Stratigraphic, sedimentological, geochemical, mineralogical and geochronological data characterizing the Upper Miocene sequence of the Turiec Basin, Western Carpathians (Central Europe).

The data included in this article specify the characteristics of the Upper Miocene fill of the Turiec Basin and served for reconstruction of temporal evolution of depositional systems in this intermontane basin located within the Western Carpathians (Central Europe). The borehole lithological log data were used to describe the stratigraphy of the Turiec Basin in geological sections and were gained in the Geofond archive of the State Geological Institute of Dionýz Stúr. The sedimentological data were acquired by field research applying facies analysis to nine outcrop sites. The outcrops served for grain size analyzes performed by sieving and laser diffraction, for geochemical analyzes using ICP-ES, ICP-MS and XRF, and for mineralogical analyzes of whole rock and clay fraction by XRD. Moreover, the muddy layers on outcrops served for collection of 31 samples for the authigenic 10Be/9Be dating. The geochronological data are presented by using five different initial ratios for calculation, determined within the Turiec Basin at the Late Pleistocene alluvial fan and river terrace sites as well as at two Holocene muddy floodplain sites. Another initial ratio data are gained from an Upper Miocene lacustrine succession dated independently by magnetostratigraphy in previous research. Finally, a summary of previously published strontium isotope data from the Turiec Basin is included. The interpretations of the data are provided in Sujan et al., (2023) Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 628, 111746.

36Cl, a new tool to assess soil carbon dynamics.

Soil organic carbon is one of the largest surface pools of carbon that humans can manage in order to partially mitigate annual anthropogenic CO2 emissions. A significant element to assess soil sequestration potential is the carbon age, which is evaluated by modelling or experimentally using carbon isotopes. Results, however, are not consistent. The 14C derived approach seems to overestimate by a factor of 6-10 the average carbon age in soils estimated by modeling and 13C approaches and thus the sequestration potential. A fully independent method is needed. The cosmogenic chlorine nuclide, 36Cl, is a potential alternative. 36Cl is a naturally occurring cosmogenic radionuclide with a production that increased by three orders of magnitude during nuclear bomb tests. Part of this production is retained by soil organic matter in organochloride form and hence acts as a tracer of the fate of soil organic carbon. We here quantify the fraction and the duration of 36Cl retained in the soil and we show that retention time increases with depth from 20 to 322 years, in agreement with both modelling and 13C-derived estimates. This work demonstrates that 36Cl retention duration can be a proxy for the age of soil organic carbon.

Determining erosion rates in Allchar (Macedonia) to revive the lorandite neutrino experiment.

205Tl in the lorandite (TiAsS2) mine of Allchar (Majdan, FYR Macedonia) is transformed to 205Pb by cosmic ray reactions with muons and neutrinos. At depths of more than 300 m, muogenic production would be sufficiently low for the 4.3 Ma old lorandite deposit to be used as a natural neutrino detector. Unfortunately, the Allchar deposit currently sits at a depth of only 120 m below the surface, apparently making the lorandite experiment technically infeasible. We here present 25 erosion rate estimates for the Allchar area using in situ produced cosmogenic 36Cl in carbonates and 10Be in alluvial quartz. The new measurements suggest long-term erosion rates of 100-120 m Ma-1 in the silicate lithologies that are found at the higher elevations of the Majdanksa River valley, and 200-280 m Ma-1 in the underlying marbles and dolomites. These values indicate that the lorandite deposit has spent most of its existence at depths of more than 400 m, sufficient for the neutrinogenic 205Pb component to dominate the muon contribution. Our results suggest that this unique particle physics experiment is theoretically feasible and merits further development.