Greg Balco -- Publications

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Online geochronology tools

The CRONUS-Earth online exposure-age and erosion-rate calculators. Link

Currently active projects

Last Glacial Maximum and deglaciation chronology for the Foundation Ice Stream and southeast Weddell Sea embayment. PIs Greg Balco, Claire Todd, Howard Conway. National Science Foundation, Office of Polar Programs. PDF of project description

Systematic analysis of landscape evolution and surface ages in the southern Transantarctic Mountains. PIs Jaakko Putkonen, Greg Balco, David Shuster. National Science Foundation, Office of Polar Programs. PDF of project description

Extending the record of Antarctic landscape evolution into the Pliocene with cosmogenic Ne-21 measurements. PIs Greg Balco, David Shuster. National Science Foundation, Office of Polar Programs. PDF of project description

Papers in development -- early drafts of new papers. These have not been reviewed by anyone, so they probably contain errors and they could be completely wrong.

Gendaszek A., Balco G., Montgomery D., Stone J.O.H., Thompson N. Erosional response to northward-propagating deformation in the coastal ranges of the Pacific Northwest. PDF draft

Balco G., Stone J.O.H., Jennings C.E. Fate of the preglacial regolith beneath the Laurentide Ice Sheet. PDF draft

Completed manuscripts: in review, in revision, and in press

Balco G.,in revision. Distinguishing incorrect from inaccurate exposure ages by correlation between Al-26 and Be-10 measurements. Quaternary Geochronology . PDF draft

Rovey, C.W., II, Balco, G., in press. Periglacial climate at the 2.5 Ma onset of Northern Hemisphere glaciation inferred from the Whippoorwill formation, northern Missouri, USA. Quaternary Research. PDF draft

Rovey C.W., II, Balco G., Forir M., Gaunt D., in press. Stratigraphy, paleomagnetism, and cosmogenic-isotope burial dates of fossil-bearing strata within Riverbluff Cave, Greene County, Missouri. Journal of Cave and Karst Studies. PDF accepted MS

Published

2009

Balco G., Shuster D.L., 2009. Al-26 - Be-10 - Ne-21 burial dating. Earth and Planetary Science Letters. PDF

Balco G., 2009. The geographic footprint of glacier change. Science (invited Perspective) 324, p. 599. Summary Full text

Balco, G. Shuster, D.L., 2009. Production rate of cosmogenic Ne-21 in quartz estimated from Be-10, Al-26 and Ne-21 concentrations in slowly eroding Antarctic bedrock surfaces. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 281, pp. 48-58. PDF Supplementary figures Supplementary table

Balco G., Briner J., Finkel R.C., Rayburn J., Ridge J.C., Schaefer J.M., 2009. Regional beryllium-10 production rate calibration for late-glacial northeastern North America. Quaternary Geochronology 4, pp. 93-107. PDF

2008

Balco, G., Rovey C.W. II, 2008. An isochron method for cosmogenic-nuclide dating of buried soils. American Journal of Science 308, pp. 1083-1114. PDF .tar file containing MATLAB code.

Putkonen J., Balco G., Morgan D., 2008. Slow regolith degradation without creep determined by cosmogenic nuclide measurements in Arena Valley, Antarctica. Quaternary Research 69, pp. 242-249. PDF

Balco G., Stone J., Lifton N., Dunai T., 2008. A simple, internally consistent, and easily accessible means of calculating surface exposure ages and erosion rates from Be-10 and Al-26 measurements. Quaternary Geochronology 3, pp. 174-195. PDF Link to online exposure age calculators

2007

Jennings C.E., Aber J.S., Balco G., Barendregt R., Bierman P.R., Rovey C.W., Roy M., Thorleifson L.H., Mason J.A., 2007. Glaciations: mid-Quaternary in North America. in Elias S.A., ed., Encyclopedia of Quaternary Science. Volume 2, pp. 1044-1051.

Balco, G., 2007. A surprisingly large marine ice cap at Heard Island during the Last Glacial Maximum? in Antarctica: A Keystone in a Changing World -- Online Proceedings of the 10th ISAES, editedby A.K. Cooper and C.R. Raymond et al., USGS Open-File Report 2007-1047, Extended Abstract 147, 4 p. PDF Poster (12 MB PDF)

Putkonen J., Rosales M., Turpen N., Morgan D., Balco G., and Donaldson M., 2007. Regolith transport in the Dry Valleys of Antarctica. in Antarctica: A Keystone in a Changing World -- Online Proceedings of the 10th ISAES, edited by A. K. Cooper and C. R. Raymond et al. USGS Open-File Report 2007-1047, Short Research Paper 103. PDF

2006

Balco, G., Schaefer, J., 2006. Cosmogenic-nuclide and varve chronologies for the deglaciation of southern New England. Quaternary Geochronology 1, pp. 15-28. PDF

Balco, G., Cowdery, S., Todd, C., Stone, J.O.H., 2006. Antarctic ice sheet reconstruction using cosmic-ray-produced nuclides. in Knight, P., ed., Glaciers and Earth's Changing Environment, pp. 221-223. Blackwell Publishing, Oxford, UK. PDF

2005

Balco, G., Stone, J.O.H., 2005. Measuring middle Pleistocene erosion rates with cosmic-ray-produced nuclides in buried alluvial sediment, Fisher Valley, southeastern Utah. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms 30, pp. 1051-1067. PDF

Balco, G., Stone, J.O.H., Mason, J., 2005. Numerical ages for Plio-Pleistocene glacial sediment sequences by Al-26/Be-10 dating of quartz in buried paleosols. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 232, pp. 179-191. PDF

Sugden D., Balco G., Cowdery S., Stone J.O.H., Sass L., 2005. Selective glacial erosion and weathering zones in the coastal mountains of Marie Byrd Land, Antarctica. Geomorphology 67, pp. 317-334. PDF

Balco, G., Stone, J.O.H., Jennings, C., 2005. Dating Plio-Pleistocene glacial sediments using the cosmic-ray-produced radionuclides Be-10 and Al-26. American Journal of Science 305, pp. 1-41. PDF

Balco, G., Rovey, C.W., Stone, J.O.H., 2005. The First Glacial Maximum in North America. Science 307, p. 222. PDF

2003

Stone, J.O.H., Balco, G., Sugden, D., Caffee, M., Sass, L.C. III, Cowdery, S., Siddoway, C., 2003. Holocene deglaciation of Marie Byrd Land, West Antarctica. Science 299, p. 99. PDF

2002

Balco, G., Stone. J.O.H., Porter, S.C., Caffee, M., 2002. Cosmogenic-nuclide ages for New England coastal moraines, Martha's Vineyard and Cape Cod, Massachusetts, USA. Quaternary Science Reviews 21, pp. 2127-2135. PDF

2001

Montgomery, D., Balco, G., Willett, S., 2001. Climate, tectonics, and the morphology of the Andes. Geology 29, pp. 579-582. PDF

Dorion, C.C., Balco, G., Kaplan. M.R., Kreutz, K.J., Wright, J., Borns, H.W., 2001. The Deglaciation of Eastern Maine. in Retelle, M. and Weddle, T., eds., Deglacial History and Relative Sea-Level Changes, Northern New England and Adjacent Canada: Geological Society of America Special Paper 351.

1998

Balco, G., Belknap, D.F., and Kelley, J.T., 1998. Glacioisostasy and lake-level change, Moosehead Lake, Maine. Quaternary Research 49, pp. 157-170. PDF

Abstracts: recent and upcoming abstracts; also older abstracts of work not published elsewhere

2009

Fletcher K., Le K., Rockwell T.K., Balco G., Oskin M., Sharp W., 2009. Comparison of ages from U-series on pedogenic carbonate and Be-10 depth profiles for two late Pleistocene alluvial fans in southern California. 2009 GSA Annual Meeting. Link

Goehring B., Kurz M., Balco G., Schaefer J., Licciardi J., Lifton N., 2009. A reevaluation of in situ cosmogenic He-3 production rates. 2009 GSA Annual Meeting. Link

Renne P., Mundil R., Balco G., Min K., 2009. Simultaneous determination of K-40 decay constants and age of the Fish Canyon Ar-40/Ar-39 standard. 2009 GSA Annual Meeting. Link

Putkonen J., Jahraus T., Morgan D., Balco G., 2009. Direct quantification of current sediment transport on surfaces in varying climates, WA and ND, USA, and Dry Valleys, Antarctica. 2009 GSA Annual Meeting. Link

Valla P., Shuster D.L., van der Beek P.A., Balco G., Herman F., Braun J., 2009. Tectonically-controlled exhumation versus climatically driven relief development in the Valais area (western European Alps) revealed by apatite (U-Th-Sm)/He and He-4/He3 thermochronometry. 2009 AGU Fall Meeting. PDF of abstract

Rood D., Balco G., Purvance M., Anooshehpoor R., Brune J., Grant-Ludwig, L., Kendrick K., 2009. How do we date a precariously balanced rock? A robust method using Be-10 surface exposure dating with numerical models. Southern California Earthquake Conference, 2009. PDF of abstract

Balco G., Rood D.H., Morgan D., Behr W., 2009. Forward models of geomorphic processes used to interpret complex cosmogenic-nuclide data sets. 2009 Goldschmidt Conference (invited). PDF of abstract PDF of talk (19MB)

Granger D., Balco G., 2009. Isochron burial dating. 2009 Goldschmidt conference (invited, keynote). PDF

Stone J., Fifield L.K., Finkel R., Rood D., Balco G., Shuster D., 2009. Cosmogenic nuclide production rates from ancient Antarctic surfaces. 2009 Goldschmidt Conference. PDF

Rood D., Finkel R.C., Balco G., 2009. Evaluation of the past seismic activity at Yucca Mountain, Nevada, based on the rate of landscape evolution determined with cosmogenic Cl-36 and Ne-21 in feldspar mineral separates. Seismological Society of America, 2009 Annual Meeting.

2008

Balco G., Rovey C.W., 2008. Absolute chronology for early and middle Pleistocene Laurentide Ice Sheets from multiple-cosmogenic-nuclide dating methods. Eos Trans. AGU, 89(53), Fall Meet. Suppl., Abstract PP53A-02 (invited). Link

Morgan D.J., Putkonen J., Balco G.,Stone J., 2008. Colluvium Erosion Rates in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica. Eos Trans. AGU, 89(53), Fall Meet. Suppl., Abstract C34B-05. Link

Balco G., Shuster D.L., Morgan, D., Putkonen, J., 2008. Combined measurements of cosmogenic Be-10, Al-26, and Ne-21 in quartz used to discern temporal changes in rates of Antarctic landscape evolution. Eos Trans. AGU, 89(53), Fall Meet. Suppl., Abstract V51H-01 (invited). Link

Schildgen T.F., Ehlers T.A., Hodges K.V., Whipple K.X., Shuster D.L., Balco, G., 2008. Long-term Canyon Incision From Low-Temperature Thermochronology. Eos Trans. AGU, 89(53), Fall Meet. Suppl., Abstract T33D-2096. Link

Balco G., Putkonen J., Morgan D., Schaefer J., Winckler G., 2008. Bedrock erosion rates in the Antarctic Dry Valleys. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta v. 72, p. A47 (2008 Goldschmidt Conference).PDF

Balco G., Rovey C., Granger D., 2008. Multiple-cosmogenic-nuclide isochron methods. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta v. 72, p. A47 (invited keynote talk, 2008 Goldschmidt Conference). PDF

Schaefer J., Balco G., Kelly M., Hanson G., Finkel R., McCabe M., Steinberg R., Boothroyd J., Schwartz R., 2008. The last deglaciation of the eastern Laurentide Ice Sheet. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta v. 72, p. A827. PDF

Pre-2008, not otherwise published

Balco, G., Anders, A., Finnegan, N., Gran, K., Mitchell, S., Stone, J.O.H., 2002. Be-10 measurements of soil balance and landscape stability in the Pacific Northwest. Eos Trans. AGU, 83(47), Fall Meeting Supplement, Abstract H22B-0895. PDF poster (large file)

Balco G., Stone J.O.H., Caffee M., Parnachov S., 2000. Cosmogenic-isotope ages for Siberian megafloods, Altai Republic, Russia. GSA Abstracts with Programs [2000 Annual Meeting], v. 32, no. 6, p. 117. More information

Dissertation

Balco G. The sedimentary record of subglacial erosion by the Laurentide Ice Sheet. Unpublished Ph.D. thesis, University of Washington, 2004. PDF