Climate as the Great Equalizer of Continental‐Scale Erosion
Abstract Central Asia hosts the most extensive and highest topography on Earth, which is the result of the feedbacks among rock uplift, atmospheric circulation and moisture transport, and erosion. Here, we analyze 2,511 published low‐temperature thermochronometric ages as a proxy of the regional‐sca...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Wiley
2021-10-01
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| Series: | Geophysical Research Letters |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1029/2021GL095008 |
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| author | Gilby Jepson Barbara Carrapa Jack Gillespie Ran Feng Peter G. DeCelles Paul Kapp Clay R. Tabor Jiang Zhu |
| author_facet | Gilby Jepson Barbara Carrapa Jack Gillespie Ran Feng Peter G. DeCelles Paul Kapp Clay R. Tabor Jiang Zhu |
| author_sort | Gilby Jepson |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Central Asia hosts the most extensive and highest topography on Earth, which is the result of the feedbacks among rock uplift, atmospheric circulation and moisture transport, and erosion. Here, we analyze 2,511 published low‐temperature thermochronometric ages as a proxy of the regional‐scale erosion of Central Asia. We compare these ages to tectonic and climate proxies, and state‐of‐the‐art paleoclimate simulations to constrain the influences of climate and tectonics on the topographic architecture of Central Asia. We observe a first‐order relationship between younger cooling ages in areas of high precipitation and older ages (Mesozoic) in areas that have been sheltered from precipitation, despite high strain rates. Thus, we suggest that climate enhances erosion in areas where rock uplift produces significant orographic gradients, whereas in the continental interior, areas which are tectonically active but have been sheltered from significant precipitation record older ages and a longer erosional history. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-a4eb51d917f545c7ae96fc247e7d6cb9 |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 0094-8276 1944-8007 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2021-10-01 |
| publisher | Wiley |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Geophysical Research Letters |
| spelling | doaj-art-a4eb51d917f545c7ae96fc247e7d6cb92025-08-20T02:36:27ZengWileyGeophysical Research Letters0094-82761944-80072021-10-014820n/an/a10.1029/2021GL095008Climate as the Great Equalizer of Continental‐Scale ErosionGilby Jepson0Barbara Carrapa1Jack Gillespie2Ran Feng3Peter G. DeCelles4Paul Kapp5Clay R. Tabor6Jiang Zhu7Department of Geosciences University of Arizona Tucson AZ USADepartment of Geosciences University of Arizona Tucson AZ USASchool of Earth and Planetary Sciences The Institute for Geoscience Research (TIGeR) Curtin University Perth WA AustraliaDepartment of Geosciences University of Connecticut Storrs CT USADepartment of Geosciences University of Arizona Tucson AZ USADepartment of Geosciences University of Arizona Tucson AZ USADepartment of Geosciences University of Connecticut Storrs CT USAClimate and Global Dynamics Laboratory National Center for Atmospheric Research Boulder CO USAAbstract Central Asia hosts the most extensive and highest topography on Earth, which is the result of the feedbacks among rock uplift, atmospheric circulation and moisture transport, and erosion. Here, we analyze 2,511 published low‐temperature thermochronometric ages as a proxy of the regional‐scale erosion of Central Asia. We compare these ages to tectonic and climate proxies, and state‐of‐the‐art paleoclimate simulations to constrain the influences of climate and tectonics on the topographic architecture of Central Asia. We observe a first‐order relationship between younger cooling ages in areas of high precipitation and older ages (Mesozoic) in areas that have been sheltered from precipitation, despite high strain rates. Thus, we suggest that climate enhances erosion in areas where rock uplift produces significant orographic gradients, whereas in the continental interior, areas which are tectonically active but have been sheltered from significant precipitation record older ages and a longer erosional history.https://doi.org/10.1029/2021GL095008tectonicsclimateerosionCentral Asiathermochronology |
| spellingShingle | Gilby Jepson Barbara Carrapa Jack Gillespie Ran Feng Peter G. DeCelles Paul Kapp Clay R. Tabor Jiang Zhu Climate as the Great Equalizer of Continental‐Scale Erosion Geophysical Research Letters tectonics climate erosion Central Asia thermochronology |
| title | Climate as the Great Equalizer of Continental‐Scale Erosion |
| title_full | Climate as the Great Equalizer of Continental‐Scale Erosion |
| title_fullStr | Climate as the Great Equalizer of Continental‐Scale Erosion |
| title_full_unstemmed | Climate as the Great Equalizer of Continental‐Scale Erosion |
| title_short | Climate as the Great Equalizer of Continental‐Scale Erosion |
| title_sort | climate as the great equalizer of continental scale erosion |
| topic | tectonics climate erosion Central Asia thermochronology |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1029/2021GL095008 |
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