IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/nature/v606y2022i7914d10.1038_s41586-022-04700-6.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Topography of mountain belts controlled by rheology and surface processes

Author

Listed:
  • Sebastian G. Wolf

    (Department of Earth Science, University of Bergen)

  • Ritske S. Huismans

    (Department of Earth Science, University of Bergen)

  • Jean Braun

    (German Research Centre for Geosciences
    University of Potsdam)

  • Xiaoping Yuan

    (German Research Centre for Geosciences
    China University of Geosciences)

Abstract

It is widely recognized that collisional mountain belt topography is generated by crustal thickening and lowered by river bedrock erosion, linking climate and tectonics1–4. However, whether surface processes or lithospheric strength control mountain belt height, shape and longevity remains uncertain. Additionally, how to reconcile high erosion rates in some active orogens with long-term survival of mountain belts for hundreds of millions of years remains enigmatic. Here we investigate mountain belt growth and decay using a new coupled surface process5,6 and mantle-scale tectonic model7. End-member models and the new non-dimensional Beaumont number, Bm, quantify how surface processes and tectonics control the topographic evolution of mountain belts, and enable the definition of three end-member types of growing orogens: type 1, non-steady state, strength controlled (Bm > 0.5); type 2, flux steady state8, strength controlled (Bm ≈ 0.4−0.5); and type 3, flux steady state, erosion controlled (Bm

Suggested Citation

  • Sebastian G. Wolf & Ritske S. Huismans & Jean Braun & Xiaoping Yuan, 2022. "Topography of mountain belts controlled by rheology and surface processes," Nature, Nature, vol. 606(7914), pages 516-521, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:606:y:2022:i:7914:d:10.1038_s41586-022-04700-6
    DOI: 10.1038/s41586-022-04700-6
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-022-04700-6
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/s41586-022-04700-6?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Xiaoping Yuan & Yuqiang Li & Sascha Brune & Kai Li & Michaël Pons & Sebastian G. Wolf, 2024. "Coordination between deformation, precipitation, and erosion during orogenic growth," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-11, December.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:606:y:2022:i:7914:d:10.1038_s41586-022-04700-6. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.