Two MATLAB programs for computing paleo-elevations and burial ages from paired-cosmogenic nuclide

Publication date: Available online 25 June 2019Source: MethodsXAuthor(s): Pierre-Henri Blard, Maarten Lupker, Moïse Rousseau, Jim TessonAbstractMethods based on cosmic-ray produced nuclides are key to improve our understanding of the Earth surface dynamic. Measuring multiple cosmogenic nuclides in the same rock sample has a great potential, but data interpretation requires rigorous and often complex mathematical treatments. In order to make progress on this topic, this paper presents two easy-to-use MATLAB© programs permitting to derive information from pairs of cosmogenic nuclides (26Al-10Be or 10Be-21Ne) measured in rock samples that have been exposed to cosmic rays in the past: “Paleoaltitude.m” and “Burial.m”.•“Paleoaltitude.m” computes paleoelevations from a sample whose burial age is known. This new paleoaltimetry method is presented in detail in (Blard et al., 2019). The present article also develops the mathematical approach.•Since the elevation of exposure may affect the accuracy of a burial age (Blard et al., 2019), the second MATLAB© script “Burial.m” is designed to compute burial ages from 26Al-10Be or 10Be-21Ne pairs, taking into account the position of a sample (elevation and latitude) during its preburial exposure history.Graphical abstract

Source: MethodsX - June 25, 2019 Category: Science Source Type: research