I'm trying to figure out what is the impact of microbial weathering on large-scale surface processes. To do that I look at the links between microbial communities composition and rates of soil production and rock weathering. I'm currently working in two recently deglaciated basins in the eastern Sierra Nevada, CA, combining cosmogenic nuclides and DNA sequencing methodologies.

This work is ongoing...

I'm curranty working on determining the ages of the recent Pleistocene deglaciation in Bishop Creek in the eastern Sierra Nevada, CA. We sampled for cosmogenic 10Be exposure ages and erosion rates in two glacial basins. Initial results suggest fast rates of glacial retreat and high rates of basin-wide erosion.

This work is ongoing...

Using cosmogenic nuclide data from four large rivers (Amazon, Branco, Colorado, and Po) we constructed a stochastic model that simulated transport dynamics in large-scale fluvial systems. Constrained by cosmogenic nuclide data our model quantifies residence times in large rivers to range between tens to hundreds of thousands of years (104-105 yr). 

[Ben-Israel et al., 2022; JGR-Earth Surface]

I tested how we can use stable cosmogenic 21Ne in the deep geological past (107-108  years). I figured out this is quite challenging and you need to account for post-burial production (muons), non-cosmogenic 21Ne procured in the quartz grain (nucleogenic Ne), and loss of Ne from diffusion (oh my!).

[Ben-Israel et al., 2020; EPSL] 

Using cosmogenic 21Ne we examined how long has quartz sand been exposed at the surface throughout the sedimentary cycle and concluded that sand grains spend most of their time buried and only a brief time at the surface.