarpment retreat overprinted by passive basin-wide denudation which from numerous previous measurements are as low as 1-5 mm/ka (i.e. averaging timescales of ~400 kyr). A large number of similar sites in the region have been mapped and are potential candidates for this new approach which can constrain the controversial relative chronology of the various aboriginal rock art styles.
Erosion and the sediment conveyor in central Australia
(Geological Society of Australia, 2016-02-29) Jansen, JD; Chappell, J; Struck, M; Eccleshall, SV; Fujioka, T; Codilean, AT; Fülöp, RH; Fink, D; Cohen, TJ; Nanson, GC
Why are the Neogene sedimentary fills across central Australia generally thin and discontinuous? One long-standing explanation is that sluggish tectonism and intensified aridity have combined to suppress rates of erosion and sediment production yielding a landscape crowded with inherited, preMiocene forms. Quantifying rates of sediment production, residence time and transport is possible with numerous methods, but the recent growth of cosmogenic nuclide (CN) analysis has provided unprecedented quantitative insights to rates of landscape evolution. Measurements of in situ produced cosmogenic 10Be and 26Al integrate rates of surface processes over million-year timescales—the last part of the Neogene in which aridity has strengthened across the continental interior. We present a compilation of ~600 published and unpublished 10Be and 26Al measurements from central Australia with a focus on the Neogene Eyre Basin and its periphery. Outlying and inlying bedrock uplands serve as engines of sediment production via erosion of bedrock. Surrounding the bedrock outcrops are vast sediment conveyors of varying efficiency and tempo: hillslopes, pediments, and alluvial fans are interim storage/burial zones for sediment in transit to the network of low-gradient rivers, dunes, and playas towards base level. Interactions between fluvial and aeolian processes are especially pertinent to sediment flux in the Eyre Basin. Major rivers such as the Cooper and Finke traverse dunefields in their lower reaches where quantities of alluvia are recirculated into dunes and vice versa. Tracking the trajectories of sediment from source-to-sink (including aeolian recirculation) remains a major challenge, but is central to unravelling the sedimentary dynamics of central Australia's Neogene basins. Based on the CN compilation we estimate 1) spatially averaged erosion rates at the scale of a hillslope or river catchment; 2) pointbased erosion rates on bedrock surfaces; 3) residence time of sediment in hillslope regolith and alluvial fans; and 4) cumulative burial history of sediments in transit. Catchment-scale erosion rates (n~100) are consistently low (<10 m/Myr) and include some of the lowest rates ever measured (~0.3 m/Myr); however, a small group of catchments in the Flinders Ras yield higher erosion rates (~30–60 m/Myr). Bedrock hillslopes (n~200) tend to erode even slower (<5 m/Myr), with a subset of Flinders Ras sites again being the exception (~10–30 m/Myr) and suggesting the influence of recent tectonism. Several CN depth-profiles measured on hillslopes and alluvial fans indicate sediment residence times >0.5 Myr, and high-resolution sampling along three hillslopes with differing morphology (linear, convex, and concave) reveals major variations in sediment production and transport rates that hint at the long-term evolution. In the rivers, fluvial sediments show a weak tendency to increase cumulative burial history downstream (1–2 Myr), consistent with the expanding accommodation space for storage and burial. Dune sediments sampled in the Simpson and Tirari dunefields (n~16) contain cumulative burial histories (up to 1.5 Myr) similar to that of the intersecting rivers. This points to an intimate mix of fluvial and aeolian processes in areas approaching base level. Curiously, these sediments occur in the lowest part of the continent and contain the longest histories of cumulative burial, yet do not form part of the thickest sedimentary fills in the Eyre Basin.
Exploring sediment dynamics from source to sink in the Murray-Darling basin using cosmogenic 14C, 10Be, and 26Al
(Australasian Quaternary Association Inc., 2018-12-10) Fülöp, RH; Codilean, AT; Marx, SK; Cohen, TJ; Fink, D; Yang, B; Smith, AM; Wilcken, KM; Fujioka, T; Wacker, L; Dunai, TJ
The relatively short half-life of 14C, namely, 5730 years, means that, compared to the other cosmogenic nuclides, it is substantially more sensitive to short term variations in process rates. Both the erosion of steep mountains and the dynamics of sediment transport, storage and recycling occur over timescales that are too short to be detectable by the cosmogenic nuclides that are currently used routinely, namely 10Be and 26Al. In situ 14C on the other hand is ideally suited for these short timescales, and used in combination with 26Al and 10Be, it will allow for rapid fluctuations in process rates and/or the relatively short timescales that characterise sediment transfer and storage to be measured accurately. The above make in situ 14C an important addition to the cosmogenic radionuclide toolkit. We present results of in situ cosmogenic 14C system blank and calibration sample measurements obtained with the recently established ANSTO/UOW in situ 14C extraction system. The 14C extraction scheme follows the design of the University of Cologne, which exploits the phase transformation of quartz to crystobalite to quantitatively extract the carbon as CO2. Offline high-temperature furnace extraction allows a relative rapid sample throughput and can accommodate samples ranging between 0.5 to 4 grams of clean quartz. Following extraction and isolation, the CO2gas is graphitised using a micro-furnace and then measured using AMS similarly to routine small radiocarbon samples. We also present results of 14C, 26Al, and 10Be analyses from sediment samples collected from Australia’s largest river system, the Murray-Darling basin. We use the downstream changes in the ratios of the three radionuclides in samples collected at key locations along the rivers to quantify sediment mixing and sediment storage times in the river basin. Substantial 26Al/10Be ‘burial’ signal is observed in downstream Murray and Darling samples, while in situ 14C suggests complex burial-exposure histories in these samples. This could have implication of interpreting geochemical proxies at the outlet of Murray-Darling Basin for identification of paleoclimate driven sediment sources (i.e. Monsoon vs. Westerlies). © The Authors
Facility report : ANSTO’s 6 MV NEC SIRIUS accelerator – an update since AMS 14 Ottawa
(Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation, 2021-11-17) Fink, D; Fülöp, RH; Fujioka, T; Kotevski, S; Simon, KJ; Wilcken, KM
ANSTO’s SIRIUS tandem accelerator is a customised 6 MV tandem accelerator manufactured by NEC and commissioned in 2015. It is a shared AMS and IBA instrument described in detail in Pastuovic et al (2015). Initial AMS performance data for cosmogenic isotopes 10Be, 26Al and 36Cl was presented at the Ottawa AMS14 Conference (Wilcken et al 2019). The AMS spectrometer consists of a 134 sample-wheel MC-SNICS Cs sputter source, a 45-degree spherical ESA (R=300 mm) and a double focusing insulated injection magnet (R=1000 mm, ME=20, vacuum gap = 70 mm). Two stripper gases (typically Ar and He) and thin foils are selectable in the terminal, and the selected charge state is focussed by an in tank electrostatic quadruple triplet positioned in the high energy column section. The high-energy section consists of two identical ME=176 analysing magnets (R=1270 mm) feeding two independent beam line transport systems, one for AMS and the other IBA. The AMS setup includes a post-stripper or energy degrader ladder, a 45-degree spherical ESA (R=3810 mm, gap = 30mm) and two magnetic quadrupoles. A choice of 3 AMS beam lines selectable by a ±30 degree switcher magnet provides options for dedicated radionuclide detection of 10Be (absorber cell), 36Cl and 26Al (multi-anode ionization counter), and an 8 m long TOF setup for future 129I and U-isotope measurements. A suite of sample geochemistry preparation laboratories, including a dedicated laboratory for preparation of in-situ 14C samples ( Fulop et al 2019) and an ice-core storage facility, provide AMS targets of 10Be (meteoric), 10Be, 26Al 14C and 36Cl (in-situ). The cosmogenic chemistry extraction laboratories host many visiting students and researchers to prepare samples and participate in AMS measurements. A wide variety of earth science applications in landscape evolution, sediment transport, tectonics, polar ice sheet stability, Quaternary geochronology supporting paleoclimate research change, solar variability and archaeology are supported. Ancillary facilities at ANSTO provide high precision elemental analyses (eg 9Be and 27Al) using a variety of techniques (ICP-OES, ICP-MS, AA, SEM, and XRF). We present details of recent data on routine AMS accelerator performance, reproducibility and linearity with various AMS standards, transmission, sample throughput, background reduction, and some improvements in sample chemistry methods.
Late Neogene climatic features recorded by isotope records in the Issyk Kul basin, Kyrgyzstan
(Copernicus GmbH, 2021-04-19) Kudriavtseva, A; Sobel, E; Codilean, AT; Roud, S; Wack, M; Gilder, S; Hoke, G; Mulch, A; Mikolaichuk, A; Fink, D; Fülöp, RH; Wilcken, KM
We present two carbonate oxygen and carbon isotope records from late Miocene – early Pleistocene stratigraphic sections from the southern flank of the Issyk Kul basin, Kyrgyz Tien Shan. The two sections are 700 and 500 m thick and composed of fluvial and lacustrine sediments. They were dated using magnetostratigraphy (Roud et al., G-Cubed, in review) and 26Al/10Be isochron burial dating (presented here). Carbonate stable isotope data is useful for reconstruction of climate in Asia over the Cenozoic. Oxygen isotopes are commonly used to detect moisture sources and their interaction with topography. Pedogenic carbon isotopes are used to reconstruct past atmospheric CO2 levels or the spread of C4 vegetation. The environment of Central Asia is primarily affected by the northern mid-latitude westerlies − winds transporting moisture eastward across Eurasia. Issyk Kul basin is situated on the windward side of the northern Tien Shan. Published data suggest that the Tien Shan mountain ranges interacted with the westerlies since late Oligocene and reorganized Central Asian climate during Neogene (Caves et al., 2017; Charreau et al., 2012; Macaulay et al., 2016; Wang, et al., 2020). The amount of existing published paleoclimate data from northern Central Asia is scarce compared to interior China, and therefore the influence of the Tien Shan uplift on climate in Asia during the Cenozoic is poorly reconstructed. Our data provide new insight into the role of the range and its interaction with the westerlies in forming climate on the windward side of the northern Tien Shan in the late Neogene. We combine our data with published stratigraphically-older sections nearby (Macaulay et al., 2016) to complete the Neogene stable isotope record of the Issyk Kul basin and study how the evolution of the basin influenced regional climate. Our d18O and d13C values show slightly positive trends, unlike stratigraphically-older data from the Issyk Kul basin. The preliminary interpretation suggests that the circulation pattern within the range was changed in late Miocene possibly reflecting active tectonic uplift northward of the basin and an increase in aridification.
Million-year lag times in a post-orogenic sediment conveyor
(American Association for the Advancement of Science, 2020-06-19) Fülöp, RH; Codilean, AT; Wilcken, KM; Cohen, TJ; Fink, D; Smith, AM; Yang, B; Levchenko, VA; Wacker, L; Marx, SK; Stomsoe, N; Fujioka, T; Dunai, TJ
Understanding how sediment transport and storage will delay, attenuate, and even erase the erosional signal of tectonic and climatic forcings has bearing on our ability to read and interpret the geologic record effectively. Here, we estimate sediment transit times in Australia’s largest river system, the Murray-Darling basin, by measuring downstream changes in cosmogenic 26Al/10Be/14C ratios in modern river sediment. Results show that the sediments have experienced multiple episodes of burial and reexposure, with cumulative lag times exceeding 1 Ma in the downstream reaches of the Murray and Darling rivers. Combined with low sediment supply rates and old sediment blanketing the landscape, we posit that sediment recycling in the Murray-Darling is an important and ongoing process that will substantially delay and alter signals of external environmental forcing transmitted from the sediment’s hinterland. Copyright © 2020 The Authors
New extraction line for the in-situ C-14 at HEKAL AMS laboratory
(Goldschmidt, 2022-07-14) Buró, B; Fülöp, RH; Jull, AJT; Molnar, M
In this study we presented a new cosmogenic in-situ C-14 extraction line at the ICER laboratory, which is similar to be published in Fülöp et al. [1]. These extraction system used the phase transformation of quartz to cristobalite on high temperature in order to quantitatively extract the carbon as CO2. The system consists of three independent components. 1: used for remove the atmospheric and meteoric C-14, 2: offline high-temperature (1650 °C) oven for extract and trapped the cosmogenic in-situ 14C from quartz, 3: CO2 gas purification and mass measurement line. After the extraction and cleaning, the purified CO2 samples are measured with compact 14C AMS system (Environ MICADAS) and the gas ion source interface. The extraction line allows for rapid sample throughput of about 6 samples per week. The sample masses ranging between 4 and 7 g of clean quartz. Our first tests were on the borehole CO2 blank gas and Cronus standards. The blank level of the whole line is very low. We get similar experiences and results as Fülöp et al. [1]. Purified quartz samples were sieved and used for analyse the fraction of 250 – 500 µm. The carbon yield from quartz samples are very good and we have the expected values. The research was supported by the European Union and the State of Hungary. co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund in the project of GINOP-2.3.4-15-2020-00007 “INTERACT”. [1] Fülöp et al. (2019) Nuclear Inst. and Methods in Physics Research B 438, 207-213.
Preliminary results of CoQtz-N: a quartz reference material for terrestrial in-situ cosmogenic 10Be and 26A1 measurements
(Elsevier, 2019-10-01) Binnie, SA; Dewald, A; Heinze, S; Voronina, E; Hein, AS; Wittmann, H; von Blanckenburg, F; Hetzel, R; Christl, M; Schaller, M; Léanni, L; ASTER Team; Hippe, K; Vockenhuber, C; Ivy-Ochs, S; Maden, C; Fülöp, RH; Fink, D; Wilcken, KM; Fujioka, T; Fabel, D; Freeman, SPHT; Xu, S; Fifield, LK; Akçar, N; Spiegel, C; Dunai, TJ
There is growing interest in geochronological applications of terrestrial in situ-produced cosmogenic nuclides, with the most commonly measured being 10Be and 26A1 in quartz. To extract and then separate these radionuclides from quartz and prepare them in the oxide form suitable for accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) requires extensive and careful laboratory processing. Here we discuss the suitability of a crushed, sieved and etched, sub-aerially exposed vein quartz specimen (CoQtz-N) to act as a reference material for chemical laboratory preparation and AMS measurements. Splits of CoQtz-N were distributed to eleven target preparation laboratories. The CoQtz-N 10Be targets were then measured at seven different AMS facilities and five of the preparation laboratories had their 26A1 targets measured at four different AMS facilities. We show that CoQtz-N splits are sufficiently homogeneous with regard to nuclide concentrations, that it has been cleaned of any atmospheric derived (i.e. meteoric) 10Be and that it has low concentrations of the major elements that can interfere with Be and A1 extraction chemistry and AMS measurements. We derive preliminary concentrations for 10Be and 26Al in CoQtz-N as 2.53 ± 0.09 × 106 at/g and 15.6 ± 1.6 × 106 at/g, respectively, at the 95% confidence limit. © 2019 Elsevier B.V.
Quantifying soil loss with in-situ cosmogenic 10Be and 14C depth-profiles
(Elsevier, 2015-04-01) Fülöp, RH; Bishop, P; Fabel, D; Cook, GT; Everest, J; Schnabel, C; Codilean, AT; Xu, S
Conventional methods for the determination of past soil erosion provide only average rates of erosion of the sediment's source areas and are unable to determine the rate of at-a-site soil loss. In this study,we report insitu produced cosmogenic 10Be, and 14C measurements from erratic boulders and two depth-profiles from Younger Dryas moraines in Scotland, and assess the extent to which these data allow the quantification of the amount and timing of site-specific Holocene soil erosion at these sites. The study focuses on two sites located on end moraines of the Loch Lomond Readvance LLR):Wester Cameron and Inchie Farm, both near Glasgow. The site nearWesterCameron does not showany visible signs of soil disturbance andwas selected in order to test (i) whether a cosmogenic nuclide depth profile in a sediment body of Holocene age can be reconstructed, and (ii) whether in situ 10Be and 14C yield concordant results. Field evidence suggests that the site at Inchie Farm has undergone soil erosion and this site was selected to explore whether the technique can be applied to determine the broad timing of soil loss. The results of the cosmogenic 10Be and 14C analyses atWester Cameron confirm that the cosmogenic nuclide depth-profile to be expected from a sediment body of Holocene age can be reconstructed. Moreover, the agreement between the total cosmogenic 10Be inventories in the erratics and the Wester Cameron soil/till samples indicate that there has been no erosion at the sample site since the deposition of the till/moraine. Further, the Wester Cameron depth profiles show minimal signs of homogenisation, as a result of bioturbation, and minimal cosmogenic nuclide inheritance from previous exposure periods. The results of the cosmogenic 10Be and 14C analyses at Inchie Farm show a clear departure from the zero-erosion cosmogenic nuclide depth profiles, suggesting that the soil/till at this site has undergone erosion since its stabilisation. The LLR moraine at the Inchie Farm site is characterised by the presence of a sharp break in slope, suggesting that the missing soilmaterialwas removed instantaneously by an erosion event rather than slowly by continuous erosion. The results of numerical simulations carried out to constrain the magnitude and timing of this erosion event suggest that the eventwas relatively recent and relatively shallow, resulting in the removal of circa 20e50 cm of soil at a maximum of ~2000 years BP. Our analyses also show that the predicted magnitude and timing of the Inchie Farm erosion event are highly sensitive to the assumptions that are made about the background rate of continuous soil erosion at the site, the stabilisation age of the till, and the density of the sedimentary deposit. All three parameters can be independently determined a priori and so do not impede future applications to other localities. The results of the sensitivity analyses further show that the predicted erosion event magnitude and timing is very sensitive to the 14C production rate used and to assumptions about the contribution of muons to the total production rate of this nuclide. Thus, advances in this regard need to be made for the method presented in this study to be applicablewith confidence to scenarios similar to the one presented here. © 2015, Elsevier B.V.
Recycling of Pleistocene valley fills dominates 125 ka of sediment flux, upper Indus River
(European Geophysical Union, 2016-01-01) Munack, H; Blöthe, JH; Fülöp, RH; Codilean, AT; Fink, D; Korup, O
Rivers draining the semiarid Transhimalayan Ranges along the western Tibetan Plateau margin underwent alternating phases of massive valley infill and incision in Pleistocene times. The imprints of these cut-and-fill cycles on long-term sediment fluxes have remained largely elusive. We investigate the timing and geomorphic consequences of headward incision of the Zanskar River, which taps the vast More Plains valley fill that currently impedes drainage of the endorheic high-altitude basins of Tso Kar and Tso Moriri. In situ 10Be exposure dating and topographic analyses indicate that a phase of valley infill gave way to net dissection of the >250-m thick sedimentary stacks ∼125 ka ago, i.e. during the last interglacial (MIS 5e). Rivers eroded >14.7 km3 of sediment from the Zanskar headwaters since then, fashioning specific sediment yields that surpass 10Be-derived denudation rates from neighbouring catchments by factors of two to ten. We conclude that recycling of Pleistocene valley fills has provided Transhimalayan headwater rivers with more sediment than bedrock denudation, at least since the beginning of the last glacial cycle. This protracted liberation of sediment stored in thick valley fills could bias rate estimates of current sediment loads and long-term bedrock denudation. © Author(s)
Refinement to the extraction of in-situ cosmogenic C-14
(Australian and New Zealand Institutes of Physics, 2021-11-17) Fülöp, RH; Smith, AM; Yang, B; White, DA; Codilean, AT
In situ C-14 is an important addition to the cosmogenic nuclide toolkit. Its relatively short half-life - 5730 years - as compared to the longer-lived cosmogenic nuclides, means that it is substantially more sensitive to short term variations in process rates or more suitable at investigating recent exposure events. In-situ C-14 used in combination with Al-26 and Be-10 is also particularly well suited to studying the relatively short timescales that characterize fluvial sediment transfer and storage. Despite the above, the extraction of in-situ C-14 from geological samples is still problematic, with recent laboratory intercomparison studies showing considerable overdispersion in both intra and inter laboratory comparisons of standard materials. The discrepancies between laboratories have been attributed to several factors, including the quality of some intercomparison materials, however, clear consensus on the matter is yet to be reached. Here we present results of in-situ cosmogenic C-14 analyses in the Cronus-A and Cronus-R laboratory intercomparison materials and various samples obtained using the ANSTO/UOW in-situ C-14 extraction system, that suggest the presence of carbon containing minerals within these materials. Our results indicate that quartz separates need a different purity measurement that what would normally be acceptable for cosmogenic Be-10 and Al-26 analyses. Further, we do not observe a bias in results on those samples that underwent froth-floatation to remove feldspars, however applying a final 50% HF etch will result in removal of unwanted minerals. Based on analyses on fluid inclusions we adopted cycled in-vacuo 600oC pre-cleaning for samples and observe improvements in reproducibility for material in the 212-500 micron grainsize range.
Short duration glacial advances: implications for cosmogenic dating chronologies
(Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation, 2021-11-17) White, DA; Fülöp, RH; Fink, D; Fujioka, T; Blaxell, M; Jeromson, MR; Codilean, AT
Cosmogenic nuclides are now the mainstay technique for constraining past ice advances in terrestrial environments. However, limited erosion of bedrock and recycling of older glacial sediments complicates the interpretation of dated records. Where younger deposits or striated bedrock surfaces contain nuclides inherited from previous periods of exposure, cosmogenic dates overestimate deglaciation by tens to hundreds of thousands of years. This is especially problematic in Antarctica, where low erosion rates and cold-based glaciation produce widespread inheritance in erratics or bedrock surfaces. Studies using long-lived nuclides such as Be-10 have identified sites where <5% of erratics are inheritance-free, making it logistically difficult to measure ice sheet retreat. To address this issue, the short-lived nuclide in-situ C -14 is being applied in Antarctic deglaciation studies. The relatively recent deglaciation across most parts of Antarctica mean inheritance in erratics can be detected by discordant Be-10 and C-14 ages. Bedrock may also be dateable using C-14 if the inherited nuclides decay below measurement uncertainties while ice cover is present. However, both these approaches, particularly direct bedrock dating, make assumptions of the duration of the glacial advance. To test these approaches we measured C-14 in bedrock surfaces from sites across East Antarctica between Enderby Land (48oE) and Vincennies Bay (107oE). At each site, the true deglaciation age was well established via Be-10 ages on erratics, and in some cases, coincident with the onset of biogenic sedimentation in lake and marine basins. We find that the assumption of a long-duration Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) is not widely met. The two inland sites appear to have been buried long enough to re-set the C-14 signal. However, at least four sites along the East Antarctic coastline displayed bedrock surfaces that were saturated with C-14, despite clearly having been covered by ice during the early Holocene. These results mean that in-situ C-14 ages must be carefully interpreted, especially when used on bedrock. Bedrock surfaces that provide discrete ages can be used to indicate that deglaciation has occurred since the global Last Glacial Maximum. However, those with saturated surfaces provide equivocal results unless supporting evidence can support the expected duration of the LGM. © The Authors
SIRIUS Performance: 10Be, 26A1 and 36C1 measurements at ANSTO
(Elsevier, 2019-09-15) Wilcken, KM; Fujioka, T; Fink, D; Fülöp, RH; Codilean, AT; Simon, KJ; Mifsud, C; Kotevski, S
SIRIUS – a 6 MV pelletron accelerator at ANSTO was delivered and installed in 2014–2015. After initial testing and commissioning phase we have now moved into routine operations. Quality assurance data from the past 2 years demonstrates the excellent performance and SIRIUS is now our preferred instrument for 10Be, 26A1 and 36C1 analyses. © 2019 Elsevier B.V.
Soil production and transport on postorogenic desert hillslopes quantified with 10Be and 26Al
(GeoScienceWorld, 2018-01-02) Struck, M; Jansen, JD; Fujioka, T; Codilean, AT; Fink, D; Egholm, DL; Fülöp, RH; Wilcken, KM; Kotevski, S
Hillslopes stand at the top of the geomorphic conveyor belt that produces and transports mass throughout landscapes. Quantification of the tempo of hillslope evolution is key to identifying primary sediment production and understanding how surface processes shape topography. We measured cosmogenic 10Be and 26Al on three desert hillslopes in postorogenic central Australia and quantified their soil dynamics and evolution. We found that hillslope morphology is governed by lithological factors, and differing nuclide abundances reflect the main sediment transport processes. Slope wash is widespread, and shrink-swell soil processes drive downslope creep and upward migration of gravels detached from underlying bedrock. We applied Monte Carlo–based inversion modeling to reconstruct soil production and the exhumation histories of stony mantle gravels. Underlying silty soils derive from eolian dust inputs dating to at least 0.2 Ma and possibly more than 1 Ma, in line with intensified aridity. Exposed bedrock erodes at ∼0.2–7 m/m.y., and under soil, it erodes at maximum rates of <0.1 m/m.y. up to 10 m/m.y. Accordingly, particles spend 2–6 m.y. or more in the upper 0.6 m of the bedrock column and an additional ∼0.2–2 m.y. or more within hillslope soils. Such long periods near the surface result in surface particles acquiring inherently low 26Al/10Be ratios. Bedrock erodibility underpins regional variations in erosion rate, and the slow tempo of hillslope evolution is largely independent of base level. This suggests a distinctive top-down evolution among postorogenic hillslopes set by authigenic rates of sediment production, rather than by fluvial incision as in tectonically active settings. © 2021 Geological Society of America
Spatial pattern of denudation in a lithologically controlled sub-tropical flat landscape: insights from the Kimberley region, NW Australia
(European Geophysical Union, 2016-01-01) Cazes, G; Fink, D; Codilean, AT; Fülöp, RH
The Kimberley region, northwest Australia, is well known for its expansive and diverse collection of prehistorical aboriginal rock art that potentially dates back to 40,000 years ago. The region is characterized by a tropical, semiarid climate with a monsoonal rainfall distribution and a flat landscape interrupted by massive sandstone mesas and deeply incised bedrock river gorges. In order to constrain the chronology of the rock art it is necessary to quantify the spatial and temporal dimensions of landscape evolution. We report cosmogenic 10Be and 26Al concentrations in modern fluvial sediment collected from 27 catchments with areas spanning several orders of magnitude (13.6 – 13,900 km2 ). All catchments are characterized by a very low topographic gradient (average basin slopes < 3◦ ) and subdued local relief of at most 200m. Assuming negligible sediment storage times and rapid sediment transport driven by the annual monsoonal washout, we calculate 10Be based catchment-wide denudation rates ranging between 1.87 ± 0.23 and 9.48 ± 1.05 m.Myr−1 . These low rates are among the slowest recorded in the world, despite the strong climatic seasonality of the region. Our measured denudation rates exhibit a strong correlation with topographic gradient, which in the overall flat landscapes of the Kimberley, is controlled by the prevailing sandstone bedrock lithology and the presence of numerous escarpments adjacent to the river channels. We present a modelling approach that makes use of the 26Al/10Be ratio in the fluvial sediments as a source tracer (ie escarpment cliffs, river channels, plateau bedrocks), and use this to explore the control and retreat rate of the eroding escarpment cliffs in order to provide information on the spatial distribution of denudation in the landscape. © Author(s) 2016. CC Attribution 3.0 License.
Spatial variation of erosion rates and passive margin escarpment embayment from New England, NSW and Bellenden Ker, Queensland, Australia: an analysis using GIS and in-situ 10Be basin-wide cosmogenic nuclides
(Copernicus GmbH, 2020-05-04) Glass, J; Codilean, AT; Fülöp, RH; Wilcken, KM; Cohen, TJ; Abbott, L
The eastern seaboard of Australia is characterized by a passive margin and a continental divide that separates the inland-draining rivers from those that drain to the Coral and Tasman seas. Seaward of this divide lies the Great Escarpment (GE) of Australia that separates a moderate relief coastal plain from a low relief, high elevation plateau. Quantifying the spatial variation of erosion rates from temperate New England (NE), NSW and tropical Bellenden Ker (BK), Queensland, two regions with distinctly different climates and escarpment embayment, could help constrain erosional controls that contribute to escarpment form. In this study, we compared forty detrital 10Be samples collected from sediments in the main trunk and tributaries of five major rivers: the Macleay, Bellinger, and Clarence in NE and the Russel-Mulgrave and North Johnstone in BK. We then traced the escarpment position in ARCGIS and calculated a sinuosity ratio to better compare the degree of embayment in each region. Across both datasets we found that for NE, which has deep gorges cutting into the plateau, the degree of embayment was twice that of BK, where the escarpment position is significantly less embayed and erosion rates significantly more variable (ratio of .18 vs .38). Erosion rates in low slope areas, such as on the plateau, were universally low with no other significant controlling factors. There was no correlation between erosion rates and catchment area, and that our data echo previous studies that find that once mean rainfall passes an approximate threshold (around 2000mm/yr) basin characteristics that are known to control erosion rates, such as slope and lithology, are subdued. In temperate NE, where rainfall ranges from approximately 800-1200mm/yr, there was a moderate linear correlation with mean catchment rainfall and erosion rates (R2 .50), which is likely due to a strong orographic effect due to the escarpment. Erosion rates from tributaries below the plateau were highly variable and ranged from 5m/Ma up to 60m/Ma and correlated strongly with mean catchment slope (R2 .86). In addition, there were moderate inverse linear correlations between erosion rate and the catchment total percent granite and sedimentary rock (R2 .53 and .63 respectively) and a moderate correlation between erosion rate and catchment total percent metamorphic rock (R2 .57). Similar to previous studies, these data suggest that in temperate climates with moderate amounts of annual rainfall, individual basin characteristics play a significant role in controlling basin wide erosion rates. In contrast, data from tropical BK, where mean rainfall amounts are in excess of 2000mm/yr, erosion rates from tributaries below the plateau were significantly less variable than NE. Rates had a mean of 37m/Ma ± 9 (standard deviation 5m/Ma, N=10) and were not significantly correlated with mean catchment slope nor catchment lithology. The mean erosion rate of BK is similar to that of other studies in the region, though with slightly less variability, and possibly reinforces the hypothesis from other researchers that in tropical climates with significant mean rainfall, soil depth effectively armors hillslopes and prevents bedrock erosion from occurring. © Author(s) 2021. This work is distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Licence.
A tale of two bogs - new 10Be production rates from UK and NZ calibrated by basal 14C ages
(Copernicus GmbH, 2021-04-19) Fink, D; Hughes, PD; Fülöp, RH; Wilcken, KM; Adams, PM; Craig, W; Shulmeister, J; Fujioka, T; Ryan, P
Cosmogenic production rates (PRs) are the essential conversion factor between AMS cosmogenic concentrations and absolute exposure ages. The accuracy of cosmogenic glacial chronologies and reliability in their comparison to other paleoclimate systems is largely contingent on the precision and accuracy of the adopted production rate. This is particularly critical in determining past glacial geochronologies at the scale of millennial temporal resolution. Most PR calibrations are carried out at deglaciation sites where radiocarbon provides the independent chronometric control usually based on 14C ages in basal sediments or varves from lake or bog cores which is assumed to represent the minimum age for glacial retreat. Under these conditions and hence provide PRs as maximum values. Given that today most AMS facilities can deliver 10-Be, 26-Al and 36-Cl data with total analytical errors less than 2% ( for 10 ka exposure), the precision of a PR remains largely dependent on the error in the independent chronology and accuracy of AMS standards. The history over the past 20 years of the ever-decreasing value of SLHL 10-Be cosmogenic spallation PRs from initial estimates of about 7 atoms/g/a to the current ‘accepted‘ (global average) values of ~4 atoms/g/a, is an interesting story in itself and demonstrates the complexity in such determinations. Over the past few years new web-based calculators are now available to calculate uniformly new production rates from either new data or combinations of any set of published data (CRONUS-Earth, CRONUS-UW, CosmoCalc, ICE-D, CREp). This delivers a means by which new production rates can be seamlessly integrated and compared using identical constants, methods and statistics that were used to generate (currently accepted) global average or regional production rates. For the British Isles, there are a number of 10-Be reference sites that give PRs (Lm scheme) between 3.89±3% atoms/g/a (Putnam, QG, v50, 2019) to 4.20±1% atoms/g/a (Small, JQS, v30, 2015) which convert to 3.95 and 4.28, respectively, using datasets in the ICE-D calculator). This difference in 10-Be spallation PRs has recently raised some debate and challenges for the timing of the local-LGM and demise of the British Ice Sheet. This work provides a new British Isles site specific 10Be PR from the Arenig Mountains in North Wales where radiocarbon dating of basal sediments from a bog core associated with a series of nearby cirque moraines provides independent age control. Similarly in the South Island of New Zealand, the current accepted 10Be PR is 3.76±2% (Putnam, QG 2009; converts to 3.94±1% using ICE-D) and is the only available PR that is used for these southern hemispheric glacial sites. This work provides a new Australasian site specific 10Be PR from Arthurs Pass retreat moraines where radiocarbon dating of basal sediments from three cores extracted from a bog impounded by the moraine provides independent age control.

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