Abstract: Background, aim, and scopeIn situ terrestrial cosmogenic nuclide (TCN) has been widely used in the dating of glacier geomorphology. Inheritance is one of the important factors affecting the TCN exposure dating and has been the focus of many scholars. The research on this aspect will contribute to the quantitative analysis of TCN exposure dating error, and thus improve the accuracy of dating. Materials and methods In this paper, a total of 54 global literatures on quaternary glacial TCN inheritance were collected from 2009 to 2017, briefly describing the background and research progress of inherited nuclides, focusing on the influence of inheritance on TCN exposure dating and how to reduce its impact on dating data in practice. Results On the one hand, the complex exposure history of the sample and the reworking of geological features may lead to samples containing different degrees of inherited cosmogenic nuclide, which makes the age of glacial exposure significantly dispersible. On the other hand, in the study of TCN exposure dating, the true age of glacier landform is overestimated due to the inheritance of nuclide, which leads to the age of exposure of abnormal aging. Discussion Among the 1379 dating samples counted in this paper, glacial boulder is about 94%, and glacial boulder is the most common dating object in the study of TCN exposure dating. When a glacial boulder age than other boulder on the same moraine ridge is much older, the inheritance of nuclide is obvious, therefore, how to choose the glacial boulder to determine the formation of the moraine ridge appears very necessary. In addition, the sampling location and the number of collections of glacial boulder are also worth considering. Conclusions Research results indicate that the inheritance of nuclide can lead to the age of old and scattered exposure of moraine, by choosing appropriate landscape areas and diverse methods of sampling, also can try to collect modern glacier moraine quantitative research the effects of inheritance. Recommendations and perspectives The study of the inheritance of cosmogenic nuclide will be of great significance to the establishment of more accurate chronological frameworks and TCN chronology studies of glacial geomorphology mentioned by relevant scholars.
Keywords: inheritance; cosmogenic nuclide; TCN exposure dating; glacial landforms; dating error