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Cosmogenic nuclides produced in situ within minerals at the surface of the Earth are proving to be an effective means of assessing geomorphic histories. The use of multiple cosmogenic nuclides permits both exposure times and erosion rates to be determined. However, if two nuclides are produced only by spallation reactions, the systematic differences in their accumulation rates depend only on the differences in their production rates and half‐lives. The relatively small differences that result require a high degree of analytical precision to yield useful results. In contrast to other spallogenic nuclides, 36Cl is also produced by low‐energy neutron absorption, which creates a different pattern of production as a function of depth. We have measured the thermal flux with depth in a concrete block using 3He‐filled neutron detectors. The measured thermal neutron profile agrees well with predictions from a simple diffusion‐ based thermal neutron distribution model. Calculations of 36Cl production using the model suggest that the use of 36Cl along with a purely spallogenic nuclide to determine erosion rates and exposure times should be less sensitive to analytical error than are determinations from two purely spallogenic nuclides.

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The salinization of rivers, as indicated by salinity increases in the downstream direction, is characteristic of arid and semiarid regions throughout the world. Historically, salinity increases have been attributed to various mechanisms, including (1) evaporation and concentration during reservoir storage, irrigation, and subsequent reuse; (2) displacement of shallow saline ground water during irrigation; (3) erosion and dissolution of natural deposits; and/or (4) inflow of deep saline and/or geothermal ground water (ground water with elevated water temperature). In this study, investigation of salinity issues focused on identification of relative salinity contributions from anthropogenic and natural sources in the Lower Rio Grande in the New Mexico-Texas border region. Based on the conceptual model of the system, the various sources of water and, therefore, salinity to the Lower Rio Grande were identified, and a sampling plan was designed to characterize these sources. Analysis results for boron (delta(11)B), sulfur (delta(34)S), oxygen (delta(18)O), hydrogen (delta(2)H), and strontium ((87)Sr/(86)Sr) isotopes, as well as basic chemical data, confirmed the hypothesis that the dominant salinity contributions are from deep ground water inflow to the Rio Grande. The stable isotopic ratios identified the deep ground water inflow as distinctive, with characteristic isotopic signatures. These analyses indicate that it is not possible to reproduce the observed salinization by evapotranspiration and agricultural processes alone. This investigation further confirms that proper application of multiple isotopic and geochemical tracers can be used to identify and constrain multiple sources of solutes in complex river systems.

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