Glacial effects limiting mountain height
@article{Egholm2009GlacialEL, title={Glacial effects limiting mountain height}, author={David Lundbek Egholm and Susanne Balslev Nielsen and Vivi Kathrine Pedersen and Jerome Lesemann}, journal={Nature}, year={2009}, volume={460}, pages={884-887} }
The height of mountain ranges reflects the balance between tectonic rock uplift, crustal strength and surface denudation. Tectonic deformation and surface denudation are interdependent, however, and feedback mechanisms—in particular, the potential link to climate—are subjects of intense debate. Spatial variations in fluvial denudation rate caused by precipitation gradients are known to provide first-order controls on mountain range width, crustal deformation rates and rock uplift. Moreover…
282 Citations
Glacial limitation of tropical mountain height
- Environmental Science, GeographyEarth Surface Dynamics
- 2019
Abstract. Absent glacial erosion, mountain range
height is limited by the rate of bedrock river incision and is thought to
asymptote to a steady-state elevation as erosion and rock uplift rates…
Global climate and tectonic controls on the denudation of glaciated mountains
- Geology, Environmental Science
- 2012
Glacial‐topographic interactions in the Teton Range, Wyoming
- Geology, Environmental Science
- 2010
[1] Understanding interactions among tectonics, topography, climate, and erosion is fundamental to studies of mountainous landscapes. Here, we combine topographic analyses with modeled distributions…
Glacial Steady State Topography Controlled by the Coupled Influence of Tectonics and Climate
- GeologyJournal of geophysical research. Earth surface
- 2018
This work presents a steady state solution for longitudinal profiles along eroding glaciers in a coupled system that includes tectonics and climate and finds that ice surface slope and glacial relief scale with uplift rate with scaling exponents indicating thatglacial relief is less sensitive to uplift rates than relief in most fluvial landscapes.
Observed latitudinal variations in erosion as a function of glacier dynamics
- Environmental Science, GeologyNature
- 2015
It is found that basin-averaged erosion rates vary by three orders of magnitude over this latitudinal transect, implying that climate and the glacier thermal regime control erosion rates more than do extent of ice cover, ice flux or sliding speeds.
Numerical investigations of subglacial hydrology as a direct and indirect driver of glacial erosion
- Environmental Science
- 2017
Glaciers shape high altitude and latitude landscapes in numerous ways. Erosion associated with glacial processes can limit the average height of mountain ranges, while creating the greatest relief on…
References
SHOWING 1-10 OF 50 REFERENCES
The influence of climate on the tectonic evolution of mountain belts.
- Environmental Science, Geology
- 2009
Simple physical arguments, analogue experiments and numerical experiments all suggest that the internal dynamics of actively deforming collisional mountain ranges are influenced by climate. However,…
Influence of a glacial buzzsaw on the height and morphology of the Cascade Range in central Washington State, USA
- GeologyQuaternary Research
- 2006
Valley incision and the uplift of mountain peaks
- Geology
- 1994
Simple end-member models describe the effect of isostatically compensated valley incision on the elevation of mountain peaks. These models allow calculation of the maximum portion of mountain peak…
Isostatic rebound due to glacial erosion within the Transantarctic Mountains
- Geology
- 2004
In temperate climates, ∼25% of peak elevations in mountain ranges can be created by isostatic rebound as a response to erosional incision. Significantly more relief generation and peak uplift are,…
Geomorphic limits to climate-induced increases in topographic relief
- Geology, Environmental ScienceNature
- 1999
Recognition of the potential for strong dynamic coupling between atmospheric and tectonic processes has sparked intense cross-disciplinary investigation and debate on the question of whether…
Response of glacial landscapes to spatial variations in rock uplift rate
- Geology
- 2007
[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…
Small valley glaciers and the effectiveness of the glacial buzzsaw in the northern Basin and Range, USA
- Geology, Environmental Science
- 2008
Assessing the relative efficiency of fluvial and glacial erosion through simulation of fluvial landscapes
- Geology, Environmental Science
- 2006
Orogeny and orography: The effects of erosion on the structure of mountain belts
- Geology
- 1999
A numerical model of the coupled processes of tectonic deformation and surface erosion in convergent orogens is developed to investigate the nature of the interaction between these processes. Crustal…