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

Balco, Greg; Blisniuk, Kimberly; Hidy, Alan

doi:10.5194/gchron-1-1-2019

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 · 18 July 2019 · Geochronology (Online)

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5194/gchron-1-1-2019 · OSTI ID:1544477

Balco, Greg ^[1]; Blisniuk, Kimberly ^[2]; Hidy, Alan ^[3]

Berkeley Geochronology Center, Berkeley, CA (United States)
San Jose State Univ., San Jose, CA (United States)
Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)

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.

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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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