In search of pure quartz

On the Tibet Plateau, relics of a flat landscape with many large lakes have been preserved. Ralf Hetzel A small heap of very fine white quartz sand glistens in the palm of Prof. Ralf Hetzel's hand. The grains of sand allow him to look deep into the past. To be precise, the cosmogenic nuclide Beryllium-10 (10Be) does. Such nuclides are produced by cosmic radiation in solid rock. "They help us for example to determine ages for geomorphological features such as river terraces or moraines, and to measure erosion rates of landscapes all over the world" says Hetzel, who heads the Tectonics and Structural Geology working group at the Institute of Geology and Palaeontology at the University of Münster. However, it is a long journey before such statements can be made.