Topographic controls on erosion rates in tectonically active mountain ranges

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0012-821X(02)00725-2Get rights and content

Abstract

The functional relationship between erosion rate and topography is central to understanding both controls on global sediment flux and the potential for feedback between tectonics, climate, and erosion in shaping topography. Analysis of a high-resolution (10-m-grid) DEM transect across the convergent orogen of the Olympic Mountains reveals a non-linear relation between long-term erosion rates and mean slope, similar to a model for hillslope evolution by landsliding in steep terrain. The DEM data also reveal a relation between mean slope and mean local relief. Coarser-scale (1-km-grid) global analysis of the relation between erosion rate and mean local relief reveals different trends for areas with low erosion rates and tectonically active mountain ranges, with the composite relation being well-described by non-linear models. Together these analyses support the emerging view that erosion rates adjust to high rates of tectonically driven rock uplift primarily through changes in the frequency of landsliding rather than hillslope steepness, and imply that changes in local relief play a minor role in controlling landscape-scale erosion rates in tectonically active mountain ranges.

References (55)

  • R. Slingerland et al.

    Geodynamic and geomorphic evolution of the Permo-Triassic Appalachian Mountains

    Geomorphology

    (1989)
  • J.M. Lorenzo et al.

    Thermal uplift and erosion across the continent-ocean transform boundary of the southern Exmouth Plateau

    Earth Planet. Sci. Lett.

    (1992)
  • J.W. Powell, Report on the Geology of the Eastern Portion of the Uinta Mountains and a Region of Country Adjacent...
  • G.K. Gilbert, Geology of the Henry Mountains, US Geological and Geographical Survey of the Rocky Mountain Region,...
  • C. Beaumont, P. Fulsack, J. Hamilton, Erosional control of active compressional orogens, in: K.R. McClay (Ed.), Thrust...
  • P.K. Zeitler et al.

    Synchronousanatexis metamorphism, and rapid denudation at Nanga Parbat (Pakistan Himalaya)

    Geology

    (1993)
  • J.G. Masek et al.

    Erosion and tectonics at the margins of continental plateaus

    J. Geophys. Res.

    (1994)
  • J.-P. Avouac et al.

    Erosion as a driving mechanism of intracontinental mountain growth

    J. Geophys. Res.

    (1996)
  • B.K. Horton

    Erosional control on the geometry and kinematics of thrust belt development in the central Andes

    Tectonics

    (1999)
  • S.D. Willett

    Orogeny and orography: The effects of erosion on the structure of mountain belts

    J. Geophys. Res.

    (1999)
  • F.J. Pazzaglia et al.

    A fluvial record of long-term steady-state uplift and erosion across the Cascadia forearc high, western Washington state

    Am. J. Sci.

    (2001)
  • D.R. Montgomery et al.

    Climate, tectonics, and the morphology of the Andes

    Geology

    (2001)
  • K.M. Schmidt et al.

    Limits to relief

    Science

    (1995)
  • D.W. Burbank

    Bedrock incision, rock uplift and threshold hillslopes in the northwestern Himalayas

    Nature

    (1996)
  • D.R. Montgomery

    Slope distributions, threshold hillslopes, and steady-state topography

    Am. J. Sci.

    (2001)
  • P. Molnar et al.

    Late Cenozoic uplift of mountain ranges and global climate changes: Chicken or egg?

    Nature

    (1990)
  • K.X. Whipple et al.

    Geomorphic limits to climate-induced increases in topogrpahic relief

    Nature

    (1999)
  • P. Zhang et al.

    Increased sedimentation rates and grain sizes 2–4 Myr ago due to the influence of climate change on erosion rates

    Nature

    (2001)
  • F. Ahnert

    Functional relationship between denudation, relief, and uplift in large mid-latitude drainage basins

    Am. J. Sci.

    (1970)
  • F.J. Pazzaglia et al.

    Macrogeomorphic evolution of the post-Triassic Appalachian mountains determined by deconvolution of the offshore basin sedimentary record

    Basin Res.

    (1996)
  • M.A. Summerfield et al.

    Natural controls of fluvial denudation rates in major world drainage basins

    J. Geophys. Res.

    (1994)
  • S.A. Schumm, The disparity between present day denudation and orogeny, US Geological Survey Prof. Pap. 454-H, 1963, 13...
  • P. Pinet et al.

    Continental erosion and large-scale relief

    Tectonics

    (1988)
  • R. Stevenson et al.

    Erosion-isostatic rebound models for uplift an application to south-eastern Australia

    Geophys. J. R. Astron. Soc.

    (1985)
  • K. Lambeck et al.

    The post-Palaeozoic uplift history of south-eastern Australia

    Aust. J. Earth Sci.

    (1986)
  • T.H. Dixon et al.

    Topographic and volcanic asymmetry around the Red Sea Constraints on rift models

    Tectonics

    (1989)
  • W.C. Pitman et al.

    The effect of sea level changes on the morphology of mountain belts

    J. Geophys. Res.

    (1991)

    • Cited by (0)

    View full text
    Copyright © 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.