@misc{RepaschWittmannScheingrossetal.2020, author = {Repasch, Marisa and Wittmann, Hella and Scheingross, Joel S. and Sachse, Dirk and Szupiany, Ricardo and Orfeo, Oscar and Fuchs, Margret and Hovius, Niels}, title = {Sediment Transit Time and Floodplain Storage Dynamics in Alluvial Rivers Revealed by Meteoric 10Be}, series = {Postprints der Universit{\"a}t Potsdam : Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Reihe}, journal = {Postprints der Universit{\"a}t Potsdam : Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Reihe}, number = {1119}, issn = {1866-8372}, doi = {10.25932/publishup-49432}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-494324}, pages = {21}, year = {2020}, abstract = {Quantifying the time scales of sediment transport and storage through river systems is fundamental for understanding weathering processes, biogeochemical cycling, and improving watershed management, but measuring sediment transit time is challenging. Here we provide the first systematic test of measuring cosmogenic meteoric Beryllium-10 (10Bem) in the sediment load of a large alluvial river to quantify sediment transit times. We take advantage of a natural experiment in the Rio Bermejo, a lowland alluvial river traversing the east Andean foreland basin in northern Argentina. This river has no tributaries along its trunk channel for nearly 1,300 km downstream from the mountain front. We sampled suspended sediment depth profiles along the channel and measured the concentrations of 10Bem in the chemically extracted grain coatings. We calculated depth-integrated 10Bem concentrations using sediment flux data and found that 10Bem concentrations increase 230\% from upstream to downstream, indicating a mean total sediment transit time of 8.4 ± 2.2 kyr. Bulk sediment budget-based estimates of channel belt and fan storage times suggest that the 10Bem tracer records mixing of old and young sediment reservoirs. On a reach scale, 10Bem transit times are shorter where the channel is braided and superelevated above the floodplain, and longer where the channel is incised and meandering, suggesting that transit time is controlled by channel morphodynamics. This is the first systematic application of 10Bem as a sediment transit time tracer and highlights the method's potential for inferring sediment routing and storage dynamics in large river systems.}, language = {en} } @article{RepaschWittmannScheingrossetal.2020, author = {Repasch, Marisa and Wittmann, Hella and Scheingross, Joel S. and Sachse, Dirk and Szupiany, Ricardo and Orfeo, Oscar and Fuchs, Margret and Hovius, Niels}, title = {Sediment Transit Time and Floodplain Storage Dynamics in Alluvial Rivers Revealed by Meteoric 10Be}, series = {Journal of Geophysical Research: Earth Surface}, volume = {125}, journal = {Journal of Geophysical Research: Earth Surface}, publisher = {Wiley}, address = {Hoboken, NJ}, issn = {2169-9011}, doi = {10.1029/2019JF005419}, pages = {19}, year = {2020}, abstract = {Quantifying the time scales of sediment transport and storage through river systems is fundamental for understanding weathering processes, biogeochemical cycling, and improving watershed management, but measuring sediment transit time is challenging. Here we provide the first systematic test of measuring cosmogenic meteoric Beryllium-10 (10Bem) in the sediment load of a large alluvial river to quantify sediment transit times. We take advantage of a natural experiment in the Rio Bermejo, a lowland alluvial river traversing the east Andean foreland basin in northern Argentina. This river has no tributaries along its trunk channel for nearly 1,300 km downstream from the mountain front. We sampled suspended sediment depth profiles along the channel and measured the concentrations of 10Bem in the chemically extracted grain coatings. We calculated depth-integrated 10Bem concentrations using sediment flux data and found that 10Bem concentrations increase 230\% from upstream to downstream, indicating a mean total sediment transit time of 8.4 ± 2.2 kyr. Bulk sediment budget-based estimates of channel belt and fan storage times suggest that the 10Bem tracer records mixing of old and young sediment reservoirs. On a reach scale, 10Bem transit times are shorter where the channel is braided and superelevated above the floodplain, and longer where the channel is incised and meandering, suggesting that transit time is controlled by channel morphodynamics. This is the first systematic application of 10Bem as a sediment transit time tracer and highlights the method's potential for inferring sediment routing and storage dynamics in large river systems.}, language = {en} } @article{PingelAlonsoAltenbergeretal.2019, author = {Pingel, Heiko and Alonso, Ricardo N. and Altenberger, Uwe and Cottle, John and Strecker, Manfred}, title = {Miocene to Quaternary basin evolution at the southeastern Andean Plateau (Puna) margin (ca. 24°S lat, Northwestern Argentina)}, series = {Basin research}, volume = {31}, journal = {Basin research}, number = {4}, publisher = {Wiley}, address = {Hoboken}, issn = {0950-091X}, doi = {10.1111/bre.12346}, pages = {808 -- 826}, year = {2019}, abstract = {The Andean Plateau of NW Argentina is a prominent example of a high-elevation orogenic plateau characterized by internal drainage, arid to hyper-arid climatic conditions and a compressional basin-and-range morphology comprising thick sedimentary basins. However, the development of the plateau as a geomorphic entity is not well understood. Enhanced orographic rainout along the eastern, windward plateau flank causes reduced fluvial run-off and thus subdued surface-process rates in the arid hinterland. Despite this, many Puna basins document a complex history of fluvial processes that have transformed the landscape from aggrading basins with coalescing alluvial fans to the formation of multiple fluvial terraces that are now abandoned. Here, we present data from the San Antonio de los Cobres (SAC) area, a sub-catchment of the Salinas Grandes Basin located on the eastern Puna Plateau bordering the externally drained Eastern Cordillera. Our data include: (a) new radiometric U-Pb zircon data from intercalated volcanic ash layers and detrital zircons from sedimentary key horizons; (b) sedimentary and geochemical provenance indicators; (c) river profile analysis; and (d) palaeo-landscape reconstruction to assess aggradation, incision and basin connectivity. Our results suggest that the eastern Puna margin evolved from a structurally controlled intermontane basin during the Middle Miocene, similar to intermontane basins in the Mio-Pliocene Eastern Cordillera and the broken Andean foreland. Our refined basin stratigraphy implies that sedimentation continued during the Late Mio-Pliocene and the Quaternary, after which the SAC area was subjected to basin incision and excavation of the sedimentary fill. Because this incision is unrelated to baselevel changes and tectonic processes, and is similar in timing to the onset of basin fill and excavation cycles of intermontane basins in the adjacent Eastern Cordillera, we suspect a regional climatic driver, triggered by the Mid-Pleistocene Climate Transition, caused the present-day morphology. Our observations suggest that lateral orogenic growth, aridification of orogenic interiors, and protracted plateau sedimentation are all part of a complex process chain necessary to establish and maintain geomorphic characteristics of orogenic plateaus in tectonically active mountain belts.}, language = {en} }