We report first successful measurements of in-situ cosmogenic 53Mn in terrestrial samples. The samples origin from Antarctic Dry Valleys and Tibet. Comparing the 53Mn data with cosmogenic 3He data from the same rocks allows the determination of a production rate of 53Mn from iron, the only target element of relevance in terrestrial applications. This study makes terrestrial 53Mn available as a tool for quantification of earth surface processes, including surface exposure dating and burial dating. For 53Mn analyses whole rock samples can be processed, and, due to the half-life of 3.7 My, this nuclide yields information over long time-scales.
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