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Temporal and spatial variations of tectonic rock uplift are generally thought to be the main controls on long-term erosion rates in various landscapes. However, rivers continuously lengthen and capture drainages in strike-slip fault systems due to ongoing motion across the fault, which can induce changes in landscape forms, drainage networks, and local erosion rates. Located along the restraining bend of the San Andreas Fault, the San Bernardino Mountains provide a suitable location for assessing the influence of topographic disequilibrium from perturbations by tectonic forcing and channel reorganization on measured erosion rates. In this study, we measured 17 new basin-averaged erosion rates using cosmogenic 10Be in river sands (hereafter, 10Be-derived erosion rates) and compiled 31 10Be-derived erosion rates from previous work. We quantify the degree of topographic disequilibrium using topographic analysis by examining hillslope and channel decoupling, the areal extent of pre-uplift surface, and drainage divide asymmetry across various landscapes. Similar to previous work, we find that erosion rates generally increase from north to south across the San Bernardino Mountains, reflecting a southward increase in tectonic activity. However, a comparison between 10Be-derived erosion rates and various topographic metrics in the southern San Bernardino Mountains suggests that the presence of transient landscape features such as relict topography and drainage-divide migration may explain local variations in 10Be-derived erosion rates. Our work shows that coupled analysis of erosion rates and topographic metrics provides tools for assessing the influence of tectonic uplift and channel reorganization on landscape evolution and 10Be-derived erosion rates in an evolving strike-slip restraining bend.
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Tectonic controls on Quaternary landscape evolution in the Ventura basin, southern California, USA, quantified using cosmogenic isotopes and topographic analyses
Abstract The quantification of rates for the competing forces of tectonic uplift and erosion has important implications for understanding topographic evolution. Here, we quantify the complex interplay between tectonic uplift, topographic development, and erosion recorded in the hanging walls of several active reverse faults in the Ventura basin, southern California, USA. We use cosmogenic 26Al/10Be isochron burial dating and 10Be surface exposure dating to construct a basin-wide geochronology, which includes burial dating of the Saugus Formation: an important, but poorly dated, regional Quaternary strain marker. Our ages for the top of the exposed Saugus Formation range from 0.36 +0.18/-0.22 Ma to 1.06 +0.23/-0.26 Ma, and our burial ages near the base of shallow marine deposits, which underlie the Saugus Formation, increase eastward from 0.60 +0.05/-0.06 Ma to 3.30 +0.30/-0.41 Ma. Our geochronology is used to calculate rapid long-term reverse fault slip rates of 8.6–12.6 mm yr–1 since ca. 1.0 Ma for the San Cayetano fault and 1.3–3.0 mm yr–1 since ca. 1.0 Ma for the Oak Ridge fault, which are both broadly consistent with contemporary reverse slip rates derived from mechanical models driven by global positioning system (GPS) data. We also calculate terrestrial cosmogenic nuclide (TCN)-derived, catchment-averaged erosion rates that range from 0.05–1.14 mm yr–1 and discuss the applicability of TCN-derived, catchment-averaged erosion rates in rapidly uplifting, landslide-prone landscapes. We compare patterns in erosion rates and tectonic rates to fluvial response times and geomorphic landscape parameters to show that in young, rapidly uplifting mountain belts, catchments may attain a quasi-steady-state on timescales of <105 years even if catchment-averaged erosion rates are still adjusting to tectonic forcing.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1735676
- PAR ID:
- 10395173
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- GSA Bulletin
- Volume:
- 134
- Issue:
- 9-10
- ISSN:
- 0016-7606
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 2245 to 2266
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.1130/B36076.1
