Title
A test of the cosmogenic 10Be(meteoric)/9Be proxy for simultaneously determining basin-wide erosion rates, denudation rates, and the degree of weathering in the Amazon basin
Date Issued
01 December 2015
Access level
open access
Resource Type
journal article
Author(s)
Wittmann H.
Von Blanckenburg F.
Dannhaus N.
Bouchez J.
Gaillardet J.
Maurice L.
Roig H.
Filizola N.
Christl M.
Instituto de Pesquisa para o Desenvolvimento
Abstract
We present an extensive investigation of a new erosion and weathering proxy derived from the 10Be(meteoric)/9Be(stable) ratio in the Amazon River basin. This new proxy combines a radioactive atmospheric flux tracer, meteoric cosmogenic 10Be, with 9Be, a trace metal released by weathering. Results show that meteoric 10Be concentrations ([10Be]) and 10Be/9Be ratios increase by >30% from the Andes to the lowlands. We can calculate floodplain transfer times of 2-30 kyr from this increase. Intriguingly however, the riverine exported flux of meteoric 10Be shows a deficit with respect to the atmospheric depositional 10Be flux. Most likely, the actual area from which the 10Be flux is being delivered into the mainstream is smaller than the basin-wide one. Despite this imbalance, denudation rates calculated from 10Be/9Be ratios from bed load, suspended sediment, and water samples from Amazon Rivers agree within a factor of 2 with published in situ 10Be denudation rates. Erosion rates calculated from meteoric [10Be], measured from depth-integrated suspended sediment samples, agree with denudation rates, suggesting that grain size-induced variations in [10Be] are minimized when using such sampling material instead of bed load. In addition, the agreement between erosion and denudation rates implies minor chemical weathering intensity in most Amazon tributaries. Indeed, the Be-specific weathering intensity, calculated from mobilized 9Be comprising reactive and dissolved fractions that are released during weathering, is constant at approximately 40% of the total denudation from the Andes across the lowlands to the Amazon mouth. Therefore, weathering in the Amazon floodplain is not detected.
Start page
2498
End page
2526
Volume
120
Issue
12
Language
English
OCDE Knowledge area
Meteorología y ciencias atmosféricas
Geoquímica, Geofísica
Geología
Subjects
Scopus EID
2-s2.0-84955340710
Source
Journal of Geophysical Research: Earth Surface
ISSN of the container
21699003
Sponsor(s)
We thank CLIM-AMAZON for partial financial support. Most samples were collected within the framework of the HyBAm project, a collaboration of the French IRD with South American Institutes and Universities. We sincerely thank U. Heikkilä for discussions on depositional flux and GCM models and H. Haedke for help preparing flux maps and providing an in situ denudation rate for the Orinoco. A. Süssenberger is thanked for processing some suspended sediment depth samples, H. Rothe and H. Schopka for HR-MC-ICP-MS support, C. Schulz for lab support, R. Naumann for XRD analyses, J. Schuessler for OES support, and S. Heinze and S. Binnie from Cologne University for AMS support. We also thank A. Laraque for providing an Orinoco River sample. D. Granger, K. Ferrier, and Editor J. Buffington are sincerely thanked for constructive reviews. Supporting data are included as supporting information in a SI file; any additional data may be obtained from H. Wittmann (e-mail: wittmann@gfzpotsdam. de). Supporting data on the Holocene depositional 10Be flux maps can be accessed at http://dx.doi.org/10.5880/GFZ.3.4.2015.001.
Sources of information:
Directorio de Producción Científica
Scopus