Grants and Contracts Details
Description
Denudation of mountain topography is classically attributed to surface processes such as erosion and mass
wasting or to dynamic effects such as gravitational collapse and rarely have other removal mechanisms
been considered. Although denduation rates as high as 10 cm yr-1 have been observed in tectonically
active mountain belts, these rates are unlikely to be sustained as elevation gradients are diminished over
the lifespan of an orogenic system, and thus they require >10-100 Myr to completely denude tectonically
generated relief.
However, in the northernmost Basin and Range of North America the low-relief track of
the Yellowstone hotspot apparently ‘truncates’ multiple high-relief mountain ranges and the
seismogenically active normal faults that produced these uplifts. This leads to the idea that migration of
the hotspot has ‘erased’ the continental topographic divide that otherwise extends from northern Mexico
to Canada. In this scenario, major mountain belts would be completely and cataclysmically removed in
Status | Active |
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Effective start/end date | 2/1/20 → 1/31/24 |
Funding
- National Science Foundation: $626,413.00
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