The Tempo of Geomorphological Change: Evidence from Southeastern Australia

Young, R. W.

doi:10.1086/628758

Cited by 100 publications

(53 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…The escarpment forms a sharp boundary between inland areas of low relief, low denudation rates and ancient landsurfaces, and coastal areas of higher relief, higher denudation rates and more recent landscapes and Oligocene to Early Miocene fluvial sediments overlie the eroded surface at the foot of the Escarpment , pp. 222-223; Young and McDougall, 1983;Nott et al, 1991). Not only does this indicate that the Great Escarpment here is of at least Oligocene age, it also suggests that the landscape had already taken on essentially its modern form by that time.…”

Section: The Geomorphic and Tectonic History Of Australiamentioning

confidence: 76%

Long‐term landscape evolution in Australia

Gale

1992

Earth Surf Processes Landf

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The main features of the Australian physical landscape are of the order of 107-108 years old. This contradicts the widely held view that little of the Earth's topography predates the Quaternary and that erosion cycles are carried to planation within tens of millions of years. Much of the Australian landscape must have developed over similar timescales to that of the tectonic evolution of the continent itself. The study of the geomorphology of such ancient terrains may therefore be seriously deficient unless it is considered within the context of continental-scale tectonic development. Application of this approach shows that there are strong links between the geomorphology of Australia and plate movements, ocean spreading, plate convergence, tectonostratigraphic terranes, orogenesis and epeirogenesis.The most important factor contributing to the survival of ancient landscapes in Australia is the low rate of denudation which the continent has experienced during the Mesozoic and Cenozoic. This is largely a consequence of orogenic stability, although the absence of significant Quaternary glaciation may also be of importance. However, in order for landforms to have survived over such timespans, denudation must not only have been low, but must also have been highly localized over space and time. This has been the case both on a regional scale, with long-term denudation rates of 0-2 m Ma-' in central Australia contrasting with higher rates along the continental margins, and on a local scale, with denudation confined to valleys, leaving divides and inteduves almost unscathed.

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Section: The Geomorphic and Tectonic History Of Australiamentioning

confidence: 76%

Long‐term landscape evolution in Australia

Gale

1992

Earth Surf Processes Landf

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“…Nott (1995) also noted that landscape longevity set cratonal landscapes apart from those of other tectonic settings (cf. Young 1983). The Eocene erosion surface of the modern Rockies is an example of an ancient form in a modern orogenic belt (Epis and Chapin 1975) but one that is undergoing active dissection and thus may not persist.…”

Section: Implications: Paleogeomorphology As a Tectonic And Climatic mentioning

confidence: 99%

An Exhumed Late Paleozoic Canyon in the Rocky Mountains

Soreghan¹,

Sweet²,

Marra³

et al. 2007

The Journal of Geology

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A B S T R A C TLandscapes are thought to be youthful, particularly those of active orogenic belts. Unaweep Canyon in the Colorado Rocky Mountains, a large gorge drained by two opposite-flowing creeks, is an exception. Its origin has long been enigmatic, but new data indicate that it is an exhumed late Paleozoic landform. Its survival within a region of profound late Paleozoic orogenesis demands a reassessment of tectonic models for the Ancestral Rocky Mountains, and its form and genesis have significant implications for understanding late Paleozoic equatorial climate. This discovery highlights the utility of paleogeomorphology as a tectonic and climatic indicator.

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“…A decade earlier, Young (1983) had pointed out that the denudation rates reported by Thornbury (1969) and almost claimed as being 'normal' were not representative of the full spectrum of natural rates operating on the Earth's surface. Indeed, Young (1983) argued that analyses such as Thornbury's were too reliant on (Northern Hemisphere) settings that had experienced Pleistocene glaciation, the impacts of which are likely still being felt as glaciated landscapes continue to adjust to interglacial conditions, or, as argued above, were anthropogenically disturbed settings (or both). Thus, denudation rates from glaciated terrains are likely to represent the high end of the spectrum of possible rates and non-glaciated, tectonically quiescent, undisturbed settings would be expected to evolve at much lower rates (Young, 1983).…”

Section: Non-equilibrium Models For Long-term Landscape Evolutionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Indeed, Young (1983) argued that analyses such as Thornbury's were too reliant on (Northern Hemisphere) settings that had experienced Pleistocene glaciation, the impacts of which are likely still being felt as glaciated landscapes continue to adjust to interglacial conditions, or, as argued above, were anthropogenically disturbed settings (or both). Thus, denudation rates from glaciated terrains are likely to represent the high end of the spectrum of possible rates and non-glaciated, tectonically quiescent, undisturbed settings would be expected to evolve at much lower rates (Young, 1983). Representative rates of landscape evolution in such tectonically stable, non-glaciated settings are of the order of 5-10 m Ma −1 (e.g., Bishop 1985;Bishop and Goldrick, 2000;Caffee, 2001, 2002;Cockburn et al, 2000;Matmon et al, 2002;Reusser et al, 2006).…”

Section: Non-equilibrium Models For Long-term Landscape Evolutionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Long‐term landscape evolution: linking tectonics and surface processes

Bishop

2007

Earth Surf Processes Landf

343

193

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Research in landscape evolution over millions to tens of millions of years slowed considerably in the mid-20th century, when Davisian and other approaches to geomorphology were replaced by functional, morphometric and ultimately process-based approaches. Hack's scheme of dynamic equilibrium in landscape evolution was perhaps the major theoretical contribution to long-term landscape evolution between the 1950s and about 1990, but it essentially 'looked back' to Davis for its springboard to a viewpoint contrary to that of Davis, as did less widely known schemes, such as Crickmay's hypothesis of unequal activity. Since about 1990, the field of long-term landscape evolution has blossomed again, stimulated by the plate tectonics revolution and its re-forging of the link between tectonics and topography, and by the development of numerical models that explore the links between tectonic processes and surface processes. This numerical modelling of landscape evolution has been built around formulation of bedrock river processes and slope processes, and has mostly focused on high-elevation passive continental margins and convergent zones; these models now routinely include flexural and denudational isostasy.Major breakthroughs in analytical and geochronological techniques have been of profound relevance to all of the above. Low-temperature thermochronology, and in particular apatite fission track analysis and (U-Th)/He analysis in apatite, have enabled rates of rock uplift and denudational exhumation from relatively shallow crustal depths (up to about 4 km) to be determined directly from, in effect, rock hand specimens. In a few situations, (U-Th)/He analysis has been used to determine the antiquity of major, long-wavelength topography. Cosmogenic isotope analysis has enabled the determination of the 'ages' of bedrock and sedimentary surfaces, and/or the rates of denudation of these surfaces. These latter advances represent in some ways a 'holy grail' in geomorphology in that they enable determination of 'dates and rates' of geomorphological processes directly from rock surfaces. The increasing availability of analytical techniques such as cosmogenic isotope analysis should mean that much larger data sets become possible and lead to more sophisticated analyses, such as probability density functions (PDFs) of cosmogenic ages and even of cosmogenic isotope concentrations (CICs). PDFs of isotope concentrations must be a function of catchment area geomorphology (including tectonics) and it is at least theoretically possible to infer aspects of source area geomorphology and geomorphological processes from PDFs of CICs in sediments ('detrital CICs'). Thus it may be possible to use PDFs of detrital CICs in basin sediments as a tool to infer aspects of the sediments' source area geomorphology and tectonics, complementing the standard sedimentological textural and compositional approaches to such issues.One of the most stimulating of recent conceptual advances has followed the considerations of the relationships between te...

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The Tempo of Geomorphological Change: Evidence from Southeastern Australia

Cited by 100 publications

References 17 publications

Long‐term landscape evolution in Australia

Long‐term landscape evolution in Australia

An Exhumed Late Paleozoic Canyon in the Rocky Mountains

Long‐term landscape evolution: linking tectonics and surface processes

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