Using 10Be and 26Al to determine sediment generation rates and identify sediment source areas in an arid region drainage basin

Abstract

We measured 10Be and 26Al in 64 sediment and bedrock samples collected throughout the arid, 187 km 2 Yuma Wash drainage basin, southwestern Arizona. From the measurements, we determine long-term, time-integrated rates of upland sediment generation (81±5 g m −2 year −1) and bedrock equivalent lowering (30±2 m Ma −1) consistent with other estimates for regions of similar climate, lithology, and topography. In a small (∼8 km 2), upland sub-basin, differences in nuclide concentrations between bedrock outcrops and hillslope colluvium suggest weathering of bedrock beneath a colluvial cover is a more significant source of sediment (40×10 4 kg year −1) than weathering of exposed bedrock surfaces (10×10 4 kg year −1). Mixing models constructed from nuclide concentrations of sediment reservoirs identify important sediment source areas. Hillslope colluvium is the dominant sediment source to the upper reaches of the sub-basin channel; channel cutting of alluvial terraces is the dominant source in the lower reaches. Similarities in nuclide concentrations of various sediment reservoirs indicate short sediment storage times (<10 3 years). Nuclide concentrations, measured in channel sediment from tributaries of Yuma Wash and in samples collected along the length of the Wash, were used to construct mixing models and determine sediment sources to the main stem channel. We find an exponential decrease in the channel nuclide concentrations with distance downstream, suggesting that as much as 40% of sediment discharged from Yuma Wash has been recycled from storage within basin fill alluvium. Sediment generation and denudation rates determined from the main stem are greater (25%) than rates determined from upland sub-basins suggesting that, currently, sediment may be exported from the basin more quickly than it is being generated in the uplands. Independence of nuclide concentration and sediment grain size indicates that channels transport sediment in discrete pulses before rapidly depositing poorly sorted material, suggesting that differences in transport times for different size materials are minimal.