Denudation rates determined from the accumulation of in situ-produced ¹⁰Be in the Luquillo Experimental Forest, Puerto Rico

¹(CNRS-IN2P3, CSNSM, Batiment 108, 91405 Campus Orsay, France; tel. (33 1) 69 41 5203;e-mail brown@csncls.in2p3.fr)

²(U.S. Geological Survey, 3215 Marine St., Boulder, CO 80303-1066, USA; tel. 303 541-3022)

Abstract

We present a simple method for estimation of long-term mean denudation rates using in situ-produced cosmogenic ¹⁰Be in fluvial sediments. Procedures are discussed to account for the effects of soil bioturbation, mass wasting and attenuation of cosmic rays by biomass and by local topography. Our analyses of ¹⁰Be in quartz from bedrock outcrops, soils, mass-wasting sites and riverine sediment from the Icacos River basin in the Luquillo Expenmental Forest, Puerto Rico, are used to characterize denudation for major landform elements in that basin. The ¹⁰Be concentration of a discharge-weighted average of size classes of river sediment corresponds to a long-term average denudation of ~ 43 m/Ma, consistent with mass balance results.

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