TY - JOUR A1 - Wörner, Gerhard A1 - Schildgen, Taylor F. A1 - Reich, Martin T1 - The central Andes BT - elements of an extreme land JF - Elements : an international magazine of mineralogy, geochemistry, and petrology N2 - The Central Andes and the Atacama Desert represent a unique geological, climatic, and magmatic setting on our planet. It is the only place on Earth where subduction of an oceanic plate below an active continental margin has led to an extensive mountain chain and an orogenic plateau that is second in size only to the Tibetan Plateau, which resulted from continental collision. In this article, we introduce the history of the Central Andes and the evolution of its landscape. We also discuss links between tectonic forces, magmatism, and the extreme hyperarid climate of this land that, in turn, has led to rich deposits of precious ores and minerals. KW - volcanism KW - active continental margin KW - tectonic shortening KW - uplift and erosion KW - hyperaridity KW - mineral deposits Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.2138/gselements.14.4.225 SN - 1811-5209 SN - 1811-5217 VL - 14 IS - 4 SP - 225 EP - 230 PB - Mineralogical Society of America CY - Chantilly ER - TY - GEN A1 - Geissman, John A1 - Jolivet, Laurent A1 - Niemi, Nathan A1 - Schildgen, Taylor F. T1 - Thank you to our 2017 Peer Reviewers T2 - Tectonics N2 - An essential, respected, and critical aspect of the modern practice of science and scientific publishing is peer review. The process of peer review facilitates best practices in scientific conduct and communication, ensuring that manuscripts published as accurate, valuable, and clearly communicated. The over 152 papers published in Tectonics in 2017 benefit from the time, effort, and expertise of our reviewers who have provided thoughtfully considered advice on each manuscript. This role is critical to advancing our understanding of the evolution of the continents and their margins, as these reviews lead to even clearer and higher-quality papers. In 2017, the over 423 papers submitted to Tectonics were the beneficiaries of more than 786 reviews provided by 562 members of the tectonics community and related disciplines. To everyone who has volunteered their time and intellect to peer reviewing, thank you for helping Tectonics and all other AGU Publications provide the best science possible. Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1029/2018TC005194 SN - 0278-7407 SN - 1944-9194 VL - 37 IS - 8 SP - 2272 EP - 2277 PB - American Geophysical Union CY - Washington ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Ballato, Paolo A1 - Parra, Mauricio A1 - Schildgen, Taylor F. A1 - Dunkl, I. A1 - Yildirim, C. A1 - Özsayin, Erman A1 - Sobel, Edward A1 - Echtler, H. A1 - Strecker, Manfred T1 - Multiple exhumation phases in the Central Pontides (N Turkey) BT - new temporal constraints on Major geodynamic changes associated with the closure of the Neo-Tethys Ocean JF - Tectonics N2 - The Central Pontides of N Turkey represents a mobile orogenic belt of the southern Eurasian margin that experienced several phases of exhumation associated with the consumption of different branches of the Neo-Tethys Ocean and the amalgamation of continental domains. Our new low-temperature thermochronology data help to constrain the timing of these episodes, providing new insights into associated geodynamic processes. In particular, our data suggest that exhumation occurred at (1) similar to 110 to 90Ma, most likely during tectonic accretion and exhumation of metamorphic rocks from the subduction zone; (2) from similar to 60 to 40Ma, during the collision of the Kirehir and Anatolide-Tauride microcontinental domains with the Eurasian margin; (3) from similar to 0 to 25Ma, either during the early stages of the Arabia-Eurasia collision (soft collision) when the Arabian passive margin reached the trench, implying 70 to 530km of subduction of the Arabian passive margin, or during a phase of trench advance predating hard collision at similar to 20Ma; and (4) similar to 11Ma to the present, during transpression associated with the westward motion of Anatolia. Our findings document the punctuated nature of fault-related exhumation, with episodes of fast cooling followed by periods of slow cooling or subsidence, the role of inverted normal faults in controlling the Paleogene exhumation pattern, and of the North Anatolian Fault in dictating the most recent pattern of exhumation. KW - thermal modeling KW - Central Pontides KW - Arabia-Eurasia collision KW - trench advance KW - Anatolia westward motion KW - inversion tectonics Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1029/2017TC004808 SN - 0278-7407 SN - 1944-9194 VL - 37 IS - 6 SP - 1831 EP - 1857 PB - American Geophysical Union CY - Washington ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Tofelde, Stefanie A1 - Duesing, Walter A1 - Schildgen, Taylor F. A1 - Wickert, Andrew D. A1 - Wittmann, Hella A1 - Alonso, Ricardo N. A1 - Strecker, Manfred T1 - Effects of deep-seated versus shallow hillslope processes on cosmogenic Be-10 concentrations in fluvial sand and gravel JF - Earth surface processes and landforms : the journal of the British Geomorphological Research Group N2 - Terrestrial cosmogenic nuclide (TCN) concentrations in fluvial sediment, from which denudation rates are commonly inferred, can be affected by hillslope processes. TCN concentrations in gravel and sand may differ if localized, deep-excavation processes (e.g. landslides, debris flows) affect the contributing catchment, whereas the TCN concentrations of sand and gravel tend to be more similar when diffusional processes like soil creep and sheetwash are dominant. To date, however, no study has systematically compared TCN concentrations in different detrital grain-size fractions with a detailed inventory of hillslope processes from the entire catchment. Here we compare concentrations of the TCN Be-10 in 20 detrital sand samples from the Quebrada del Toro (southern Central Andes, Argentina) to a hillslope-process inventory from each contributing catchment. Our comparison reveals a shift from low-slope gullying and scree production in slowly denuding, low-slope areas to steep-slope gullying and landsliding in fast-denuding, steep areas. To investigate whether the nature of hillslope processes (locally excavating or more uniformly denuding) may be reflected in a comparison of the Be-10 concentrations of sand and gravel, we define the normalized sand-gravel index (NSGI) as the Be-10-concentration difference between sand and gravel divided by their summed concentrations. We find a positive, linear relationship between the NSGI and median slope, such that our NSGI values broadly reflect the shift in hillslope processes from low-slope gullying and scree production to steep-slope gullying and landsliding. Higher NSGI values characterize regions affected by steep-slope gullying or landsliding. We relate the large scatter in the relationship, which is exhibited particularly in low-slope areas, to reduced hillslope-channel connectivity and associated transient sediment storage within those catchments. While high NSGI values in well-connected catchments are a reliable signal of deep-excavation processes, hillslope excavation processes may not be reliably recorded by NSGI values where sediment experiences transient storage. (c) 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1002/esp.4471 SN - 0197-9337 SN - 1096-9837 VL - 43 IS - 15 SP - 3086 EP - 3098 PB - Wiley CY - Hoboken ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Rosenkranz, Ruben A1 - Schildgen, Taylor F. A1 - Wittmann, Hella A1 - Spiegel, Cornelia T1 - Coupling erosion and topographic development in the rainiest place on Earth BT - Reconstructing the Shillong Plateau uplift history with in-situ cosmogenic Be-10 JF - Earth & planetary science letters N2 - The uplift of the Shillong Plateau, in northeast India between the Bengal floodplain and the Himalaya Mountains, has had a significant impact on regional precipitation patterns, strain partitioning, and the path of the Brahmaputra River. Today, the plateau receives the highest measured yearly rainfall in the world and is tectonically active, having hosted one of the strongest intra-plate earthquakes ever recorded. Despite the unique tectonic and climatic setting of this prominent landscape feature, its exhumation and surface uplift history are poorly constrained. We collected 14 detrital river sand and 3 bedrock samples from the southern margin of the Shillong Plateau to measure erosion rates using the terrestrial cosmogenic nuclide 10Be. The calculated bedrock erosion rates range from 2.0 to 5.6 m My−1, whereas catchment average erosion rates from detrital river sands range from 48 to 214 m My−1. These rates are surprisingly low in the context of steep, tectonically active slopes and extreme rainfall. Moreover, the highest among these rates, which occur on the low-relief plateau surface, appear to have been affected by anthropogenic land-use change. To determine the onset of surface uplift, we coupled the catchment averaged erosion rates with topographic analyses of the plateau's southern margin. We interpolated an inclined, pre-incision surface from minimally eroded remnants along the valley interfluves and calculated the eroded volume of the valleys carved beneath the surface. The missing volume was then divided by the volume flux derived from the erosion rates to obtain the onset of uplift. The results of this calculation, ranging from 3.0 to 5.0 Ma for individual valleys, are in agreement with several lines of stratigraphic evidence from the Brahmaputra and Bengal basin that constrain the onset of topographic uplift, specifically the onset of flexural loading and the transgression from deltaic to marine deposition. Ultimately, our data corroborate the hypothesis that surface uplift was decoupled from the onset of rapid exhumation, which occurred several millions of years earlier. KW - river profile analysis KW - land-use change KW - Be-10 KW - orographic rainfall KW - erosion Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2017.11.047 SN - 0012-821X SN - 1385-013X VL - 483 SP - 39 EP - 51 PB - Elsevier CY - Amsterdam ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Guzman, Silvina A1 - Strecker, Manfred A1 - Marti, Joan A1 - Petrinovic, Ivan A. A1 - Schildgen, Taylor F. A1 - Grosse, Pablo A1 - Montero-Lopez, Carolina A1 - Neri, Marco A1 - Carniel, Roberto A1 - D. Hongn, Fernando A1 - Muruaga, Claudia A1 - Sudo, Masafumi T1 - Construction and degradation of a broad volcanic massif: The Vicuna Pampa volcanic complex, southern Central Andes, NW Argentina JF - Geological Society of America bulletin N2 - The Vicuna Pampa volcanic complex, at the SE edge of the arid Puna Plateau of the Central Andes, records the interplay between volcanic construction and degra-dational processes. The low-sloping Vicuna Pampa volcanic complex, with a 1200-m-deep, southeastward-opening depression, was previously interpreted as a collapse caldera based on morphological considerations. However, characteristic features associated with collapse calderas do not exist, and close inspection instead suggests that the Vicuna Pampa volcanic complex is a strongly eroded, broad, massif-type composite volcano of mainly basaltic to trachyandesitic composition. Construction of the Vicuna Pampa volcanic complex occurred during two distinct cycles separated by the development of the depression. The first and main cycle took place at ca. 12 Ma and was dominated by lava flows and subordinate scoria cones and domes. The second cycle, possibly late Miocene in age, affected the SW portion of the depression with the emplacement of domes. We interpret the central depression as the result of a possible sector collapse and subsequent intense fluvial erosion during middle to late Miocene time, facilitated by faulting, steepened topography, and wetter climate conditions compared to today. We estimate that similar to 65% of the initial edifice of similar to 240 km(3) was degraded. The efficiency of degradation processes for removing mass from the Vicuna Pampa volcanic complex is surprising, considering that today the region is arid, and the stream channels within the complex are predominantly transport limited, forming a series of coalesced, aggraded alluvial fans and eolian infill. Hence, the Vicuna Pampa volcanic complex records the effects of past degradation efficiency that differs substantially from that of today. Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1130/B31631.1 SN - 0016-7606 SN - 1943-2674 VL - 129 SP - 750 EP - 766 PB - American Institute of Physics CY - Boulder ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Garcin, Yannick A1 - Schildgen, Taylor F. A1 - Acosta, Veronica Torres A1 - Melnick, Daniel A1 - Guillemoteau, Julien A1 - Willenbring, Jane A1 - Strecker, Manfred T1 - Short-lived increase in erosion during the African Humid Period BT - evidence from the northern Kenya Rift JF - Earth & planetary science letters N2 - The African Humid Period (AHP) between similar to 15 and 5.5 cal. kyr BP caused major environmental change in East Africa, including filling of the Suguta Valley in the northern Kenya Rift with an extensive (similar to 2150 km(2)), deep (similar to 300 m) lake. Interfingering fluvio-lacustrine deposits of the Baragoi paleo-delta provide insights into the lake-level history and how erosion rates changed during this time, as revealed by delta-volume estimates and the concentration of cosmogenic Be-10 in fluvial sand. Erosion rates derived from delta-volume estimates range from 0.019 to 0.03 mm yr(-1). Be-10-derived paleo-erosion rates at similar to 11.8 cal. kyr BP ranged from 0.035 to 0.086 mm yr(-1), and were 2.7 to 6.6 times faster than at present. In contrast, at similar to 8.7 cal. kyr BP, erosion rates were only 1.8 times faster than at present. Because Be-10-derived erosion rates integrate over several millennia; we modeled the erosion-rate history that best explains the 10Be data using established non-linear equations that describe in situ cosmogenic isotope production and decay. Two models with different temporal constraints (15-6.7 and 12-6.7 kyr) suggest erosion rates that were 25 to 300 times higher than the initial erosion rate (pre-delta formation). That pulse of high erosion rates was short (similar to 4 kyr or less) and must have been followed by a rapid decrease in rates while climate remained humid to reach the modern Be-10-based erosion rate of,similar to 0.013 mm yr(-1). Our simulations also flag the two highest Be-10-derived erosion rates at 11.8 kyr BP related to nonuniform catchment erosion. These changes in erosion rates and processes during the AHP may reflect a strong increase in precipitation, runoff, and erosivity at the arid-to-humid transition either at 15 or similar to 12 cal. kyr BP, before the landscape stabilized again, possibly due to increased soil production and denser vegetation. KW - northern Kenya Rift KW - Baragoi KW - paleo-delta KW - African Humid Period KW - erosion KW - Be-10 Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2016.11.017 SN - 0012-821X SN - 1385-013X VL - 459 SP - 58 EP - 69 PB - Elsevier CY - Amsterdam ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Tofelde, Stefanie A1 - Schildgen, Taylor F. A1 - Savi, Sara A1 - Pingel, Heiko A1 - Wickert, Andrew D. A1 - Bookhagen, Bodo A1 - Wittmann, Hella A1 - Alonso, Ricardo N. A1 - Cottle, John A1 - Strecker, Manfred T1 - 100 kyr fluvial cut-and-fill terrace cycles since the Middle Pleistocene in the southern Central Andes, NW Argentina JF - Earth & planetary science letters N2 - Fluvial fill terraces in intermontane basins are valuable geomorphic archives that can record tectonically and/or climatically driven changes of the Earth-surface process system. However, often the preservation of fill terrace sequences is incomplete and/or they may form far away from their source areas, complicating the identification of causal links between forcing mechanisms and landscape response, especially over multi-millennial timescales. The intermontane Toro Basin in the southern Central Andes exhibits at least five generations of fluvial terraces that have been sculpted into several-hundred-meter-thick Quaternary valley-fill conglomerates. New surface-exposure dating using nine cosmogenic Be-10 depth profiles reveals the successive abandonment of these terraces with a 100 kyr cyclicity between 75 +/- 7 and 487 +/- 34 ka. Depositional ages of the conglomerates, determined by four Al-26/Be-10 burial samples and U-Pb zircon ages of three intercalated volcanic ash beds, range from 18 +/- 141 to 936 +/- 170 ka, indicating that there were multiple cut-and-fill episodes. Although the initial onset of aggradation at similar to 1 Ma and the overall net incision since ca. 500 ka can be linked to tectonic processes at the narrow basin outlet, the superimposed 100 kyr cycles of aggradation and incision are best explained by eccentricity-driven climate change. Within these cycles, the onset of river incision can be correlated with global cold periods and enhanced humid phases recorded in paleoclimate archives on the adjacent Bolivian Altiplano, whereas deposition occurred mainly during more arid phases on the Altiplano and global interglacial periods. We suggest that enhanced runoff during global cold phases - due to increased regional precipitation rates, reduced evapotranspiration, or both - resulted in an increased sediment-transport capacity in the Toro Basin, which outweighed any possible increases in upstream sediment supply and thus triggered incision. Compared with two nearby basins that record precessional (21-kyr) and long-eccentricity (400-kyr) forcing within sedimentary and geomorphic archives, the recorded cyclicity scales with the square of the drainage basin length. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. KW - Be-10 depth-profiles KW - surface inflation KW - aggradation-incision cycles KW - glacial-interglacial cycles KW - landscape response to climate change KW - Eastern Cordillera Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2017.06.001 SN - 0012-821X SN - 1385-013X VL - 473 SP - 141 EP - 153 PB - Elsevier CY - Amsterdam ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Noury, M. A1 - Bernet, M. A1 - Schildgen, Taylor F. A1 - Simon-Labric, T. A1 - Philippon, M. A1 - Sempere, T. T1 - Crustal-scale block tilting during Andean trench-parallel extension: Structural and geo-thermochronological insights JF - Tectonics N2 - Despite a long history of plate convergence at the western margin of the South American plate that has been ongoing since at least the Early Paleozoic, the southern Peruvian fore-arc displays little to no evidence of shortening. In the light of this observation, we assess the deformation history of the southern Peruvian fore-arc and its geodynamic implications. To accomplish this, we present a new structural and geo-thermochronological data set (zircon U-Pb, mica Ar-40/Ar-39, apatite and zircon fission-track and zircon (U-Th)/He analyses) for samples collected along a 400km long transect parallel to the trench. Our results show that the Mesoproterozoic gneissic basement was mainly at temperatures 350 degrees C since the Neoproterozoic and was later intruded by Jurassic volcanic arc plutons. Along the coast, a peculiar apatite fission-track age pattern, coupled with field observations and a synthesis of available geological maps, allows us to identify crustal-scale tilted blocks that span the coastal Peruvian fore-arc. These blocks, bounded by normal faults that are orthogonal to the trench, suggest post-60Ma trench-parallel extension that potentially accommodated oroclinal bending in this region. Block tilting is consistent with the observed and previously described switch in the location of sedimentary sources in the fore-arc basin. Our data set allows us to estimate the cumulative slip on these faults to be less than 2km and questions the large amount of trench-parallel extension suggested to have accommodated this bending. KW - Central Andes KW - Peruvian fore arc KW - thermochronology KW - trench-parallel extension KW - oroclinal bending Y1 - 2016 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1002/2016TC004231 SN - 0278-7407 SN - 1944-9194 VL - 35 SP - 2052 EP - 2069 PB - American Geophysical Union CY - Washington ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Georgieva, Viktoria A1 - Melnick, Daniel A1 - Schildgen, Taylor F. A1 - Ehlers, Todd A1 - Lagabrielle, Yves A1 - Enkelmann, Eva A1 - Strecker, Manfred T1 - Tectonic control on rock uplift, exhumation, and topography above an oceanic ridge collision: Southern Patagonian Andes (47 degrees S), Chile JF - Tectonics N2 - The subduction of bathymetric anomalies at convergent margins can profoundly affect subduction dynamics, magmatism, and the structural and geomorphic evolution of the overriding plate. The Northern Patagonian Icefield (NPI) is located east of the Chile Triple Junction at similar to 47 degrees S, where the Chile Rise spreading center collides with South America. This region is characterized by an abrupt increase in summit elevations and relief that has been controversially debated in the context of geodynamic versus glacial erosion effects on topography. Here we present geomorphic, thermochronological, and structural data that document neotectonic activity along hitherto unrecognized faults along the flanks of the NPI. New apatite (U-Th)/He bedrock cooling ages suggest faulting since 2-3 Ma. We infer the northward translation of an similar to 140 km long fore-arc sliver-the NPI block-results from enhanced partitioning of oblique plate convergence due to the closely spaced collision of three successive segments of the Chile Rise. In this model, greater uplift occurs in the hanging wall of the Exploradores thrust at the northern leading edge of the NPI block, whereas the Cachet and Liquine-Ofqui dextral faults decouple the NPI block along its eastern and western flanks, respectively. Localized extension possibly occurs at its southern trailing edge along normal faults associated with margin-parallel extension, tectonic subsidence, and lower elevations along the Andean crest line. Our neotectonic model provides a novel explanation for the abrupt topographic variations inland of the Chile Triple Junction and emphasizes the fundamental effects of local tectonics on exhumation and topographic patterns in this glaciated landscape. Y1 - 2016 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1002/2016TC004120 SN - 0278-7407 SN - 1944-9194 VL - 35 SP - 1317 EP - 1341 PB - American Geophysical Union CY - Washington ER -