Abstract

Regolith-mantled hillslopes are ubiquitous features of most temperate landscapes, and their morphology reflects the climatically, biologically, and tectonically mediated interplay between regolith production and downslope transport. Despite intensive research, few studies have quantified both of these mass fluxes in the same field site. Here we present an analysis of 87 meteoric ¹⁰Be measurements from regolith and bedrock within the Susquehanna Shale Hills Critical Zone Observatory (SSHO), in central Pennsylvania. Meteoric ¹⁰Be concentrations in bulk regolith samples (n = 73) decrease with regolith depth. Comparison of hillslope meteoric ¹⁰Be inventories with analyses of rock chip samples (n = 14) from a 24 m bedrock core confirms that >80% of the total inventory is retained in the regolith. The systematic downslope increase of meteoric ¹⁰Be inventories observed at SSHO is consistent with ¹⁰Be accumulation in slowly creeping regolith (~ 0.2 cm yr−1). Regolith flux inferred from meteoric ¹⁰Be varies linearly with topographic gradient (determined from high-resolution light detection and ranging-based topography) along the upper portions of hillslopes at SSHO. However, regolith flux appears to depend on the product of gradient and regolith depth where regolith is thick, near the base of hillslopes. Meteoric ¹⁰Be inventories at the north and south ridgetops indicate minimum regolith residence times of 10.5 ± 3.7 and 9.1 ± 2.9 ky, respectively, similar to residence times inferred from U-series isotopes in Ma et al. (2013). The combination of our results with U-series-derived regolith production rates implies that regolith production and erosion rates are similar to within a factor of two on SSHO hillcrests.

Citation

West, N., Kirby, E., Bierman, P., Slingerland, R., Ma, L., Rood, D., and Brantley, S. L. (2013): Regolith production and transport at the Susquehanna Shale Hills Critical Zone Observatory: Part 2 - Insights from meteoric ¹⁰Be. Journal of Geophysical Research, Earth Surface 118:1-20. DOI: 10.1002/jgrf.20121

This Paper/Book acknowledges NSF CZO grant support.