10Be Reproducibility in the Santa Monica Mtns., California

In 2016, I collected a suite of stream sediment samples from the Santa Monica Mountains in southern California. But the Santa Monica Mountains are steep and prone to landslides, so before we could present these, we wanted to know more about how reproducible our 10Be measurements were. Fortunately for us, but unfortunately for the residents of the area, the Woolsey Fire burned through much of the mountain range in November of 2018. Between the burn and the heavy rainfalls in the post-fire wet season, our field sites experienced numerous debris flows, which offered us the chance to quantify 10Be reproducibility through fires and floods. Read more in the paper below!

Status: Complete

Participants & Collaborators:

Collin Bogoski (EMU, Professional Geology, '21)
Colin O'Neill (EMU, Professional Geology, '23)
Sam Skora (EMU, General Geology, '23)
Dr. Kirk F. Townsend, California State Geological Survey
Community Cosmogenic Facility @ University of Vermont
PRIME Lab @ Purdue University

Funding Sources:

NSF (Award #1939000): RUI: Quantifying the effects of wildfire burning on 10Be concentrations in river sand - A case study of the 2018 Woolsey Fire, Santa Monica Mountains, CA (2020-2023)
Eastern Michigan University, James H. Brickley Endowment for Faculty Professional Development, PI, Erosion of the Santa Monica Mountains after the 2018 Woolsey Fire (2019)

Publications

Portenga, EW, Townsend, KF, Corbett, LB, Bierman, PR, Caffee, MW, Bogoski, C, O’Neill, C, Skora, S. 10Be reproducibility in the Santa Monica Mountains, California, USA: A longitudinal study in a scorched and soaked landscape. Geomorphology, 478, 109713.

Presentations

Portenga, EW, Bogoski, CJ, O’Neill, C, Skora, S, Townsend, KF, Corbett, LB, Bierman, PR, Clark, MK, Caffee, M, 2023. 10Be reproducibility in the Santa Monica Mountains from 2016–2021: A longitudinal 10Be replicates study through fire, atmospheric rivers, and mass movements. Geological Society of America Annual Meeting: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA.
O'Neill, C, 2023. Effect of the Woolsey Fire on 10Be measurements in stream sand from burned and unburned catchments: Eastern Michigan University Undergraduate Research Symposium, Ypsilanti, Michigan, USA.
Skora, S, 2023. Reproducibility of 10Be measured from stream sand in the Santa Monica Mountains between 2016-2021: Eastern Michigan University Undergraduate Research Symposium, Ypsilanti, Michigan, USA.
Portenga, EW, Bogoski, CJ, Townsend, KF, Bierman, PR, Corbett, LB, Clark, MK, Caffee, M, 2022. The impact of the 2018 Woolsey Fire on 10Be measured in stream sand in the Santa Monica Mountains. Geological Society of America Annual Meeting: Denver, Colorado, USA.
Bogoski, CJ, Portenga E, Corbett, LB, Bierman, PR, Caffee, MW, 2021. Reproducibility of 10Be concentrations in stream sand following the 2018 Woolsey Fire in Solstice Canyon, Santa Monica Mountains, California. 2021 Geological Society of America Annual Meeting: Portland, Oregon, USA.
Bogoski, C, 2021. Reproducibility of 10Be in a burned catchment before and after the 2018 Woolsey Fire: Eastern Michigan University Undergraduate Research Symposium, Ypsilanti, Michigan, USA.