Article
Geosciences, Multidisciplinary
Yaling Tao, Huiping Zhang, Xudong Zhao, Ying Wang, Zifa Ma
Summary: By studying the apatite and zircon (U-Th)/He data from the Yalong thrust belt in eastern Tibet, we discovered two rapid cooling phases in the Late Oligocene (around 24 Ma) and the Middle Miocene (17-14 Ma), indicating staged-thrusting faulting and the upward and eastward growth of the Tibetan Plateau. These findings suggest that the high relief across the Yalong thrust belt mainly formed during the Late Oligocene.
GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS
(2023)
Article
Geology
You Zhou, Zhong-Hai Wu, Yu-Jun Sun, Guo-Can Wang, Ji-Long Wang
Summary: The study presents 17 apatite (U-Th)/He ages from the southern Longmen Shan along different faults, showing an increase in exhumation rates across the Dachuan-Shuangshi Fault since the Late Miocene. These findings support the idea of continuous crustal shortening along the eastern Tibetan Plateau margin.
INTERNATIONAL GEOLOGY REVIEW
(2021)
Article
Geosciences, Multidisciplinary
Zining Ma, Zhongpeng Han, Yalin Li, Tiankun Xu, Xu Han, Wenjun Bi, Wenzhong Zhang
Summary: This study conducted detailed research on the geological features, tectonic deformation history, and formation mechanism of the Kangmar dome. It found discrepancies in the deformation histories between the northern and southern parts of the North Himalayan Gneiss Domes. Through modeling, the core-cover contact fault of the Kangmar dome was inferred to be the northern continuation of the South Tibetan Detachment System (STDS). These findings contribute to the understanding of intracontinental deformation patterns following collisions and provide insights into the formation of domes in the Himalayas and other orogenic belts.
FRONTIERS IN EARTH SCIENCE
(2023)
Article
Geosciences, Multidisciplinary
Yang Wang, Yan Gao, Chris K. K. Morley, Erin G. G. Seagren, Xin Qian, Jeremy M. M. Rimando, Peizhen Zhang, Yuejun Wang
Summary: In this study, low-temperature thermochronology was used to measure the cooling histories of rocks within and outside of the Sumatran fault. It was found that accelerated exhumation within the fault zone began around 2 million years ago and the Barisan Mountains experienced uplift and river incision in the late Miocene to Pliocene. The fault systems in the forearc region were linked to the Andaman Sea and Sunda Strait and played a role in early plate convergence before the strike-slip component of deformation shifted to the Sumatran fault.
GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Valerio Olivetti, Silvia Catto, Massimiliano Zattin
Summary: This study investigates the changes in concentrated erosion and sediment source in high-altitude mountain regions over the past 7 million years, using detrital apatite fission-track dating. The results show that glacial erosion intensifies erosion in valley bottoms and increases sediment contribution from higher elevations. This aging trend provides an unusual case in detrital thermochronology and strong evidence of intensified Quaternary glaciations amplifying the erosional process both in valley bottoms and at high elevations.
SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
(2022)
Article
Geology
Jingxing Yu, Dewen Zheng, Jianzhang Pang, Chaopeng Li, Ying Wang, Yizhou Wang, Yuqi Hao, Peizhen Zhang
Summary: This study reports low-temperature thermochronology data from the Qinling and Taihang Mountains in China and shows through age-elevation relationships and thermal history modeling that both mountain ranges experienced a phase of rapid exhumation during the late Oligocene and early Miocene. The findings suggest that mountain building in eastern China may have played a significant role in the reorganization of the Cenozoic Asian climate regime.
Article
Geosciences, Multidisciplinary
Emilia Caylor, Barbara Carrapa, Gilby Jepson, Tshering Z. L. Sherpa, Peter G. DeCelles
Summary: The modern topography in the Laramide region consists of high-relief ranges and high-elevation low-relief surfaces. The timing and development of this topography in the Wyoming Laramide province is poorly understood. We present low-temperature-thermochronological data from two Laramide uplifts in Wyoming, which show an early record of Laramide exhumation and subsequent cooling. Our results suggest that the Laramide ranges were buried by post-Laramide basin fill and the low-relief topography was further reduced by regional incision and Pleistocene glaciation.
GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS
(2023)
Article
Geochemistry & Geophysics
Pengju He, Chunhui Song, Yadong Wang, Yuanhao Zhao, Yu Tan, Qingquan Meng, Yihu Zhang, Yongfa Chen, Jing Zhang
Summary: By using low-temperature thermochronology, this study reveals a two-phase history of topographic growth in the Qilian Shan, with enhanced rock exhumation occurring in the late Paleocene-early Eocene and middle-late Miocene. These findings suggest that the northeastern Tibetan Plateau experienced topographic growth quasi-synchronously with the India-Asia collision.
Article
Geochemistry & Geophysics
Yu Wang, Renguang Zuo, Kai Cao, Xianbing Xu, Massimiliano Zattin
Summary: This study reconstructed the cooling history of NE-trending mountain ranges in southwest Fujian using zircon and apatite fission-track thermochronometers and identified two episodes of accelerated cooling events. The first event occurred in the late Early Cretaceous and was related to the formation of the basin-and-range system, while the second event occurred in the late Neogene and was associated with the intensification of the East Asian Monsoon and extensional tectonics. Additionally, the sharp discrepancy in apatite fission track ages across the Zhenghe-Dapu Fault zone suggests the collapse of the late Mesozoic coastal magmatic arc in the early Eocene. This study explores the underlying mechanisms of these tectonic events.
Article
Geosciences, Multidisciplinary
Kurt M. Cuffey, Alka Tripathy-Lang, Matthew Fox, Greg M. Stock, David L. Shuster
Summary: This study uses thermochronometric analysis of radiogenic helium in apatite crystals and numerical models to demonstrate significant late Cenozoic deepening of Tenaya Canyon in Yosemite Valley. It also highlights the effects of Pleistocene glaciation on the spatial variations of erosion in the valley. These findings provide important constraints for understanding the tectonic and geomorphological history of the Sierra Nevada in California.
GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA BULLETIN
(2022)
Article
Geosciences, Multidisciplinary
Kurt M. Cuffey, Alka Tripathy-Lang, Matthew Fox, Greg M. Stock, David L. Shuster
Summary: The Tenaya Canyon in Yosemite Valley experienced significant deepening during the late Cenozoic, most likely starting around 10 million years ago and continuing since 5 million years ago. This was likely driven by regional tectonism and glaciation.
GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA BULLETIN
(2022)
Article
Geosciences, Multidisciplinary
Dongxu Cai, Xianyan Wang, Guangwei Li, Wenbin Zhu, Huayu Lu
Summary: The Tibetan Plateau's landform is shaped by the interaction of surface erosion and tectonic uplift. The Lhasa River drainage underwent two rapid denudation stages in the late Oligocene-middle Miocene, both related to the uplift of the Gangdese Mountains and increased Asian summer monsoon precipitation. Subsequently, the denudation rate decreased rapidly, leading to a gradual decrease in relief in the central Gangdese region.
FRONTIERS IN EARTH SCIENCE
(2021)
Article
Geosciences, Multidisciplinary
Nicholas D. Perez, Ryan B. Anderson, Brian K. Horton, Bailey A. Ohlson, Amanda Z. Calle
Summary: The Bolivian Andes are characterized by a paired fold-thrust belt and foreland basin, with discrepancies in exhumation and sediment accumulation timing. New results integrate multiple datasets to investigate the linkage between shortening, exhumation, and subsidence, highlighting the interplay between a range of crustal and surface processes. The delay between initial fold-thrust belt exhumation and rapid Subandean subsidence underscores the importance of protracted shortening and foreland basin recycling.
FRONTIERS IN EARTH SCIENCE
(2021)
Article
Geochemistry & Geophysics
Chao Li, Zhongbao Zhao, Haijian Lu, Haibing Li
Summary: This study focuses on the cooling history of the Gaize Basin in the central Bangong-Nujiang Suture (BNS) using new low-temperature thermochronology data. The results indicate three cooling stages in the Gaize Basin related to the closure of the BNS, far-field effects of the Neo-Tethyan oceanic subduction, and the India-Asian collision.
Article
Geosciences, Multidisciplinary
Zhiwu Li, Peter J. J. Kamp, Shugen Liu, Ganqing Xu, Kui Tong, Martin Danisik, Zijian Wang, Jinxi Li, Bin Deng, Bo Ran, Yuehao Ye, Wenhui Wu
Summary: The current structural model for the Longmen Shan belt is an asymmetric orogenic wedge with northwest-dipping thrust faults. The debate lies in how the exhumation of this margin was partitioned into Cretaceous versus Late Cenozoic components. New low-temperature thermochronology data suggests two episodes of exhumation, one during the Late Cretaceous and the other during the Late Cenozoic. A new feature is the large amount of exhumation southeast of the Longriba Fault System, diminishing the asymmetric character of the current structural model.
EARTH-SCIENCE REVIEWS
(2023)
Article
Geosciences, Multidisciplinary
Benjamin Gerard, Laurence Audin, Xavier Robert, Cecile Gautheron, Peter van der Beek, Matthias Bernet, Carlos Benavente, Fabrizio Delgado
Summary: By analyzing apatite (U-Th)/He and fission-track thermochronology data, the study reveals the exhumation history of the Abancay Deflection, showing steady slow exhumation between 20 and 4 Ma followed by rapid exhumation since 4 Ma, driven by the influence of rivers such as the Urubamba River as indicated by geomorphological analysis.
JOURNAL OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY
(2021)
Article
Geochemistry & Geophysics
Sebastian G. Wolf, Ritske S. Huismans, Josep-Anton Munoz, Magdalena Ellis Curry, Peter van der Beek
Summary: The interaction between crustal thickening and surface processes plays a key role in the growth of continent-continent collision orogens. Internal crustal loading and lithospheric pull are the main factors controlling large scale evolution, while surface process efficiency influences foreland-basin filling and orogen core exhumation. Inherited structures, surface processes, and decoupling between thin-and thick-skinned deformation affect structural style during orogenic growth.
JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH-SOLID EARTH
(2021)
News Item
Geosciences, Multidisciplinary
Peter van derBeek
Summary: A study of mountains at the eastern edge of the Tibetan Plateau finds that near-surface stress patterns, influenced by topography, control the size and location of the largest landslides, but not necessarily smaller ones.
Correction
Geosciences, Multidisciplinary
Peter van der Beek
Article
Geosciences, Multidisciplinary
Simone Racano, Taylor F. Schildgen, Domenico Cosentino, Scott R. Miller
Summary: In geodynamically active areas, variations in rock uplift can be studied through quantitative analysis of river profiles, providing insights into the evolution of topography. Factors such as rock-uplift rate, erodibility of underlying rock, and climate affect fluvial landscapes, and river profiles can be inverted to determine the rock-uplift histories that created them. This study demonstrates how the spatio-temporal rock-uplift history of the CAP southern margin can be defined through analysis of river profiles.
JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH-EARTH SURFACE
(2021)
Article
Geochemistry & Geophysics
Taylor F. Schildgen, Peter A. van der Beek, Mitch D'Arcy, Duna N. Roda-Boluda, Elizabeth N. Orr, Hella Wittmann
Summary: The migration of drainage divides, influenced by rock uplift and rainfall patterns, is an important factor in the geomorphic evolution of mountain ranges. This study focuses on the Sierra de Aconquija in northwest Argentina and uses low-temperature thermochronometric data to explore its topographic evolution. The findings indicate that westward drainage-divide migration, combined with faulting, played a dominant role in the range's evolution. These results provide new insights into the rates and magnitudes of drainage-divide migration in real landscapes and highlight the significance of considering this process when interpreting thermochronometer age patterns.
EARTH AND PLANETARY SCIENCE LETTERS
(2022)
Article
Geosciences, Multidisciplinary
F. McNab, T. F. Schildgen, J. M. Turowski, A. D. Wickert
Summary: Alluvial rivers adjust their sediment-transport rates and form landforms such as river terraces in response to changing sediment and water supply. Using a model, we found that the likelihood of terrace formation is greater upstream and in shorter and/or wetter catchments. The evolution of sediment-transport rates depends on whether water or sediment supply is varied, leading to diverse responses to environmental change in alluvial valleys.
GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS
(2023)
Article
Geochemistry & Geophysics
Francois Lemot, Pierre G. Valla, Peter van der Beek, Marianna Jagercikova, Samuel Niedermann, Julien Carcaillet, Edward R. Sobel, Sergio Ando, Eduardo Garzanti, Xavier Robert, Matthias Bernet, Johannes Glodny, Ludovic Mocochain
Summary: This study demonstrates how karstic archives from the Obiou peak in the Western European Alps record the tectonic and drainage-network evolution of this region during the Neogene. The findings provide evidence for two successive drainage reorganizations through the analysis of cosmogenic-nuclide burial dating, provenance analysis, and detrital thermochronology.
EARTH AND PLANETARY SCIENCE LETTERS
(2023)
Article
Geochemistry & Geophysics
Simone Racano, Taylor Schildgen, Paolo Ballato, Cengiz Yildirim, Hella Wittmann
Summary: Major strike-slip fault systems, like the North Anatolian Fault (NAF), play a crucial role in accommodating plate motion, but little is known about their evolution. In the Central Pontides, the NAF has experienced transpression and crustal thickening, resulting in rock-uplift rates of 0.2-0.3 km/Myr. However, the exact onset of faster uplift phase associated with the NAF's development is poorly understood. This study presents the spatiotemporal pattern of rock-uplift rates in the Central Pontides, showing an increase in rates after 10 Ma, with peak rates occurring between 4 and 2 Ma.
EARTH AND PLANETARY SCIENCE LETTERS
(2023)
Article
Geosciences, Multidisciplinary
Fiona J. J. Clubb, Simon M. M. Mudd, Taylor F. F. Schildgen, Peter A. A. van der Beek, Rahul Devrani, Hugh D. D. Sinclair
Summary: The width of Himalayan valleys is mainly controlled by long-term tectonic exhumation rather than water discharge. The rivers in the Himalayas transport about a gigaton of sediment to the ocean basins annually. Valley storage plays a crucial role in buffering climatic and tectonic signals, however, the controls on valley location and geometry are unknown.
Article
Geochemistry & Geophysics
Roland Freisleben, Julius Jara-Munoz, Daniel Melnick, Diego Molina, Andres Tassara, Peter van der Beek, Manfred R. Strecker
Summary: This study investigates the mechanisms driving permanent coastal uplift in the tectonically active South American margin. By analyzing uplifted marine terraces and tectonic parameters, the researchers identify a constant background-uplift rate along the margin, perturbed by changes at variable wavelengths. The study suggests that major, deep earthquakes near the Moho are responsible for the moderate, long-term background uplift, while accumulation of permanent deformation over millennial time scales occurs through multiple, distinct uplift phases. The findings highlight the utility of a signal-analysis approach in understanding surface deformation in subduction zones at a continental scale.
Article
Geochemistry & Geophysics
Marion Roger, Arjan de Leeuw, Peter van der Beek, Laurent Husson, Edward R. Sobel, Johannes Glodny, Matthias Bernet
Summary: The thermal evolution of the Ukrainian Carpathians, an orogenic wedge, was analyzed using apatite fission-track and low-temperature thermochronology methods. The results showed that most of the apatite and zircon ages were reset, indicating incomplete dynamic equilibrium. The time-temperature paths of the nappes composing the wedge were determined through inverse modeling, revealing sequential accretion and exhumation. Sediments in the inner and outer parts of the Carpathian embayment originated from different sources, with limited sediment recycling from the wedge to the foredeep.
Article
Geography, Physical
Coline Ariagno, Caroline Le Bouteiller, Peter van der Beek, Sebastien Klotz
Summary: The study in the Draix-Bleone Critical Zone Observatory in France found that frost-cracking intensity can explain about half of the sediment export anomalies, while freeze-thaw cycles have little impact on sediment response. The time spent below 0 degrees C also correlates well with sediment export anomalies.
EARTH SURFACE DYNAMICS
(2022)
Article
Geochemistry & Geophysics
Xiong Ou, Anne Replumaz, Peter van der Beek
Summary: The study compared and analyzed the thermochronometric ages of two massifs across the Mekong River, revealing that the Baima Xueshan massif experiences slower regional rock uplift and exhumation rates, while the Kawagebo massif shows stronger local rock uplift rates.