Enhanced cosmic-ray production of super(10)Be coincident with the Mono Lake and Laschamp Geomagnetic Excursions

The cosmogenic isotope super(10)Be, total Be, and Al were measured in partly varved sediments from the upper 50 m of core 480, leg 64 (DSDP), Gulf of California. The concentration of super(10)Be from 1 to 50 kyr is in general agreement with estimates of the geomagnetic dipole moment obtained from archaeomagnetic and marine core research. super(10)Be anomalies were also found at 32 kyr and 43 kyr, contemporaneous with the Mono Lake and Laschamp excursions, respectively. The production of super(10)Be required to explain these anomalies is too high, particularly for the Mono Lake excursion, to be produced by a combination of decreased geomagnetic field and unprecedented long-term solar activity. We conclude that the cause is a change in the galactic cosmic-ray flux consistent with a supernova event. The coincidence with the two excursions remains a paradox.