The potential of historic rock avalanches and man-made structures as chlorine-36 production rate calibration sites

Abstract

Samples from three medieval rock avalanches from the French (Le Claps, Mont Granier) and Austrian Alps (Dobratsch) and a man-made structure, i.e. the Stephansdom in Vienna, have been analysed for in-situ produced 36Cl by accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS). All four sampling sites of independently known exposure duration turned out to be not appropriate as calibration sites for the determination of the 36Cl-production rate from Ca. Indeed, the determination of short exposure ages for dating rock avalanches and man-made structures by 36Cl is hindered dramatically by inheritance, especially for samples characterized by high natCl-concentrations. Generally, there are hints that the theoretical calculation of 36Cl-production from epithermal and thermal neutron-capture on 35Cl is highly underestimated in all existing models, thus, asking for particular precaution if working on high-Cl samples for any project. Hence, this work evidences that potential high inheritance, even for samples reasonably shielded before exhumation, has to be considered especially when dealing with recently exposed surfaces such as glacially polished rocks, alluvial terraces, fault scarps etc.