Cosmogenic Radionuclide applications for Earth Sciences by Veerle Vanacker

Cosmogenic radionuclides (CRN) are rare isotopes created by the collision of high-energy cosmic rays with target atoms present either in the atmosphere producing meteoric CRNs or in mineral grains producing in situ CRNs. Due to their long half-life, CRN accumulate over timescales ranging from thousands to a few million years and are widely used as geochemical tracers of earth surface processes by the geomorphology community.

In this talk, I will give a brief overview of the main concepts of CRN dating, then present some insights in the sample processing techniques at the ELIc laboratories, and finally present a selection of key applications of CRN for tracing and pacing long-term geomorphic processes at different spatial scales.