No abstract

No abstract

Hypsometry (frequency distribution of elevations) is often used to characterize landscape morphology, traditionally in the context of the degree of fluvial dissection. Recently, the hypsometry of glaciated regions has been used to infer how rates of glacial erosion compare with tectonic uplift rates. However, many factors other than tectonics can also exert a major influence on the hypsometry of a glaciated landscape, resulting in a wide variety of hypsometries. Using examples from the eastern Sierra Nevada, California, the western Sangre de Cristo Range, Colorado, and the Ben Ohau Range, New Zealand, we demonstrate that, all else being equal, the hypsometries of neighbouring basins can indicate the relative degree of glacial modification in each. A selection of drainage basins from the Rocky Mountains shows that the position of the equilibrium line altitude (ELA) within the drainage basin relief is a dominant variable in determining the hypsometry of a glaciated basin. This is a non-linear effect: once the ELA falls to some critical level, the glaciers scour deeply below the ELA, causing a noticeably different hypsometry. The hypsometry of an arbitrary region encompassing many drainage basins can disguise the variation present in the hypsometries, and thus landforms, of the individual basins. Unique local circumstances, such as the presence of a mountain icefield (Waiho Basin, Southern Alps), substantial hanging valleys (Avalanche Creek, Glacier National Park), a narrow outlet canyon (Sawmill Creek, Sierra Nevada), and isolated geologic structures (Baker Creek, Sierra Nevada), can have a major impact on the hypsometry of an individual basin.

The Southern Tail‐End Graben, Danish Central Graben, is characterized by a lateral variation in the thickness and mobility of pre‐rift Zechstein Supergroup evaporites, allowing investigation of how supra‐basement evaporite variability influences rift structural style and tectono‐stratigraphy. The study area is divided into two structural domains based on interpretations of the depositional thickness and mobility of the Zechstein Supergroup. Within each domain, we examine the overall basin morphology and the structural styles in the pre‐Zechstein and supra‐Zechstein (cover) units. Furthermore, integration of two‐way travel‐time (TWT)‐structure and ‐thickness maps allows fault activity and evaporite migration maps to be generated for pre‐ and syn‐rift stratal units within the two domains, permitting constraints to be placed on: (i) the timing of activity on pre‐Zechstein and cover faults and (ii) the onset, duration and migration direction of mobile evaporites. The northern domain is interpreted to be free from evaporite‐influence, and has developed in a manner typical of brittle‐only, basement‐involved rifts. Syn‐rift basins display classical half‐graben geometries bounded by thick‐skinned faults. In contrast, the southern domain is interpreted to be evaporite‐influenced, and cover structure reflects a southward increase in the thickness and mobility of the Zechstein Supergroup evaporites. Fault‐related and evaporite‐related folding is prominent in the southern domain, together with variable degrees of decoupling of sub‐Zechstein and cover fault and fold systems. The addition of mobile evaporites to the rift results in: (i) complex and spatially variable modes of tectono‐stratigraphic evolution; (ii) syn‐rift stratal geometries which are condensed above evaporite swells and over‐thickened in areas of withdrawal; (iii) compartmentalized syn‐rift depocentres; and (iv) masking of rift‐related megasequence boundaries. Through demonstrating these deviations from the characteristics of rifts free from evaporite influence, we highlight the first order control evaporites may exert upon rift structural style and the distribution and thicknesses of syn‐rift units.

[1] The response of glaciated landscapes to rapid rock uplift, driven by tectonic convergence, is an important, often neglected, aspect of proposed interactions between plate tectonic processes and climate change. Rivers typically respond to more rapid rock uplift in part through increasing channel gradients. In contrast, the ''glacial buzzsaw'' hypothesis suggests that glaciers can erode as quickly as the fastest rock uplift rates (6-10 mm/yr) without any increase in mean elevations. However, it has not been established how this is achieved. We examined moving window maps, swath and longitudinal profiles, hillslope relief, and hypsometry for glacierized and formerly glacierized basins in areas of spatially variable rock uplift rate in the Southern Alps, New Zealand, and around Nanga Parbat, Pakistan, to determine whether glaciers have a specific response to rapid rock uplift. The response of these glaciated landscapes to rapid rock uplift (6-10 mm/yr) comprises (1) modest steepening of the longitudinal profiles in smaller glaciated basins, (2) maintenance of shallow downvalley slopes in larger glaciated basins (>$30 km 2 , Southern Alps; >$100 km 2 , Nanga Parbat), (3) development of tall headwalls, and (4) steepening of the basin as a whole, dominated by hillslope lengthening. Around Nanga Parbat, headwalls several kilometers high constitute >50% of the basin relief. At rapid rock uplift rates, although glaciers can incise the valley floor swiftly, they cannot prevent headwalls from reaching exceptional heights. The associated increase in mean distance between cirque heads (i.e., a decrease in drainage density) causes regional mean elevation to rise with increasing rock uplift rate. However, this is much less than the changes in elevation expected in unglaciated ranges.Citation: Brocklehurst, S. H., and K. X. Whipple (2007), Response of glacial landscapes to spatial variations in rock uplift rate,

[1] Understanding interactions among tectonics, topography, climate, and erosion is fundamental to studies of mountainous landscapes. Here, we combine topographic analyses with modeled distributions of precipitation, insolation, and flexural isostasy to present a conceptual model of topographic evolution in the Teton Range, Wyoming, and test whether efficient glacial relief production has contributed to summit elevations. The conceptual model reveals a high degree of complexity inherent in even a relatively small, glaciated, mountain range. Back tilting has caused topographic asymmetry, with the greatest relief characterizing eastern catchments in the center of the range. Two high summits, Grand Teton and Mount Moran, rise hundreds of meters above the surrounding landscape; their elevations set by the threshold hillslope angle and the spacing between valleys hosting large, erosionally efficient glaciers. Only basins >20 km 2 held glaciers capable of eroding sufficiently rapidly to incise deeply and maintain shallow downvalley gradients on the eastern range flank. Glacial erosion here was promoted by (1) prevailing westerly winds transporting snow to high-relief eastern basins, leading to cross-range precipitation asymmetry; (2) the wind-blown redistribution of snow from open western headwaters into sheltered eastern cirques, with the associated erosion-driven migration of the drainage divide increasing eastern accumulation areas; and (3) tall, steep hillslopes providing shading, snow influx from avalanching, and insulating debris cover from rockfalls to valley floor glaciers. In comparison, the topographic enhancement of glacial erosion was less pronounced in western, and smaller eastern, basins. Despite dramatic relief production, insufficient rock mass is removed from the Teton Range to isostatically raise summit elevations.

No abstract

No abstract