Dynamics of the Molasse Basin of Western Switzerland

Homewood, Peter; Allen, Philip A.; Williams, G. D.

doi:10.1002/9781444303810.ch10

Cited by 133 publications

(135 citation statements)

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“…1). During the Cenozoic, the NAFB was formed as a mechanical response to the tectonic load of the evolving Alps (e.g., Homewood et al 1986;Schlunegger et al 1997) causing a flexural bulge in the European lithosphere, which acted as a sediment sink for the erosional debris of the uplifting Alps. The sedimentary facies of the Molasse is characterized by a pronounced temporal and lateral variability with radial alluvial fan sedimentation in the southern part of the basin and E-W fluvial alluvial sedimentation more northward along the basin axis.…”

Section: Geological Settingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Integrated stratigraphy and 40Ar/39Ar chronology of the Early to Middle Miocene Upper Freshwater Molasse in eastern Bavaria (Germany)

Aziz

Böhme

Rocholl

et al. 2007

Int J Earth Sci (Geol Rundsch)

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Section: Geological Settingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Integrated stratigraphy and 40Ar/39Ar chronology of the Early to Middle Miocene Upper Freshwater Molasse in eastern Bavaria (Germany)

Aziz

Böhme

Rocholl

et al. 2007

Int J Earth Sci (Geol Rundsch)

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“…They originate from the European continental margin basement (External Crystalline Massifs) and overlying deposits (Helvetic sediments), the Briançonnais micro- flysch, molasse and glacial deposits (e.g., Homewood et al, 1986;Scardia et al, 2006).…”

Section: Geological Setting Of the Alpsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Increase in late Neogene denudation of the European Alps confirmed by analysis of a fission-track thermochronology database

Vernon

Beek

Sinclair

et al. 2008

Earth and Planetary Science Letters

154

166

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International audienceA sharp increase in deposited sediment volume since Pliocene times has been observed worldwide and in particular around the European Alps. This phenomenon has been linked to a rise in denudation rates controlled by an increase of either climatic or tectonic forcing. Observation of in-situ cooling histories for orogens is critical to assess the reality of the inferred increase in denudation rates, and to determine whether this phenomenon is widespread or localized at active tectonic structures. We exploit the unique density of fission-track ages in the Western European Alps to reconstruct cooling isoage surfaces and to estimate exhumation rates on the orogen scale between 13.5 and 2.5 Ma. Our novel technique is based on the association of isoage contours with age–elevation relationships. It uses map-view interpolation, enabling a spatio-temporal analysis of exhumation rates over the entire Western Alps. The resulting exhumation histories reconstructed for eight areas of the Western Alps display strong similarities in timing and rates with orogen-wide average denudation rates inferred from sediment volumes. This consistency validates the use of both techniques for the study of an orogen characterized by strong relief and high recent exhumation rates. We conclude that exhumation rates in the Western Alps have increased more than twofold since Late Miocene times. This increase may have been locally modulated by the distinct response of different tectonic units

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“…North of these nappes lies the Molasse Basin, a sedimentary wedge made up of material derived from erosion of the rising Alps (e.g. Homewood et al, 1986). This basin is bordered to the north by the Jura fold-and-thrust belt.…”

Section: Architecture and Geodynamic Evolutionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Erosion-driven uplift of the modern Central Alps

et al. 2009

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We present a compilation of data of modern tectono-geomorphic processes in the Central European Alps which suggest that observed rock uplift is a response to climate-driven denudation. This interpretation is predominantly based on the recent quantification of basinaveraged Late Holocene denudation rates that are so similar to the pattern and rates of rock uplift rates as determined by geodetic leveling. Furthermore, a GPS data-based synthesis of Adriatic microplate kinematics suggests that the Central Alps are currently not in a state of active convergence. Finally, we illustrate that the Central Alps have acted as a closed system for Holocene redistribution of sediment in which the peri-Alpine lakes have operated as a sink for the erosional products of the inner Central Alps.While various hypotheses have been put forward to explain Central Alpine rock uplift (e.g. lithospheric forcing by convergence, mantle processes, or ice melting) we show with an elastic model of lithospheric deformation, that the correlation between erosion and rock uplift rates reflects a positive feedback between denudation and the associated isostatic response to unloading. Thus, erosion does not passively respond to advection of crustal material as might be the case in actively converging orogens. Rather, we suggest that the geomorphic response of the Alpine topography to glacial and fluvial erosion and the resulting disequilibrium for modern channelized and associated hillslope processes explains much of the pattern of modern denudation and hence rock uplift. Therefore, in a non-convergent orogen such as the Central European Alps, the observed vertical rock uplift is primarily a consequence of passive unloading due to erosion.

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Dynamics of the Molasse Basin of Western Switzerland

Cited by 133 publications

References 0 publications

Integrated stratigraphy and 40Ar/39Ar chronology of the Early to Middle Miocene Upper Freshwater Molasse in eastern Bavaria (Germany)

Integrated stratigraphy and 40Ar/39Ar chronology of the Early to Middle Miocene Upper Freshwater Molasse in eastern Bavaria (Germany)

Increase in late Neogene denudation of the European Alps confirmed by analysis of a fission-track thermochronology database

Erosion-driven uplift of the modern Central Alps

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