2009 Portland GSA Annual Meeting (18-21 October 2009)

Paper No. 16
Presentation Time: 9:00 AM-6:00 PM

DEPTH-PROFILE CALCULATOR FOR INTERPRETATION OF COSMOGENIC CHLORINE-36 AND BERYLLIUM-10 PROFILES


MARRERO, Shasta M.1, BORCHERS, Brian2, AUMER, Robert2, AKKAN, Hakan3 and PHILLIPS, F.M.4, (1)Department of Geography, University of Edinburgh, Drummond St, Edinburgh, EH8 9XP, Scotland, (2)Department of Mathematics, New Mexico Tech, Socorro, 87801, (3)Computer Science, New Mexico Tech, 801 Leroy Pl, Socorro, NM 87801, (4)Earth and Environmental Science Department, New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, 801 Leroy Pl, Socorro, NM 97801-4696, shasta.marrero@ed.ac.uk

Two new depth-profile calculators have been added to the cosmogenic calculators now available online to aid in the interpretation of cosmogenic data. Currently, depth-profile calculators are available for both beryllium-10 and chlorine-36. The depth-profile calculators produce a best-fit age, erosion rate, and inheritance value for the profile, as well as the uncertainties associated with each of those quantities, using chi-squared minimization. Graphical outputs include plots of the chi-squared contoured surface to show the shape of the minimum, as well as a plot to show how well the data points compare with the final profile. This calculator provides a quick, simple method for interpreting depth-profile data that is internally consistent with the previously-developed surface-exposure age calculators, which are also available on the website. All the calculators were developed as part of the NSF-funded CRONUS-Earth initiative. The depth-profile calculators implement features such as time-dependent scaling schemes, uncertainty calculations, and a variety of input options to accommodate as many users as possible. These calculators will eventually be updated to use the production rates calibrated by the CRONUS-Earth group once the project is complete. The most recent set of calculators is available at http://www.cronuscalculators.nmt.edu.