Investigation of Dating Technique

How does cosmogenic nuclide dating work?

Cosmogenic nuclide dating is a series of techniques used to determine age estimates of rock at Earth's surface. This dating method uses nuclides such as ¹⁰Be, ²⁶Al, and ³⁶Cl and their interactions with cosmic rays in boulders transported by glaciers or eroded bedrock inorder to estimate the age of surfaces. Nuclides are produced when high energy cosmic rays interact with Earth Materials. Cosmic rays come from supernova explosions in space that have high energy [See image on right]. Cosmic rays are constantly happening all over Earth. The interaction between the nuclides mentioned above and cosmic rays can have 3 types of reactions; spallation reaction(the most common type), muon capture, and neutron capture. A spallation reaction is when cosmic ray nuetrons collide with elements in surface rocks and fragment the target nucleus. Scientists can count the amount of minereals in relation to other minerals to determine how long that surface has been exposed.

How is cosmogenic nuclide dating helpful in geochronology?

Along with the nuclides ¹⁰Be, ²⁶Al, and ³⁶Cl, there are several other cosmogenic nuclides that can be measured in soil, rocks, ground water, and the atmopshere. Glacial geologists can use this dating method to determine ages of glacial landforms. This helps them understand past ice- sheet extent and analyze rates of ice-sheet recession. Comogenic nuclide dating can also be used to determing ice- sheet thickness and rates of thinning. The figure on the right displays an ice sheet model using comogenic nuclide dating method.