Incised relict landscapes in the eastern Alps

Legrain, Nicolas; Stüwe, Kurt; Wölfler, Andreas

doi:10.1016/j.geomorph.2014.06.010

Cited by 41 publications

(54 citation statements)

References 40 publications

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“…Recent tectonic or climatically induced base-level fall are associated with the propagation of an erosion wave, which represents the limit between an upper-relict landscape and a lower adjusting zone (e.g., Reinhardt et al, 2007;Pérez-Peña et al, 2015). As a result, relict portions of landscapes (i.e., where uplift is not yet counterbalanced by fluvial erosion) may persist though time (e.g., Burbank and Anderson, 2001;Clark et al, 2005;Legrain et al, 2014;Giletycz et al, 2015).…”

Section: Equilibrium Of Landscapesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Geomorphic analysis of transient landscapes in the Sierra Madre de Chiapas and Maya Mountains (northern Central America): implications for the North American–Caribbean–Cocos plate boundary

Andreani

Gloaguen

2016

Earth Surf. Dynam.

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Abstract. We use a geomorphic approach in order to unravel the recent evolution of the diffuse triple junction between the North American, Caribbean, and Cocos plates in northern Central America. We intend to characterize and understand the complex tectonic setting that produced an intricate pattern of landscapes using tectonic geomorphology, as well as available geological and geophysical data. We classify regions with specific relief characteristics and highlight uplifted relict landscapes in northern Central America. We also analyze the drainage network from the Sierra Madre de Chiapas and Maya Mountains in order to extract information about potential vertical displacements.Our results suggest that most of the landscapes of the Sierra Madre de Chiapas and Maya Mountains are in a transient stage. Topographic profiles and morphometric maps highlight elevated relict surfaces that are characterized by a low-amplitude relief. The river longitudinal profiles display upper reaches witnessing these relict landscapes. Lower reaches adjust to new base-level conditions and are characterized by multiple knickpoints.These results backed by published GPS and seismotectonic data allow us to refine and extend existing geodynamic models of the triple junction. Relict landscapes are delimited by faults and thus result from a tectonic control. The topography of the Sierra Madre de Chiapas evolved as the result of (1) the inland migration of deformation related to the coupling between the Chiapas Massif and the Cocos forearc sliver and (2) the compression along the northern tip of the Central American volcanic arc. Although most of the shortening between the Cocos forearc sliver and the North American Plate is accommodated within the Sierra de Chiapas and Sierra de los Cuchumatanes, a small part may be still transmitted to the Maya Mountains and the Belize margin through a "rigid" Petén Basin.

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Section: Equilibrium Of Landscapesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Geomorphic analysis of transient landscapes in the Sierra Madre de Chiapas and Maya Mountains (northern Central America): implications for the North American–Caribbean–Cocos plate boundary

Andreani

Gloaguen

2016

Earth Surf. Dynam.

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“…Within the geomorphological literature, a similar landform set is known as palaeolandscape (Widdowson 1997 and references therein), gentle erosional landscape (Amato & Cinque 1999) or relict landscape (Clark et al 2006). Though the best potential for their preservation exists in the cratonic cores and in the tectonically stable interiors of continents, planation surfaces and low-relief surfaces may also be identified within several orogenic belts (e.g., Winkler-Hermaden 1957;Adams 1985;Iwata 1987;Kennan et al 1997;Amato & Cinque 1999;Frisch et al 2000;Clark et al 2006;Legrain et al 2014). In agreement with the interpretation of Amato & Cinque (1999) for the Campano-Lucano Apennines, the relicts of the planation surfaces and their connected landforms of western Sicily belong to uncompleted erosion cycles that had a duration of some hundred thousand years and that occurred during the construction of the chain, when the relief was located at a lower elevation, but higher and far from the base-level (S coast), though the topographical surface was gently graded.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Geomorphological evolution of western Sicily, Italy

Maggio¹,

Madonia²,

Vattano³

et al. 2017

Geologica Carpathica

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This paper proposes a morphoevolutionary model for western Sicily. Sicily is a chain-foredeep-foreland system still being built, with tectonic activity involving uplift which tends to create new relief. To reconstruct the morphoevolutionary model, geological, and geomorphological studies were done on the basis of field survey and aerial photographic interpretation. The collected data show large areas characterized by specific geological, geomorphological, and topographical settings with rocks, landforms, and landscapes progressively older from south to north Sicily. The achieved results display: (1) gradual emersion of new areas due to uplift, its interaction with the Quaternary glacio-eustatic oscillations of the sea level, and the following production of a flight of stair-steps of uplifted marine terraces in southern Sicily, which migrates progressively upward and inwards; in response to the uplift (2) triggering of down-cutting processes that gradually dismantle the oldest terraces; (3) competition between uplift and down-cutting processes, which is responsible for the genesis of river valleys and isolated rounded hills in central Sicily; (4) continuous deepening over time that results in the exhumation of older and more resistant rocks in northern Sicily, where the higher heights of Sicily are realized and the older forms are retained; (5) extensional tectonic event in the northern end of Sicily, that produces the collapse of large blocks drowned in the Tyrrhenian Sea and sealed by coastal-marine deposits during the Calabrian stage; (6) trigger of uplift again in the previously subsiding blocks and its interaction with coastal processes and sea level fluctuations, which produce successions of marine terraces during the Middle-Upper Pleistocene stages.

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“…In this debate, no consensus has emerged about the relative tectonic versus climatic significance of the driving forces responsible for the last stages of uplift, in particular those in post-Miocene times (Dunkl et al, 2005;Wagner et al, 2010;Hergarten et al, 2010;Willett, 2010;Delunel et al, 2010;Wittmann et al, 2007;Kuhlemann et al, 2002;Champagnac et al, 2007;Legrain et al, 2014).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…1). More than 90% of the Koralpe range, including summits above 2000 m elevation, features a fluvial landscape that has been interpreted as an incised relict landscape of Miocene age (Robl et al, 2008;Legrain et al, 2014). The region therefore represents a unique opportunity to investigate young uplift processes and place them into the framework of the post-Miocene erosion and rock uplift increase in the Alps.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Post-Miocene landscape rejuvenation at the eastern end of the Alps

et al. 2015

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In the debate on the causes of uplift and landscape evolution of the Alps, most studies focus on regions that were glaciated at some stage during the last 2 m.y. In these areas, it is difficult to separate glacial-driven versus tectonically driven rates of erosion. Here, we present 10 Be-derived erosion rates from unglaciated catchments in the Koralpe range at the eastern end of the Alps. This region features strong geomorphologic evidence for landscape transience with young valleys incised into a smooth relict landscape. Erosion rates average 49 ± 8 mm/k.y. for catchments located on the relict landscape and 137 ± 15 mm/k.y. for catchments in the incised landscape. From these data, we estimate the onset of incision at 4 ± 1 Ma, the surface uplift at 350 ± 90 m, and a total relative base-level fall of 540 ± 140 m. Our results are in close agreement with both the magnitude and the age of onset of uplift of the Styrian Basin and the northern Molasse Basin, as well as the incision rate of the Mur River into the Styrian karst. The inferred timing of the onset of uplift around 4 Ma relates to interpreted basin inversion in the Pannonian Basin. Since this uplift event appears to have involved both the Pannonian Basin and the entire eastern end of the Alpine mountain range, we suggest that it may have occurred in response to a deep-seated process in the lithosphere. As such, we argue for tectonic drivers for the post-Miocene uplift in the eastern Alps.

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Incised relict landscapes in the eastern Alps

Cited by 41 publications

References 40 publications

Geomorphic analysis of transient landscapes in the Sierra Madre de Chiapas and Maya Mountains (northern Central America): implications for the North American–Caribbean–Cocos plate boundary

Geomorphic analysis of transient landscapes in the Sierra Madre de Chiapas and Maya Mountains (northern Central America): implications for the North American–Caribbean–Cocos plate boundary

Geomorphological evolution of western Sicily, Italy

Post-Miocene landscape rejuvenation at the eastern end of the Alps

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