Role of debris flow on the change of^10Be concentration in rapidly eroding watersheds:a case study on the Seti River,central Nepal

The concentration of cosmogenic loBe in riverine sediments has been widely used as a proxy for catchment-wide denudation rate （CWDR）. One of the key assumptions of this approach is that sediments originating from sub-basins with different erosional histories are well mixed. A tragic debris flow occurred in the Seti River watershed, central Nepal, on May 5, 2012. This catastrophic debris flow was triggered by slope failure on the peak of Annapurna IV and resulted in many casualties in the lower Seti Khola. However, it provided an opportunity to test the assumption of equal mixing of sediments in an understudied rapidly eroding watershed. This study documents the CWDR of ^10Be to evaluate the extent of the influence of episodic erosional processes such as debris flow on the spatio-temporal redistribution of loBe concentrations. Our data show that the debris flow caused little change in CWDR across the debris flow event. In addition to isotopic measurement, we calculated denudation rates by using the modeled concentrations in pre- and post-landslide sediments based on the local ^10Be production rate. The modeled result showed little change across the event, indicating that the debris flow in May 2012 played a minor role in sediment evacuation, despite the rapid erosion in the catchment. Our study concludes that although the 2012 event caused many casualties and severe damage, it was a low-magnitude, high frequency event.

Evidence of Thermal Evolution History of Northeast Sichuan Basin-(U-Th)/He Low Temperature Thermochronometry of Apatite and Zircon

（U-Th）/He dating is a newly developed low temperature thermochronometry, and it elaborately reflects cooling history of geologic body under low temperature. It can be applied to analyze thermal evolution of the sedimentary basin, combining with vitrinite reflectance and fission track. （U-Th）/He dating of apatite and zircon from drilling cores in Puguang （普光）-Maoba （毛坝） area and outcrops in Tongjiang （通江） area indicates that the Northeast Sichuan （四川） basin underwent great uplift and denudation during the Tertiary and the Quaternary. During the period, denudation rates changed from 74.8 to 172.5 m/Ma and denudation thickness was between 2 800 and 3 000 m, geotemperature gradually declined into the current temperature, passing through helium closure temperature of apatite. The uplift and denudation relate to new tectonic movement response in the Sichuan basin aroused by the Qinghai （青海）-Tibet plateau. Drilling samples above 4 000 m did not undergo closure temperature of zircon, but the samples nearly 4 000 m might approach closure temperature of zircon and all the samples underwent closure temperature of apatite. According to （U-Th）/He ages of zircon, it is concluded that the Northeast Sichuan basin began to uplift in the Late Jurassic. From the Late Jurassic to the Paleogene, Northeast Sichuan basin was in slow uplift and denudation, but the denudation of Puguang-Maoba area was earlier than that of Tongjiang area. （U-Th）/He ages of zircon indicate the denudation time of provenance areas. On the basis of paleodrainage characteristics, provenance transport and other related data, provenance areas of the clastie rocks are decided, which is worthy to be investigated further.

Deciphering non-steady landscape evolution by in-situ cosmogenic nuclide depth profile

In-situ cosmogenic nuclide s are receiving growing attention in surface Earth system science in which the steady-state denudation is an important assumption for estimating the surface denudation of long-lived(103-106 years)surfaces.However,distinguishing steady-state denudation and deciphering a reliable denudation rate from non-steady state denudation region are difficult.Recent depth profile models for investigating the denudation rate,exposure age and inheritance are widely used for sediment and regolith of steady-state denudation region.Here we present in-situ co smogenic nuclides^(10)Be and^(26)Al from two typical granite regolithes from Jixian in Tianjin and Tengchong in Yunnan to model non-steady landscape evolution process by using steady state(Model 1)and non-steady state(Model 2,continuous exposure;Model 3 a,changed denudation rate;Model 3 b,abrupt denudation event)models.The results of steady state model show that both regolithes are in non-steady state.^(10)Be non-steady state models of Jixian regolith reveal that the surface has likely experienced a denudation rate change or an abrupt denudation event during the past several millennia,resulting in a non-steady state.The similar Model 3 a and 3 b denudation rates of 14.6-12.9^(+9.4)and 14.7-14.7^(+9.0)mmkyr^(-1),respectively,might demonstrate the long-term denudation rate rather than the exaggerated rate s of 39.0-2.3^(+2.6)and 39.0-2.4+^(2.5)mm kyr^(-1)calculated by assuming steady-state denudation and ignoring inheritance.The non-steady state model results of Tengchong regolith suggest that the surface has likely experienced a strong denudation about 157 ka(^(10)Be)or 127 ka(^(26)Al)ago.This timing is basically consistent with the termination of the MIS 6(TII:130 ka)and the climate change events in the Tibetan Plateau,suggesting a strong surface landscape denudation during the transition from glacial to interglacial.The compiling of basin-wide denudation rates in the Tibetan Plateau shows a good positive correlation with the regional tectonic activity,indicating that the denudation rate derived from non-steady state region with strong tectonic activity is likely to be overestimated by assuming steady state.We suggest that a combination of steady state and non-steady state depth profile models should be used to quantify denudation rate and exposure age more accurately and effectively in strong tectonic activity or climate change regions.