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Cosmogenic Nuclides

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Encyclopedia of Geochemistry

Part of the book series: Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series ((EESS))

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Definition

Cosmogenic nuclides are produced when primary or secondary particles of the galactic (or in some cases also the solar) cosmic radiation interact with atomic nuclei in extraterrestrial or terrestrial material. Cosmogenic nuclides are observable mainly for noble gas isotopes and radioactive nuclides, whose abundances in the target materials are otherwise extremely low. In this article, we discuss production and applications of cosmogenic nuclides in meteorites and other extraterrestrial samples (Wieler 2002; Eugster et al. 2006; Herzog and Caffee 2014) as well as in terrestrial samples (Gosse and Phillips 2001; Dunai 2010; Granger et al. 2013). In solid matter, the cosmic-ray flux has a mean attenuation length of roughly 50 cm. Hence, cosmogenic nuclides in meteorites are primarily used to determine exposure ages, i.e., the time spent as meter sized or smaller body in interplanetary space before falling on Earth or in some cases also the residence time in the uppermost few...

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Earth Sciences, Institute of Geochemistry and Petrology, ETH Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland

    Rainer Wieler

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  1. Rainer Wieler
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Correspondence to Rainer Wieler .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA

    William M. White

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Wieler, R. (2018). Cosmogenic Nuclides. In: White, W.M. (eds) Encyclopedia of Geochemistry. Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-39312-4_332

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