The impact of geomagnetic spikes on the production rates of cosmogenic 14C and 10Be in the Earth's atmosphere

Abstract

We seek corroborative evidence of the geomagnetic spikes detected in the Near East ca. 980 BC and 890 BC in the records of the past production rates of the cosmogenic nuclides 14C and 10Be. Our forward modeling strategy rests on global, time-dependent, geomagnetic spike field models feeding state-of-the-art models of cosmogenic nuclide production. We find that spike models with an energy budget in line with presently inferred large-scale flow at Earth's core surface fail to produce a visible imprint in the nuclide record. Spike models able to reproduce the intensity changes reported in the Near East require an unaccountably high-magnitude core flow, yet their computed impact on cosmogenic isotope production rates remains ambiguous. No simple and unequivocal agreement is obtained between the observed and modeled nuclide records at the epochs of interest. This indicates that cosmogenic nuclides cannot immediately be used to confirm the occurrence of these two geomagnetic spikes.