Cenozoic tectonic and topographic evolution of the northern Sierra Nevada, California, through stable isotope paleoaltimetry in volcanic glass

Cassel, Elizabeth J.; Graham, Stephan A.; Chamberlain, C. Page

doi:10.1130/g25572a.1

Cited by 104 publications

(94 citation statements)

References 42 publications

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“…oncholite; Otago, New Zealand) orographic rain shadows, yields hypsometric elevations on the order of 1.5 km for all three records. These 13 C-excess elevations agree well with modern elevations across the Great Basin (~1700 m mean elevation in the north;~900 m mean elevation in the south; Saltus and Thompson, 1995) and published paleotopographic interpretations for the Sierra Nevada (Mulch et al, 2006;Cassel et al, 2009). However, a~1.5 km high 'proto' Southern Alps at~15 Ma is an entirely new interpretation that provides important detail otherwise lacking in the only other paleoelevation study on the mountain range (Chamberlain et al, 1999).…”

Section: Relevance To Other Research Topicssupporting

confidence: 81%

Evaporation induced 18O and 13C enrichment in lake systems: A global perspective on hydrologic balance effects

Horton

Defliese

Tripati

et al. 2016

Quaternary Science Reviews

141

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a b s t r a c tGrowing pressure on sustainable water resource allocation in the context of global development and rapid environmental change demands rigorous knowledge of how regional water cycles change through time. One of the most attractive and widely utilized approaches for gaining this knowledge is the analysis of lake carbonate stable isotopic compositions. However, endogenic carbonate archives are sensitive to a variety of natural processes and conditions leaving isotopic datasets largely underdetermined. As a consequence, isotopic researchers are often required to assume values for multiple parameters, including temperature of carbonate formation or lake water d 18 O, in order to interpret changes in hydrologic conditions. Here, we review and analyze a global compilation of 57 lacustrine dual carbon and oxygen stable isotope records with a topical focus on the effects of shifting hydrologic balance on endogenic carbonate isotopic compositions.Through integration of multiple large datasets we show that lake carbonate d 18 O values and the lake waters from which they are derived are often shifted by >þ10‰ relative to source waters discharging into the lake. The global pattern of d 18 O and d 13 C covariation observed in >70% of the records studied and in several evaporation experiments demonstrates that isotopic fractionations associated with lake water evaporation cause the heavy carbon and oxygen isotope enrichments observed in most lakes and lake carbonate records. Modeled endogenic calcite compositions in isotopic equilibrium with lake source waters further demonstrate that evaporation effects can be extreme even in lake records where d 18 O and d 13 C covariation is absent. Aridisol pedogenic carbonates show similar isotopic responses to evaporation, and the relevance of evaporative modification to paleoclimatic and paleotopographic research using endogenic carbonate proxies are discussed.Recent advances in stable isotope research techniques present unprecedented opportunities to overcome the underdetermined nature of stable isotopic data through integration of multiple isotopic proxies, including dual element 13 C-excess values and clumped isotope temperature estimates. We demonstrate the utility of applying these multi-proxy approaches to the interpretation of paleohydroclimatic conditions in ancient lake systems. Understanding past, present, and future hydroclimatic systems is a global imperative. Significant progress should be expected as these modern research techniques become more widely applied and integrated with traditional stable isotopic proxies.

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Section: Relevance To Other Research Topicssupporting

confidence: 81%

Evaporation induced 18O and 13C enrichment in lake systems: A global perspective on hydrologic balance effects

Horton

Defliese

Tripati

et al. 2016

Quaternary Science Reviews

141

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“…Apparently, the eastern escarpment developed in a region that was already relatively high. This conclusion is consistent with fi eld-based studies suggesting that the Sierra Nevada and the areas immediately east of it retained high crestal elevations throughout the Cenozoic (e.g., Mulch et al, 2006;Cassel et al, 2009Cassel et al, , 2012Hren et al, 2010). It is also consistent with previous modeling work by Chase and Wallace (1986) and Thompson and Parsons (2009).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 88%

“…This view is based on a variety of stratigraphic and geomorphic data, including inclinations of bedding, analyses of rigid-body rotations (tilts), stream channel gradients, and incision rates, and exhumation rates derived from thermochronometric data. In contrast, others contend that the range has been high for perhaps as long as 40 m.y., and might have undergone little to no late Cenozoic uplift (e.g., Wernicke et al, 1996;DeCelles, 2004;Mulch et al, 2006;Cassel et al, 2009Cassel et al, , 2012Hren et al, 2010). That view is based on differing interpretations of the stratigraphic and geomorphic data, as well as paleobotanical data and isotopic analyses of meteoric water preserved in weathered volcanic ash and fl uvial sediments.…”

Section: Origin and Evolution Of The Sierra Nevada And Walker Lane Thmentioning

confidence: 94%

Mechanics of relative and absolute displacements across normal faults, and implications for uplift and subsidence along the eastern escarpment of the Sierra Nevada, California

2014

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The magnitude of late Cenozoic rock uplift of the Sierra Nevada (California, USA) remains unresolved despite more than a century of investigation, with estimates ranging from essentially zero to ~3 km of uplift at the range crest. Two sets of two-dimensional end-member mechanical models bracket how normal faulting along the eastern escarpment of the Sierra Nevada contributed to uplift of the range over a time span of millions of years. The short-term models are based on dislocations in an elastic half-space. The long-term models involve thin elastic beams resting on an inviscid fl uid. Both sets of models predict that if the regional topography were entirely a response to faulting along the eastern escarpment, then the bedrock fl oors immediately east of the range should consistently lie thousands of meters below sea level, instead of thousands of meters above sea level as they generally do. Both sets of analyses indicate that although faulting would lift the range crest, it would drop the rock east of the rangefront faults at least as much, and perhaps much more; model results suggest that ~66%-85% of the current escarpment relief stems from subsidence of the grabens east of the Sierra Nevada, with only ~15%-34% resulting from crestal uplift. Our results strongly indicate that range-front faulting in the last 3-10 m.y. uplifted rock at the Sierra Nevada crest by hundreds of meters to as much as 1 km, and that this uplift was superposed on high topography that predated the origin of the eastern escarpment. These conclusions are compatible with diverse geologic observations and measurements.

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“…The pattern in P. barbatus is in contrast to A. mellifera and N. vitripennis, which have a greater number of young pseudogenes. We hypothesize that the ant lineages that gave rise to P. barbatus experienced a major change in chemical ecology ≈10-30 Mya, possibly as a consequence of the increase in elevation of the Sierras and Andes to their present height (52,53). These western mountain ranges created rain shadows on their eastern sides and spawned the great American deserts.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Draft genome of the red harvester ant Pogonomyrmex barbatus

Smith

Robertson

et al. 2011

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

228

220

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We report the draft genome sequence of the red harvester ant, Pogonomyrmex barbatus. The genome was sequenced using 454 pyrosequencing, and the current assembly and annotation were completed in less than 1 y. Analyses of conserved gene groups (more than 1,200 manually annotated genes to date) suggest a high-quality assembly and annotation comparable to recently sequenced insect genomes using Sanger sequencing. The red harvester ant is a model for studying reproductive division of labor, phenotypic plasticity, and sociogenomics. Although the genome of P. barbatus is similar to other sequenced hymenopterans (Apis mellifera and Nasonia vitripennis) in GC content and compositional organization, and possesses a complete CpG methylation toolkit, its predicted genomic CpG content differs markedly from the other hymenopterans. Gene networks involved in generating key differences between the queen and worker castes (e.g., wings and ovaries) show signatures of increased methylation and suggest that ants and bees may have independently co-opted the same gene regulatory mechanisms for reproductive division of labor. Gene family expansions (e.g., 344 functional odorant receptors) and pseudogene accumulation in chemoreception and P450 genes compared with A. mellifera and N. vitripennis are consistent with major life-history changes during the adaptive radiation of Pogonomyrmex spp., perhaps in parallel with the development of the North American deserts.T he formation of higher-level organization from independently functioning elements has resulted in some of the most significant transitions in biological evolution (1). These include the transition from prokaryotes to eukaryotes and from uni-to multicellular organisms, as well as the formation of complex animal societies with sophisticated division of labor among individuals. In eusocial insects such as ants, distinct morphological castes specialize in either reproduction or labor (2). Currently, very little is known of the genetic basis of caste and reproductive division of labor in these societies, where individuals follow different developmental trajectories, much like distinct cell lines in an organism (3). The resulting phenotypes, queens and workers, can differ greatly in morphology, physiology, and behavior, as well as in order of magnitude differences in life span and reproductive potential (2). Ants, of all social insects, arguably exhibit the highest diversity in social complexity, such as queen number, mating frequency, and the degree of complexity of division of labor (2), and most social traits have independent origins within the ants, making them well suited to comparative genomic analyses.The sequencing of the honey bee (Apis mellifera) genome marked a milestone in sociogenomics (4, 5), facilitating research on the evolution and maintenance of sociality from its molecular building blocks. Since then, genomes of three closely related species of solitary parasitic hymenopterans, Nasonia spp., were published and similarities and differences were extensively discuss...

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Cenozoic tectonic and topographic evolution of the northern Sierra Nevada, California, through stable isotope paleoaltimetry in volcanic glass

Cited by 104 publications

References 42 publications

Evaporation induced 18O and 13C enrichment in lake systems: A global perspective on hydrologic balance effects

Evaporation induced 18O and 13C enrichment in lake systems: A global perspective on hydrologic balance effects

Mechanics of relative and absolute displacements across normal faults, and implications for uplift and subsidence along the eastern escarpment of the Sierra Nevada, California

Draft genome of the red harvester ant Pogonomyrmex barbatus

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