Fig. 2: Sensitivity of the ¹⁴C-¹⁰Be chronometer for detecting landscape transience.

Thanks to their differing half-lives, apparent erosion rates (ε_app) calculated from the measured ¹⁴C and ¹⁰Be surface concentrations will deviate in the case of a an acceleration in erosion rate (from ε₁ to ε₂), or b an instantaneous loss of a soil layer. As ¹⁴C is more sensitive to the erosional perturbation, the ratio of apparent erosion rates ε_app¹⁴C/ε_app¹⁰Be increases immediately after the perturbation (c, d). Such events are best detected over Holocene timescales and before ¹⁴C re-establishes isotopic steady state (after ~20 kyr). For better visibility, arrows in d mark the maximum of the ε_app¹⁴C/ε_app¹⁰Be for each given depth of soil.