Determination of denudation rates by the measurement of meteoric 10Be in Guadiana river sediment samples (Spain) by low-energy AMS

Abstract

The concentration of meteoric 10Be in estuarine sediment samples has been measured by Spanish Accelerator for Radionuclides Analysis (SARA) at CNA and subsequently used to assess the denudation rate in Guadiana river basin together with the sediment budget method, on both sides of the frontier between Spain and Portugal. The two methods yielded coincident results. The estimation by the 10Be method gave the denudation rate of (0.76 ± 0.10) × 10−2 cm/y. After correcting for an approximate 80% attenuation of the sediment discharge into the ocean, caused by the river dams, the sediment budget method yielded the rate of (0.77 ± 0.17) × 10−2 cm/y.