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Award ID contains: 2016763

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  1. Abstract Cosmogenic nuclide dating is an essential component of studying Earth surface processes, but it requires knowledge of how nuclide production rates vary in time and space. Typically, production rates are calibrated at sites with independently well‐constrained exposure histories and then scaled to other sites of interest using scaling frameworks that account for spatial and temporal variations in the secondary cosmic‐ray flux at Earth's surface. To date, scaling schemes for terrestrial cosmogenic nuclide production rates have been developed for the Quaternary, yet cosmogenic nuclide applications that extend beyond the Quaternary are becoming more prevalent. For these deeper time applications, production rate calculations using scaling models optimized for the latest Quaternary neglect longer term spatiotemporal variations in geomagnetic field intensity, paleogeography, and paleoatmospheric depth. We present a production rate scaling scheme for the past 70 million years, SPRITE (Scaling Production Rates In deep TimE). This framework extends existing scaling schemes into deeper time by (a) accounting for site‐specific changes in paleolatitude, (b) integrating a geomagnetic field intensity model rooted in data from a global paleomagnetic database, and (c) incorporating climate‐driven, time‐varying atmospheric depths. We evaluate the efficacy of our model by applying it to existing data sets from paleoexposure sites, and from sites with apparent continuous million‐year exposure histories. This scaling model can be applied with measurements of stable cosmogenic nuclides to research questions such as constraining hiatus durations between ancient lava flows and calculating the formation timescales of stable landforms in arid environments over millions of years. 
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  2. SUMMARY Despite significant progress in palaeomagnetic research over the last century, the origin, evolution and long-term behaviour of the geomagnetic field remains poorly understood. One significant open question is when and how the inner core nucleated. Since geomagnetic field behaviour is intrinsically linked to the thermal evolution of the core, scientists have turned to the global palaeointensity record to search for proxies for inner core nucleation. From this record, two signals have been identified as possible indicators of inner core nucleation: (1) a spike in magnetic field strength between 1.5–1.0 Ga, and (2) an initially strong, but gradually decreasing field strength that resulted in a weak dynamo in the Ediacaran. Although both these hypotheses are vastly different, they do have one common challenge hindering rigorous testing: a paucity of palaeointensity data. This is especially true for the Precambrian time period for which well-preserved outcrops are scarce and weathering/alteration is nearly inescapable. Despite making up almost 90 per cent of Earth's history, data from this super eon comprise < 10 per cent of the global palaeointensity database. This lack of data for most of Earth's history represents a considerable gap in our knowledge and greatly impedes our ability to understand the origin and evolution of our planet and its magnetic field. In an effort to fill in this gap, we performed palaeointensity experiments on Precambrian-aged mafic dykes from India (Malani Igneous Suite and Bastar, Dharwar and Bundelkhand Cratons) with ages ranging from ∼740 Ma to ∼2.36 Ga. To monitor thermal alteration and minimize the effects of non-ideal grain sizes, the Thellier method following the IZZI protocol was used. Successful results were obtained for samples from the Bundelkhand (∼740 Ma) and Bastar (∼1.89 Ga) cratons. The Bastar results fall in a ∼40 Myr gap in the database and corroborate field trends predicted by the Monte Carlo axial dipole moment model, which suggests that intensity values were moderately low (2–4 × 1022 A m2) in the middle Palaeoproterozoic. The Bundelkhand result suggests that the field may have been rapidly decaying in the late Tonian to early Cryogenian. 
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  3. Paleomagnetic, rock magnetic, or geomagnetic data found in the MagIC data repository from a paper titled: Geomagnetic Variability in a Post‐Superchron Geodynamo: Insights From the Deccan Traps 
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  4. Studying long-term geomagnetic field behavior is crucial for understanding Earth's evolution, as field variability reflects processes in the planet's deep interior. One key question concerns the relationship between field strength and polarity reversal frequency, particularly during the Cretaceous Normal Superchron (CNS), a prolonged interval without reversals. We present new paleomagnetic and paleointensity data from the Deccan Traps, emplaced shortly after the CNS potentially recording the geodynamo's transition back to a reversing state. Sixteen reliable paleointensity estimates were obtained from three sites and have Quality of Paleointensity (QPI) scores of seven to eight. To evaluate selection criteria, results were compared using SELCRIT2, Thellier Tool A, MI-CRIT.A1, and PICRIT03. SELCRIT2 proved too permissive, whereas MI-CRIT.A1 most effectively excluded potentially biased data. Site mean Virtual Dipole Moments decrease stratigraphically from 7.0 ± 0.8 × 1022 Am2 at the base to 5.5 ± 0.4 × 1022 Am2 at the top of our sampled section. These values are higher than prior ∼66 Ma estimates which meet QPI ≥ 3 criteria and are instead more consistent with data satisfying the stricter prioritized QPI subset (QAGE + QALT + QMD). Together with existing records and model observations, our results suggest that the geomagnetic field was weaker and less variable after the CNS, supporting a closer link between reversal frequency and intensity range than absolute strength alone. Nonetheless, even rigorously filtered data sets may retain biases, complicating interpretations of this enigmatic period. Our study underscores the need for stringent selection criteria in paleointensity research. 
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  5. Paleomagnetic, rock magnetic, or geomagnetic data found in the MagIC data repository from a paper titled: Absolute Paleointensity Estimates from Precambrian India and the Long-Term Thermal Evolution of the Earth 
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  6. This is latest (as of 10/28/2024) of the production rate calculator (SPRITE) described in Mijjum et al. (2024) (in review with Geochemistry, Geophysics and Geosystems). Model will calculate scaling factors and exposure ages from 0-70 Ma using a time-varying magnetic field (paleointensity), paleoclimate, and latitude (paleolatitude). Code contributions were made by Moshammat Mijjum (@mmijjum), Katie Bristol (@katiebristol), and Richard Bono (@rkbono), manuscript contributions from Marissa Tremblay (@mtrems), Nat Lifton, and Courtney Sprain.  
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