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Abstract Constraining the geometry and displacement of crustal‐scale normal faults has historically been challenging, owing to difficulties with geophysical imaging and inability to identify precise cut‐offs at depth. Using a modified workflow previously applied to contractional systems, flexural‐kinematic (Move) and thermal‐kinematic (Pecube) models are integrated with apatite (U‐Th)/He (AHe) and apatite fission track (AFT) data from Teton footwall transects to constrain total Teton fault displacement (D_max). Models with slip onset at ∼10 Ma and flexure parameters that best match the observed Teton flexural profile requireD_max > 8 km to produce young (<10 Ma) AHe ages observed at low elevation footwall positions in the Tetons. For the same slip onset, models withD_maxof 11–13 km provide the best match to observed AHe data, but displacements ≥16 km are required to produce observed AFT ages (13.6–12.0 Ma) at low elevations. A more complex model with slow slip onset at ∼25 Ma followed by faster slip at ∼10 Ma yields a good match between modeled and observed AHe ages at aD_maxof 13–15 km. However, this model predicts low elevation AFT ages 6–8 Ma older than observed ages, even atD_maxvalues of 16–17 km. Based on this analysis and integration with previous studies, we propose a unified evolution wherein the Teton fault likely experienced 11–13 km of Miocene‐recent displacement, with AFT data likely indicating a pre‐to early Miocene cooling history. Importantly, this study highlights the utility of using integrated flexural‐ and thermal‐kinematic models to resolve displacement histories in extensional systems. 

The potential structural controls on exhumation across the southern Peruvian Andes are not well understood, in part due to limited structural studies that co-locate with thermochronometric datasets. We integrate these two datasets and evaluate the relative contribution that fault geometry, magnitude, and shortening rate have on predicted cooling ages. Here we present a balanced cross-section constructed using new structural observations. This section, combined with existing thermochronometer data and a thermokinematic model, investigates the drivers of high exhumation and young canyon thermochronometric ages along the deeply incised Marcapata canyon in southern Peru. Together, these approaches constrain the timing and magnitude of exhumation in this portion of the southern Peruvian Andes and provide a mechanism for documenting how the internal architecture changes along strike. The balanced cross-section (oriented N30E) covers the Subandean Zone to the northeast, the Marcapata canyon on the eastern flank of the southern Peruvian Andes, and the Altiplano-Eastern Cordillera boundary to the southwest (13–18◦ S). Exhumation is constrained by four low-temperature thermochronometer systems, including apatite and zircon (U-Th)/He (AHe and ZHe, respectively) and fission-track (AFT and ZFT, respectively). The youngest AHe (∼1–3 Ma), AFT (∼3–7 Ma), ZHe (∼4–7 Ma), and ZFT (∼14–17 Ma) ages are located in the center and valley bottom of the Marcapata canyon. The thermokinematically modeled cross-section produces cooling ages determined by fault geometry and kinematics. Reset ZFT ages require burial of Ordovician rocks in excess of 5.5 km above the original 6.5 km depositional depth. We find that the ZFT and ZHe ages in the Eastern Cordillera are sensitive to the history and magnitude of burial, age and location of uplift, and canyon incision. Canyon incision is required to reproduce the youngest canyon thermochronometric ages while slow shortening rates from ∼10 Ma to Present are required to reproduce interfluve thermochronometric ages. Shortening is accommodated by basement faults that feed slip up through three different décollement levels before reaching the surface. The proposed stacked basement geometry sets the first-order cooling signal seen in modeled ages. We determined that the total shortening in this section from the Subandean Zone to the Altiplano is 147.5 km, similar to shortening estimates in an adjacent thermo-kinematically modeled section in the San Gabán canyon 50 km to the southeast. Both the ZHe and ZFT ages in the Marcapata section (4–5 and 14 Ma) are noticeably younger than cooling ages from the San Gabán section (16 and 29 Ma). The Marcapata section’s higher magnitude of exhumation is due to a repetition of basement thrusts that continues to elevate the Eastern Cordillera while active deformation occurs in the Subandean Zone. The youngest thermochronometric ages in all four systems are co-located with the overlapping basement thrust geometry. This basement geometry, kinematic sequence of deformation, and canyon incision co-conspire to produce the young cooling ages observed in the Eastern Cordillera. 

This study assesses the impact of fold-thrust belt driven deformation on the topographic evolution, bedrock exhumation and basin formation in the southeastern Peruvian Andes. We do this through a flexural and thermokinematically modelled balanced cross-section. In addition, published thermochronology samples from low-elevation (river canyons) and high-elevation (interfluves) and Cenozoic sedimentary basin datasets along the balanced cross-section were used to evaluate the age, location, and geometry of fault-driven uplift, as well as potential relationships to the timing of ∼2 km of canyon incision. The integrated structural, thermochronologic, and basin data were used to test the sensitivity of model results to various shortening rates and durations, a range of thermophysical parameters, and different magnitudes and timing of canyon incision. Results indicate that young apatite (U-Th)/He (AHe) canyon samples from ∼2 km in elevation or lower are consistent with river incision occurring between ∼8–2 Ma and are independent of the timing of ramp-driven uplift and accompanying erosion. In contrast, replicating the young AHe canyon samples located at >2.7 km elevation requires ongoing ramp-driven uplift. Replicating older interfluve cooling ages concurrent with young canyon ages necessitates slow shortening rates (0.25–0.6 mm/y) from ∼10 Ma to Present, potentially reflecting a decrease in upper plate compression during slab steepening. The best-fit model that reproduces basin ages and depositional contacts requires a background shortening rate of 3–4 mm/y with a marked decrease in rates to ≤0.5 mm/y at ∼10 Ma. Canyon incision occurred during this period of slow shortening, potentially enhanced by Pliocene climate change. 

The ~2,000-km-long Central Range of New Guinea is a hotspot of modern carbon sequestration due to the chemical weathering of igneous rocks with steep topography in the warm wet tropics. These high mountains formed in a collision between the Australian plate and ophiolite-bearing volcanic arc terranes, but poor resolution of the uplift and exhumation history has precluded assessments of the impact on global climate change. Here, we develop a palinspastic reconstruction of the Central Range orogen with existing surface geological constraints and seismic data to generate time–temperature paths and estimate volumes of eroded material. New (U-Th)/He thermochronology data reveal rapid uplift and regional denudation between 10 and 6 Mya. Erosion fluxes from the palinspastic reconstruction, calibrated for time with the thermochronological data, were used as input to a coupled global climate and weathering model. This model estimates 0.6 to 1.2 °C of cooling associated with the Late Miocene rise of New Guinea due to increased silicate weathering alone, and this CO₂sink continues to the present. Our data and modeling experiments support the hypothesis that tropical arc-continent collision and the rise of New Guinea contributed to Neogene cooling due to increased silicate weathering. 

Quantifying the impacts of past changes in tectonics or climate on mountain topography has proven challenging. The incision of the eastern Central Andean Plateau has been interpreted as both a result of deformation-related uplift and erosion and climate-driven erosion. Here, we contribute >100 new apatite and zircon (U-Th)/He and fission-track dates from 51 new and eight previous bedrock samples. These samples were combined with previous thermochronometer data from three ∼190-km-long and ∼200-km-apart across-strike transects along the eastern margin of the Andean Plateau in southern Peru. We discuss age-distance, age-elevation, and inverse thermal history model results along these transects to constrain the timing and extent of recent canyon incision compared to the region’s long-term (∼40 Myrs) exhumation history. Results indicate that, along the plateau flank, long-term, deformation-related exhumation is superimposed by a regional, synchronous canyon incision-related signal since ∼4–3 Ma. This incision is traceable from at least the Abancay Deflection in southern Peru to southern Bolivia along the eastern Central Andes. Based on the regional and synchronous character of canyon incision across areas with different deformation histories and exhumation magnitude, we suggest that paleoclimate change was a significant contributor to incision. However, structural processes resulting in surface uplift, erosion, and exhumation continued post-mid Miocene and contributed to the observed exhumation magnitude. 

Abstract The Andes of western Argentina record spatiotemporal variations in morphology, basin geometry, and structural style that correspond with changes in crustal inheritance and convergent margin dynamics. Above the modern Pampean flat‐slab subduction segment (27–33°S), retroarc shortening generated a fold‐thrust belt and intraforeland basement uplifts that converge north of ∼29°S, providing opportunities to explore the effects of varied deformation and subduction regimes on synorogenic sedimentation. We integrate new detrital zircon U‐Pb and apatite (U‐Th)/He analyses with sequentially restored, flexurally balanced cross sections and thermokinematic models at ∼28.5–30°S to link deformation with resulting uplift, erosion, and basin accumulation histories. Tectonic subsidence, topographic evolution, and thermochronometric cooling records point to (a) shortening and distal foreland basin accumulation at ∼18–16 Ma, (b) thrust belt migration, changes in sediment provenance, and enhanced flexural subsidence from ∼16 to 9 Ma, (c) intraforeland basement deformation, local flexure, and drainage reorganization at ∼12–7 Ma, and (d) out‐of‐sequence shortening and exhumation of foreland basin fill by ∼8–2 Ma. Thrust belt kinematics and the reactivation of basement heterogeneities strongly controlled tectonic load configurations and subsidence patterns. Geo/thermochronological data and model results resolve increased shortening and combined thrust belt and intraforeland basement loading in response to ridge collision and Neogene shallowing of the subducted oceanic slab. Finally, this study demonstrates the utility of integrated flexural thermokinematic and erosion modeling for evaluating the geometries, rates, and potential drivers of retroarc deformation and foreland basin evolution during changes in subduction.