Cosmogenic nuclide dating

A geochronological method that measures nuclides produced by cosmic rays in rocks and minerals to estimate exposure duration, burial time, or erosion.

Cosmogenic nuclide: An isotope produced when cosmic rays interact with atoms in Earth’s atmosphere or near-surface materials. These isotopes accumulate in exposed rocks and provide the clock this method measures.
Surface exposure dating: A dating method that estimates how long a surface has been exposed to the atmosphere. It is the direct application of accumulated cosmogenic nuclides to exposed rock surfaces.
Quartz: A mineral composed primarily of silicon dioxide, common in many continental rocks. Quartz hosts measurable beryllium-10 and aluminum-26, making it a standard target mineral.
Radiocarbon dating: A dating method that estimates the age of once-living material from its carbon-14 content. It dates organic carbon, whereas cosmogenic methods date exposure or burial of mineral surfaces.
Spallation: A nuclear reaction in which energetic particles eject nucleons from an atomic nucleus. Cosmic-ray particles produce many dating isotopes through spallation in near-surface minerals.
Burial dating: A geochronological method that dates sediment burial using radioactive nuclide decay after shielding from cosmic rays. Cosmogenic nuclides can constrain when sediment was covered and production largely ceased.
Cosmic ray: A high-energy particle arriving at Earth from space or produced in the atmosphere. Cosmic rays initiate the nuclear reactions that create dating nuclides.
Optically stimulated luminescence dating: A method that estimates when mineral grains were last exposed to sunlight before burial. It dates sediment burial by trapped charge rather than nuclide production in exposed rock.
Cosmogenic production rate: The rate at which cosmic-ray interactions produce a nuclide in a material. Age estimates depend on converting measured concentrations into production over time.
Erosion rate: The rate at which material is removed from a land surface over time. Nuclide concentrations integrate exposure and erosion, allowing long-term denudation estimates.

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