Project Description
The LDEO Cosmogenic Nuclide Group pioneered the use of cosmogenic 3He geochronology to date tsunami deposits on volcanic islands, when it successfully employed this technique to determine the age of emplacement of basaltic megaclasts quarried by a pre-historic megatsunami that impacted Santiago Island, in the Cape Verdes, as the result of the gravitational collapse of Fogo volcano. This technique is now being employed to date similar tsunami deposits across the Cape Verde Archipelago, as well as Pleistocene basaltic storm boulder ridges in these islands, thus contributing to the establishment of cosmogenic dating as a routine technique to date extreme wave events.
