Cosmogenic Dating

Abstract

Thanks to major theoretical and analytical progress, the use of terrestrial cosmogenic nuclides as geochronometers has considerably increased over the last three decades. These nuclides are the product of nuclear interactions between the secondary cosmic ray flux and the atomic nuclei of minerals constituting the uppermost part of the Earth's crust. Dating methods based on high‐precision concentration measurements of terrestrial cosmogenic nuclides yield numerical ages; they either assess the duration of exposure to cosmic rays (i.e. surface exposure dating), or the duration of shielding from these (i.e. burial dating). Both methods, which have provided decisive new insights into many fields of geosciences and archaeology, are presented in this entry.