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Cosmogenic Be-10 Exposure Data for a Boulder Field in Zepp, VA

Metadata Updated: July 20, 2024

We have dated a boulder field in Zepp, VA using cosmogenic Be-10 exposure dating. Three samples taken from boulders at three elevations in the boulder field (804 m asl, 818 m asl, and 831 m asl) were processed at the Reston Cosmogenic Nuclide (RECON) Lab and measured via accelerator mass spectrometry at the Purdue Rare Isotope Measurement (PRIME) Lab. The results of this work are summarized in the file “Zepp_Exposure_Beryllium10_Odom.csv”. This file contains all relevant sample location data, as well as input variables for exposure age calculations. We employed the CRONUS v.3 exposure age calculator (Balco et al., 2008) to estimate exposure ages for these samples and report exposure ages derived using the LSDn time-dependent production rate scaling scheme (Lifton et al., 2014). From highest to lowest elevation, the boulders increased in exposure age: 53 ± 4 ka at 831 m, 84 ± 6 ka at 818 m, and 113 ± 7 ka at 804 m. These exposure ages are generally younger than boulder field exposure ages calculated ~330 km to the northeast at Hickory Run, PA (Denn et al., 2017), but older than the Last Glacial Maximum. They produce a linear inverse trend in elevation vs. exposure age (R2 = 0.998), indicating a mean downslope movement rate of approximately -0.45 m/ky for boulders. Future study will include Al-26 measurements to evaluate the possibility of boulder reorientation and changes in cosmic ray shielding over time. References: Balco, G., Stone, J. O., Lifton, N. A., & Dunai, T. J. (2008). A complete and easily accessible means of calculating surface exposure ages or erosion rates from 10Be and 26Al measurements. Quaternary Geochronology, 3(3), 174–195. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quageo.2007.12.001 Denn, A. R., Bierman, P. R., Zimmerman, S. R. H., Caffee, M. W., Corbett, L. B., & Kirby, E. (2018). Cosmogenic nuclides indicate that boulder fields are dynamic, ancient, multigenerational features. GSA Today, 4–10. https://doi.org/10.1130/GSATG340A.1 Lifton, N., Sato, T., & Dunai, T. J. (2014). Scaling in situ cosmogenic nuclide production rates using analytical approximations to atmospheric cosmic-ray fluxes. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 386, 149–160. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2013.10.052

Access & Use Information

Public: This dataset is intended for public access and use. License: No license information was provided. If this work was prepared by an officer or employee of the United States government as part of that person's official duties it is considered a U.S. Government Work.

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Dates

Metadata Created Date July 20, 2024
Metadata Updated Date July 20, 2024

Metadata Source

Harvested from DOI EDI

Additional Metadata

Resource Type Dataset
Metadata Created Date July 20, 2024
Metadata Updated Date July 20, 2024
Publisher U.S. Geological Survey
Maintainer
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Identifier USGS:65f48317d34ebfb8e1677fad
Data Last Modified 20240423
Category geospatial
Public Access Level public
Bureau Code 010:12
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Metadata Catalog ID https://datainventory.doi.gov/data.json
Schema Version https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema
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Harvest Source Id 52bfcc16-6e15-478f-809a-b1bc76f1aeda
Harvest Source Title DOI EDI
Metadata Type geospatial
Old Spatial -78.5192,39.0437,-78.5188,39.0444
Publisher Hierarchy White House > U.S. Department of the Interior > U.S. Geological Survey
Source Datajson Identifier True
Source Hash 20a97abcd951242be17ddd16fccf6b2eb20f4ebbe5ae7dbca8617e2310c6c959
Source Schema Version 1.1
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