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Title: Chlorine-36/beryllium-10 burial dating of alluvial fan sediments associated with the Mission Creek strand of the San Andreas Fault system, California, USA

Journal Article · · Geochronology (Online)
 [1];  [2];  [3]
  1. Berkeley Geochronology Center, Berkeley, CA (United States)
  2. San Jose State Univ., San Jose, CA (United States)
  3. Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
+ Show Author Affiliations

We utilize cosmogenic-nuclide burial dating using the 36Cl-in-K-feldspar//10Be-in-quartz pair in fluvially transported granitoid clasts to determine the age of alluvial sediment displaced by the Mission Creek strand of the San Andreas Fault in southern California. Due to the half-lives of 36Cl and /10Be are more different than those of the commonly used 26Al$$^{/10}$$Be pair, 36Cl/10Be burial dating should be applicable to sediments in the range ca. 0.2–0.5 Ma, which is too young to be accurately dated with the 26Al$$^{/10}$$Be pair, and should be more precise for Middle and Late Pleistocene sediments in general. However, using the 36Cl$$^{/10}$$Be pair is more complex because the 36Cl$$^{/10}$$Be production ratio varies with the chemical composition of each sample. We use 36Cl$$^{/10}$$Be measurements in samples of granodiorite exposed at the surface at present to validate calculations of the 36Cl$$^{/10}$$Be production ratio in this lithology, and then we apply this information to determine the burial age of alluvial clasts of the same lithology. This particular field area presents the additional obstacle to burial dating (which is not specific to the 36Cl$$^{/10}$$Be pair, but would apply to any) that most buried alluvial clasts are derived from extremely rapidly eroding parts of the San Bernardino Mountains and have correspondingly extremely low nuclide concentrations, the majority of which most likely derive from nucleogenic (for 36Cl) and post-burial production. Even though this precludes accurate burial dating of many clasts, data from surface and subsurface samples with higher nuclide concentrations, originating from lower-erosion-rate source areas, show that the age of upper Cabezon Formation alluvium is 260 ka. This is consistent with stratigraphic age constraints as well as independent estimates of long-term fault slip rates, and it highlights the potential usefulness of the 36Cl$$^{/10}$$Be pair for dating Upper and Middle Pleistocene clastic sediments.

Research Organization:
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC52-07NA27344
OSTI ID:
1544477
Report Number(s):
LLNL-JRNL-759420; 947713
Journal Information:
Geochronology (Online), Vol. 1, Issue 1; ISSN 2628-3719
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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Figures / Tables (11)

Figure 1(p. 6)figure Figure 1
Figure 2(p. 8)figure Figure 2
Figure 3(p. 9)figure Figure 3
Figure 4(p. 10)figure Figure 4
Figure 5(p. 13)figure Figure 5
Figure 6(p. 14)figure Figure 6
Figure 7(p. 15)figure Figure 7
Figure 8(p. 17)figure Figure 8
Table 1(p. 23)table Table 1
Table 2(p. 24)table Table 2
Table 3(p. 25)table Table 3

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58 GEOSCIENCES