Squeezing river catchments through tectonics: Shortening and erosion across the Indus Valley, NW Himalaya

Sinclair, H. Q.; Mudd, Simon M.; Dingle, Elizabeth; Hobley, Daniel E. J.; Robinson, R. W.; Walcott, Rachel

doi:10.1130/b31435.1

Cited by 22 publications

(30 citation statements)

References 72 publications

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“…The development of river valley is intrinsically related to the response to the fault movement, arrangement of the fault and fracture, the relative resistance of different rock types, and to climatically influence hydrologic parameters (Burbank & Anderson, ). The study of fluvial geomorphology has been used to understand the regional or local tectonic activities that include rapid incised erosion, longitudinal valleys, river anticlines, tectonic fold, distorted drainage basins, actively migrating water divides, deformation of river networks, and river network reorganization (Hallet & Molnar, ; Jamieson, Sinclair, Kirstein, & Purves, ; Lavé & Avouac, , ; Sinclair et al, ; Snyder, Whipple, Tucker, & Merritts, ; Whipple & Tucker, ; Willett, McCoy, Perron, Goren, & Chen, ). In Ladakh region of the NW Himalaya, the shortening and erosion rate have been deduced through structural mapping, optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating, and analysis of the Quaternary terraces (Sinclair et al, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In Ladakh region of the NW Himalaya, the shortening and erosion rate have been deduced through structural mapping, optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating, and analysis of the Quaternary terraces (Sinclair et al, ). The deformation of river networks during crustal deformation resulted from tectonic displacements of drainage divides (Sinclair et al, ). Longitudinal valleys such as Indus Valley in the NW Himalaya are important signatures of structurally controlled landforms; they developed where the strike‐parallel structural grains of the underlying geology dominate the topography (Jameison et al, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Geomorphologic study of the valley floor in different tectonic segments along Kosi River valley between South Almora Thrust and Himalayan Frontal Thrust: Kumaun Himalaya, India

2017

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In the Kumaun Himalaya, a portion of the Kosi River valley of ~90 km in length is chosen to study the fluvial morphology that provides first‐order information about the dynamic response of bedrock channels to tectonic impulse. The Kosi River flows across/along major tectonic boundaries such as the South Almora Thrust, Ramgarh Thrust, Main Boundary Thrust, and the Himalayan Frontal Thrust, and local transverse and longitudinal faults. Varied fluvial landforms correspond to different tectonic settings, lithologies, bedrock channels, hillslopes, large landslides, terraces, and fans. The longitudinal valleys are also the sites for thick aggradational landforms. Some portion of these valleys fall in the areas of active extensional tectonics and is characterized by one of the widest valley floor sections in the Lesser Himalaya. In contrast, the transverse valley sections are incised by deep‐cut v‐shaped valleys and the narrowest valley section. Swerving of the Kosi River is observed in the Ramgarh Thrust and Amel Fault zones and also in the Main Boundary Thrust zone. Recent tectonic activity is evident from the presence of the faulted Quaternary deposits, linear fault scarps, abandoned channels, incised meandering, and multiple levels of terraces/strath terraces. Field observations and the computed ratio of valley floor width to valley height (Vf) corroborate each other. Valleys developed parallel to the strike of faults and bedrocks have relatively broader valleys with higher Vf values whereas in contrast, the valleys developed across the bedrock strike are narrow with smaller Vf values. The results of computed stream length gradient (SL) and steepness (Ks) indices show considerable correlations between the obtained SL and Ks data and the field evidences; high values of SL and Ks are characterized by the presence of knick points observed at the prominent thrusts and faults.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Geomorphologic study of the valley floor in different tectonic segments along Kosi River valley between South Almora Thrust and Himalayan Frontal Thrust: Kumaun Himalaya, India

2017

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“…Dietsch et al (2014) suggest that Ladakh Range is quiescent since mid-Miocene, while Phartiyal et al (2015) inform that the Tangste river valley preserves some evidence for neotectonic activities along the Karakoram Fault. Along the Stok thrust on the SW margin of the Indus valley Sinclair et al (2017) have calculated from terrace dating and structural mapping, a horizontal displacement rate of ~0.21 m per ka since 45 ka, which has constricted the valley by ~0.1 m per ka and migration of the river channel towards the NE direction. Evidence for recent tectonic activities has also been gathered from the strath terraces along the Indus and the Zanskar (Blöthe et al, 2014; Munack et al, 2014; Kumar and Srivastava, 2017).…”

Section: Neotectonic Activitiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evolution of arid landscape in India and likely impact of future climate change

Kumar

2020

Episodes

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Thar Desert and Ladakh are two prominent arid areas in the Indian Subcontinent, representing the hot and the cold arid regions, respectively. Landforms in Thar Desert have developed over a relatively stable platform, and bear strong impressions of several cycles of late Quaternary climate change between warm wet and dry cool phases, which dictated the spatiotemporal distribution of the fluvial and aeolian processes and the typical disposition of the landforms. By contrast, Ladakh, located in the Trans-Himalaya, is mountainous and dominated by glacial, periglacial and fluvial processes, with fewer signatures of lacustrine and aeolian processes. Since ~44 ka, the area witnessed two major and one minor phases of aridity. Evidence for neotectonic, though expected very much in this suture zone between the Indian and the Eurasian plates, is not very common, and need proper investigation. Presently anthropogenic activities tend to have overbearing influences on the process acceleration and land degradation in both Thar Desert and Ladakh. Since warming-related changes in climate have also started to impact the areas, sustainable land uses, backed up by land conservation measures are called for.

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“…Both conceptual model and numerical simulation results have demonstrated that, for a simple synthetic landscape (i.e., uniform uplift, rock erodibility, and climate conditions), divide is sensitive to cross-divide erosion and may migrate to the side with low erosion rate [1,2,14]. With further research, a growing number of studies suggested that divide migration can also be affected by many factors, including the tectonic asymmetric uplift [9,15,18], differences in rock erodibility and precipitation across the divide [19,20], tectonic horizontal advection [15,21], and even the short time-scale extreme events, for example, the occurrence of landslides [22,23]. Within all the factors, the tectonic asymmetric uplift, which is mainly controlled by the fault activity, has always been regarded as the most important factor, for its effects on local climate, rock strength, and the triggering on landslides [9,14,18,24].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…With further research, a growing number of studies suggested that divide migration can also be affected by many factors, including the tectonic asymmetric uplift [9,15,18], differences in rock erodibility and precipitation across the divide [19,20], tectonic horizontal advection [15,21], and even the short time-scale extreme events, for example, the occurrence of landslides [22,23]. Within all the factors, the tectonic asymmetric uplift, which is mainly controlled by the fault activity, has always been regarded as the most important factor, for its effects on local climate, rock strength, and the triggering on landslides [9,14,18,24]. The numerical-analytical approaches indicated that the main divide prefers to migrate towards the high uplift rate face in the asymmetric uplift pattern, and finally reaches a quasi-steady state [14,21].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dynamic Divide Migration as a Response to Asymmetric Uplift: An Example from the Zhongtiao Shan, North China

Hong³

2020

Remote Sensing

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Previous numerical–analytical approaches have suggested that the main range divide prefers to migrate towards the high uplift flank in the asymmetric tectonic uplift pattern. However, natural examples recording these processes and further verifying the numerical simulations results, are still lacking. In this study, the landscape features, and the probable drainage evolution history of the Zhongtiao Shan, a roughly west-east trending, half-horst block on the southernmost tip of the Shanxi Graben System, were investigated through the geomorphic analyses (i.e., slope and steepness distributions, and the Gilbert and χ metrics). The topographic slope and steepness results indicate that the Zhongtiao Shan, controlled by the north Zhongtiao Shan normal fault, experiences asymmetric uplift and erosion patterns, with higher uplift and erosion on the north range. In addition, the Gilbert and χ metrics suggest that the western part of the main divide is currently stable, while the eastern divide is moving southward. According to the drainage divide stability criteria, we suggest that the uplift and erosion, on the fault side, balance each other well on the western part of the range, while on the eastern part, the uplift is outpaced by the erosion. In addition, a dynamic divide migration model in the asymmetric uplift condition is proposed, indicating that the interaction between uplift and erosion controls the migration and/or stability of the main divide. Deducing through this dynamic model, we suggested that the eastern segment of the north Zhongtiaoshan Fault must have experienced higher activities in the geological history, and the western fault may remain its activity along with the mountain relief generation. This gives a case that specific information on asymmetric neotectonic history and landscape evolution in an orogenic mountain can be uncovered by the proposed dynamic model.

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Squeezing river catchments through tectonics: Shortening and erosion across the Indus Valley, NW Himalaya

Cited by 22 publications

References 72 publications

Geomorphologic study of the valley floor in different tectonic segments along Kosi River valley between South Almora Thrust and Himalayan Frontal Thrust: Kumaun Himalaya, India

Geomorphologic study of the valley floor in different tectonic segments along Kosi River valley between South Almora Thrust and Himalayan Frontal Thrust: Kumaun Himalaya, India

Evolution of arid landscape in India and likely impact of future climate change

Dynamic Divide Migration as a Response to Asymmetric Uplift: An Example from the Zhongtiao Shan, North China

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