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AGU: Tectonics

 

Keywords

  • Tibetan Plateau
  • in situ produced cosmogenic beryllium 10
  • topographic steady state
  • thrust faulting

Index Terms

  • Geochronology: Cosmogenic-nuclide exposure dating
  • Tectonophysics: Tectonics and landscape evolution
  • Tectonophysics: Continental neotectonics
  • Geographic Location: Asia

Abstract

TECTONICS, VOL. 28, TC4017, 18 PP., 2009
doi:10.1029/2009TC002455

Deciphering the rate of mountain growth during topographic presteady state: An example from the NE margin of the Tibetan Plateau

Luigi Palumbo

Geologisch-Paläontologisches Institut, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, Münster, Germany

Ralf Hetzel

Geologisch-Paläontologisches Institut, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, Münster, Germany

Mingxin Tao

College of Resources Sciences and Technology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China

Xiaobin Li

College of Resources Sciences and Technology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China

Jianming Guo

Key Laboratory of Petroleum Resources Research, Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Science, Lanzhou, China

We use field investigations, topographic profiles, and 10Be exposure dating to constrain the growth rate of the Yumu Shan, a thrust-bounded mountain range at the northeastern margin of Tibet. Wind gaps, fault scarps at the mountain front, and hanging paleocatchments indicate that the Yumu Shan is growing both laterally and vertically. Scarp profiles and 10Be ages yield rock uplift rates of ∼500 and ∼800 mm ka−1 for the eastern and central parts of the range, respectively. The fact that the rock uplift rate in the high center of the Yumu Shan exceeds catchment-wide 10Be denudation rates, which range from ∼180 to ∼280 mm ka−1, indicates that the mountain range continues to rise and has not yet reached a topographic steady state. Combining the total structural relief of the range with the rates of rock uplift and denudation suggests that the growth of the Yumu Shan started 3.7 ± 0.9 Ma ago.

Received 31 January 2009; accepted 9 June 2009; published 29 August 2009.

Citation: Palumbo, L., R. Hetzel, M. Tao, X. Li, and J. Guo (2009), Deciphering the rate of mountain growth during topographic presteady state: An example from the NE margin of the Tibetan Plateau, Tectonics, 28, TC4017, doi:10.1029/2009TC002455.

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