Deriving basin averaged erosion rates from cosmogenic ¹⁰Be allowed me to investigate a number of geomorphic processes, and to investigate the roles of various factors in controlling rates of erosion.

Samples collected from the range of environments present in the San Bernardino Mountains in California revealed relationships between topography, denudation, climate and tectonics; as well as allowing sediment mixing and transport to be quantified.

(see Binnie S.A. et al, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2010).

Some more pictures

Lunar core 68002/1 being collected during the Apollo 16 mission. Cosmogenic radionuclide concentrations in depth profiles from lunar cores allow us to constrain surface process on the Moon (Photo courtesy of NASA) (see Binnie et al., 2019).

In northern Chile, uplift on the Mejillones fault has produced the steep topography seen in the background. The deposition seen in the foreground is in part due to this uplift. Cosmogenic ¹⁰Be was used to help constrain the displacement on the Mejillones fault and contribute towards a 40 kyr palaeoseismic record on this fault (see Cortez J.A., et al 2012). Dating of wave-cut surfaces in the northern part of the Peninsula allows us to constrain the longer-term evolution of this region over the last half-million years (see Binnie et al., 2016).

A few rivers flow across the hyper-arid Atacama Desert. Measuring cosmogenic radionuclides in fluvial deposits of both active and relict streams and rivers is helping us understand the processes controlling landscape evolution and rates of sediment transport in this region (see Binnie et al., 2020; Mohren et al., 2020 and Ritter et al., 2018).

The hyperaridity of the Atacama Desert preserves relict topography on million year timescales. In certain cases, saturation of surface rock allows us measure a variety of long-term cosmogenic radionuclide production rates.

Depending on the application, sampling may involve removal of bedrock, or collection of detritus. In this example the erosion of the Chuculay Fault scarps is being investigated using both.