A global perspective on the topographic response to fault growth

Abstract

Precise factors controlling the coevolution of deformation and topography in tectonically active landscapes remain poorly understood due to complex feedbacks between numerous possible variables. Here we examine the links between fault kinematics, emergent topography, and environmental factors on a global data set of active fault-driven mountain ranges (n = 41). Using simple regressions between tectonic, climatic, and topographic variables, we explore the controls on faultdriven landscape development at the range scale. For each fault in our Google Earth accessible database, we compiled (1) topographic metrics from a 30-m digital elevation model including along-strike changes in elevation and relief, fault length, and tip zone length (the along-strike distance from fault tip to where the associated relief stops increasing) and gradient; (2) long-term (10 4-6 yr) tectonic variables including fault slip rate, displacement rate, displacement, and age; (3) climatic variables including annual precipitation; and (4) rock type from geologic maps. Our results show that all mountain ranges reach a uniform value of relief within some distance from their tips and the length scale of this relief growth correlates with long-term vertical displacement rate (R = 0.55) and slip rate (R = 0.51). We apply a well-established framework for fault growth as the tectonic boundary condition to estimate the time required to achieve this uniform relief (~10 4-6 yr) and suggest that this threshold time indicates regional tectonomorphic equilibrium. Strong correlations between annual precipitation and deformation rates (R > 0.60), and between lithologic strength and mountain relief (R > 0.70), allude to other principal forces affecting emergent landscape form that are often ignored. Our findings demonstrate that fault-driven topography always saturates in relief, suggest there are quantifiable fault-kinematic controls on landscape form, and hint that landscape relief patterns may, in turn, be used to estimate rates of faulting.

Process inference from topographic fractal characteristics in the tectonically active Northwest Himalaya, India

“…Topographic variations in response to the different landscape governing processes or events are generally characterized, among other indices, in terms of RR (Tucker and Whipple, 2002; Ellis and Barnes, 2015; Black et al ., 2017; O'Hara et al ., 2019; Strong et al ., 2019). RR is usually calculated for a specific window size.…”

“…The landscape evolution studies in the Himalayan terrain have primarily focused on the relative role of tectonic uplift and (or) climate (e.g. Gabet et al ., 2004; Hilley and Strecker, 2004; Bookhagen et al ., 2005; Whipple, 2009; Korup and Weidinger, 2011; Anoop et al ., 2012; Godard et al ., 2014; Olen et al ., 2016; Dey et al ., 2016a,b; Nennewitz et al ., 2018; Jaiswara et al ., 2019), whereas the role of lithology has not received major emphasis except for a few limited studies (Attal and Lavé, 2006; Barnes et al ., 2011; Allen et al ., 2013; Ellis and Barnes, 2015; Strong et al ., 2019). However, lithology has been advocated as an important control of landscape evolution in the tectonically passive landscapes (Gallagher and Brown, 1997; Weissel and Seidl, 1997; Gunnell et al ., 2003; Gunnell and Harbor, 2010; Scharf et al ., 2013; Mandal et al ., 2017; Guha and Jain, 2020).…”

Linking exhumation, paleo-relief, and rift formation to magmatic processes in the western Snake River Plain, Idaho, using apatite (U-Th)/He thermochronology

“…In this case, fault initiation and flank exhumation might be expected to be uniform along the fault length or maximal in the center of the fault (Fig. 2C; e.g., Densmore et al, 2004;Ellis and Barnes, 2015). Activity on the faults may span the Miocene through Holocene, concurrent with similarly NW-SE-oriented Basin and Range structures in east-central Idaho, such as the Lost River, Lemhi, and Beaverhead faults (Fig.…”

Late Quaternary Tectonics, Incision, and Landscape Evolution of the Calchaquí River Catchment, Eastern Cordillera, NW Argentina

“…Compilations at a global-or regional-scale have demonstrated that environmental parameters such as mean annual temperature, mean annual precipitation, and vegetation, sometimes measured using elevation and latitude as proxies, can explain much of the natural variation in topography (Champagnac et al, 2012), erosion rate (Bookhagen & Strecker, 2012;Portenga & Bierman, 2011), and channel steepness (D'Arcy & Whittaker, 2014). However, a similar compilation but on a more local (range) scale points to tectonic rather than climatic control, with relief explained by vertical displacement (Ellis & Barnes, 2015).…”