A mechanistic erosion model for cosmogenic nuclide inheritance in single-clast exposure ages

•We present a probabilistic inheritance model for cosmogenic nuclide exposure ages.•Distributions reveal sediment contributions from episodic and diffusive processes.•We analyze global datasets and show landform ages are reduced by our model.•Impact of age reduction on slip rates must be analyzed on a case-by-case basis.•Our analysis shows landslide recurrence must be spatiotemporally correlated.