|27 June 2011 GSA Release No. 11-38 Director - GSA
Communications & Marketing JULY 2011 GSA TODAY SCIENCE ARTICLE
Clinker geochronology, the first glacial maximum, and landscape
evolution in the northern Rockies Peter W. Reiners et al., Dept.
of Geosciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721,
USA; doi: 10.1130/G107A.1, pages 4–9,
http://www.geosociety.org/gsatoday/archive/21/7/. Boulder, CO,
USA – July GSA TODAY science article authors Peter W. Reiners of
the University of Arizona and colleagues have developed and
successfully carried out a novel, extraordinary technique for
learning how efficiently river channels cut and increase local
topographic relief: They have used the exposure of “clinker”
deposits in combination with highly refined dating techniques.
Clinkers are baked coals; baking naturally occurs in shallow
depths (tens of meters) and when the clinkers are exhumed during
erosion and the development of topographic relief, they are
resistant and the rate of exposure can be timed using the