Comparison and performance of two cosmogenic nuclide sample preparation procedures of in situ produced 10Be and 26Al

Abstract

Cosmogenic radionuclide 10Be and 26Al targets (BeO and Al2O3) for AMS analysis are produced by a growing number of geochemical laboratories, employing different sample processing methods for the extraction of Be and Al from environmental materials. The reliability of this geochronological tool depends on data reproducibility independent from the preparation steps and the AMS measurements. Our results demonstrate that 10Be and 26Al concentrations of targets processed following different, commonly used protocols and measured at two AMS facilities lead to consistent results. However, insoluble fluoride precipitates, if formed during processing, can cause decreased 26Al results, while 10Be concentrations are unaffected.