To identify how geologic and climatic conditions control how fast soil is removed from the Earth's surface (denudation), we need to measure these rates over long periods, like thousands of years. A common method makes use of a rare radioactive nuclide, cosmogenic Be-10 , formed by cosmic rays in quartz. However, if rocks do not contain quartz, an alternative system is provided by meteoric cosmogenic Be-10 precipitated from the atmosphere and stable Be-9 that is released during rock weathering. From the ratio Be-10 to Be-9 we can estimate denudation rates if we know the fraction of Be-9 released by weathering and how much meteoric Be-10 is deposited from the atmosphere per unit time and area. In a comparison with the quartz-based method we explored these two unknowns on soil samples from four locations in Chile with different climates, all from granitic rock. We discovered two key points: (a) The amount of stable Be-9 indicates soil alteration, which depends on water infiltration. (b) In arid climate, the deposition of meteoric Be-10 is limited by rainfall, whereas in areas of sufficient yearly rainfall the Be-10 deposition reflects large-scale atmospheric distribution and is predicted by combined global cosmogenic nuclide production and climate models.