Age-erosion constraints on an Early Pleistocene paleosol in Yukon, Canada, with profiles of 10Be and 26Al: Evidence for a significant loess cover effect on cosmogenic nuclide production rates
Abstract
We report that Wounded Moose type paleosols developed on remnant deposits of Late Pliocene to Early Pleistocene [pre-Reid] Cordilleran Ice Sheet [CIS] glaciations in central Yukon, Canada. It is an important regional soil-geomorphic marker at the boundary between early CIS advances and the non-glaciated regions of Yukon and Alaska. Yet, at present, its age is poorly constrained between the Reid [0.2 Ma] and earliest [2.84 Ma] CIS advances. Here, we apply depth profiles of in situ-produced cosmogenic 26Al and 10Be to obtain both a minimum exposure age [1.12+0.44/-0.36 Ma, 2σ] and maximum erosion rate [1.1+0.9/-0.5 m Myr-1] for the Wounded Moose paleosol. Here, our results show that this soil formed under exceptionally stable conditions [max erosion rate similar to polar bedrock erosion rates] and that it pre-dates the emergence of the 100 ka [eccentricity] climate cycle. Contrasting our results from single- and joint-nuclide depth profile models reveals a significant discrepancy between calculated and effective 10Be and 26Al production rates [40–65% of expected values]. We interpret this discrepancy as the result of intermittent loess cover—with a time-averaged depth between 60 and 110 cm—which significantly reduced apparent exposure ages obtained from the single–nuclide model. The observation of such a significant loess-cover effectmore »
- Authors:
-
- Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States). Center for Accelerator Mass Spectrometry; Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia (Canada)
- Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia (Canada)
- University of Northern British Columbia, Prince George, British Columbia (Canada)
- University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta (Canada). Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1424118
- Report Number(s):
- LLNL-JRNL-735086
Journal ID: ISSN 0341-8162
- Grant/Contract Number:
- AC52-07NA27344
- Resource Type:
- Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- Catena
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Volume: 165; Journal Issue: C; Journal ID: ISSN 0341-8162
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES; Multi-nuclide TCN approach; Loess cover; Soil dating; Periglacial setting; Depth profile dating
Citation Formats
Hidy, Alan J., Gosse, John C., Sanborn, Paul, and Froese, Duane G. Age-erosion constraints on an Early Pleistocene paleosol in Yukon, Canada, with profiles of 10Be and 26Al: Evidence for a significant loess cover effect on cosmogenic nuclide production rates. United States: N. p., 2018.
Web. doi:10.1016/j.catena.2018.02.009.
Hidy, Alan J., Gosse, John C., Sanborn, Paul, & Froese, Duane G. Age-erosion constraints on an Early Pleistocene paleosol in Yukon, Canada, with profiles of 10Be and 26Al: Evidence for a significant loess cover effect on cosmogenic nuclide production rates. United States. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.catena.2018.02.009
Hidy, Alan J., Gosse, John C., Sanborn, Paul, and Froese, Duane G. Fri .
"Age-erosion constraints on an Early Pleistocene paleosol in Yukon, Canada, with profiles of 10Be and 26Al: Evidence for a significant loess cover effect on cosmogenic nuclide production rates". United States. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.catena.2018.02.009. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1424118.
@article{osti_1424118,
title = {Age-erosion constraints on an Early Pleistocene paleosol in Yukon, Canada, with profiles of 10Be and 26Al: Evidence for a significant loess cover effect on cosmogenic nuclide production rates},
author = {Hidy, Alan J. and Gosse, John C. and Sanborn, Paul and Froese, Duane G.},
abstractNote = {We report that Wounded Moose type paleosols developed on remnant deposits of Late Pliocene to Early Pleistocene [pre-Reid] Cordilleran Ice Sheet [CIS] glaciations in central Yukon, Canada. It is an important regional soil-geomorphic marker at the boundary between early CIS advances and the non-glaciated regions of Yukon and Alaska. Yet, at present, its age is poorly constrained between the Reid [0.2 Ma] and earliest [2.84 Ma] CIS advances. Here, we apply depth profiles of in situ-produced cosmogenic 26Al and 10Be to obtain both a minimum exposure age [1.12+0.44/-0.36 Ma, 2σ] and maximum erosion rate [1.1+0.9/-0.5 m Myr-1] for the Wounded Moose paleosol. Here, our results show that this soil formed under exceptionally stable conditions [max erosion rate similar to polar bedrock erosion rates] and that it pre-dates the emergence of the 100 ka [eccentricity] climate cycle. Contrasting our results from single- and joint-nuclide depth profile models reveals a significant discrepancy between calculated and effective 10Be and 26Al production rates [40–65% of expected values]. We interpret this discrepancy as the result of intermittent loess cover—with a time-averaged depth between 60 and 110 cm—which significantly reduced apparent exposure ages obtained from the single–nuclide model. The observation of such a significant loess-cover effect on cosmogenic nuclide production has implications for exposure dating in glacial and periglacial environments; a multi-nuclide sampling strategy is required to quantify this effect.},
doi = {10.1016/j.catena.2018.02.009},
journal = {Catena},
number = C,
volume = 165,
place = {United States},
year = {2018},
month = {2}
}
Web of Science
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Works referencing / citing this record:
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