Sedimentology of the Rı́mac-Chillón alluvial fan at Lima,Peru, as related to Plio-Pleistocene sea-level changes,glacial cycles and tectonics

The Rı́mac and Chillón Rivers eroded deep valleys on the Lima coastal plain during the Late Miocene (before ca. 5.3 Ma), due to at least 485 m of uplift produced by the Nazca Ridge, combined with a sea level lowstand of around −50 m. The main paleo-Rı́mac channel along the southeastern boundary of the alluvial cone was apparently deflected by the Lima Anticline and reached the sea in the vicinity of Morro Solar, whereas the paleo-Chillón ran largely parallel to the anticline, breaching it to enter the Pacific at present-day Magdalena. These valleys were filled by fine-grained sediments, possibly during marine transgression at 1.7 Ma, which was followed by uplift and regression to below present sea level. Meltwater surges from the Andean Cordillera during subsequent interglacial stades caused an accumulation of coarse, reworked glacial moraine in the Rı́mac and Chillón fans, forming the Lima Conglomerate and drowning the Lima Anticline. The Rı́mac and Chillón Rivers subsequently migrated north and westward, possibly in response to tectonic tilting of the landscape, causing silt and mud to accumulate in abandoned channels along the southeastern boundary of the fan.     

Environmental controls on 10Be‐based catchment‐averaged denudation rates along the western margin of the Peruvian Andes

We present ¹⁰Be‐based basin‐averaged denudation rates for the entire western margin of the Peruvian Andes. Denudation rates range from c. 9 mm ka^?1 to 190 mm ka^?1 and are related neither to the subduction of the Nazca plate nor to the current seismicity along the Pacific coast and the occurrence of raised Quaternary marine terraces. Therefore, we exclude a tectonic control on denudation on a millennial time‐scale. Instead, we explain >60% of the observed denudation rates with a model where erosion rates increase either with mean basin slope angles or with mean annual water discharge. These relationships suggest a strong environmental control on denudation.     

Holocene evolution of an estuary on a tectonically rising coast: the Pakarae River locality, eastern North Island, New Zealand

Estuarine and beach deposits in the vicinity of the present coastline at Pakarae River record the infilling of an estuary and subsequent development of a sequence of seven marine terraces during Holocene time.

At the maximum of the last glaciation about 18,000 years ago the shoreline at the ancestral Pakarae River was approximately 20 km east of the present shoreline. By about 9000 years BP the sea had transgressed across most of that coastal plain to lie within a few hundred metres of the base of the present coastal hills. Seventeen radiocarbon ages from estuarine deposits record the overall rise in post-glacial sea level, but in the period c. 9500-7000 yrs BP there are reversals to the overall rising trend. Between 9500 and 8500 yrs BP there appears to have been a eustatic fall in sea level of at least 4 m. This observation is supported by data from several other localities around New Zealand. Maximum transgression occurred about 6500–7000 yrs BP when the sea reached the base of hillslopes and an extensive estuary existed behind a barrier bar.

Since that time the barrier bar disappeared, probably due to stranding in an uplift event, and the coastline advanced progressively outward toward its present position. Coastal progradation (sea level regression) and subsequent erosion have occurred in association with episodic large earthquakes at about 6700, 5400, 3910, 2450, 1570, 1000 and 600 yrs BP. The present distribution of terraces has been influenced by coastal erosion, which has removed all trace of some terraces from some areas, and river erosion has modified the marine terraces near the river.     

河流输沙与中国海岸线变化

我国沿海地区构造升降使入海河流沉积物分布不均，９５％于构造下降地区入海，构造上升区接纳的河流泥沙不足５％，入海河流泥沙分布不均是我国海岸基本类型和海岸线变化差别的主要原因。在此基础上讨论了最大海侵的范围及时间，海岸线变化的趋势、速度和周期以及河流输沙对未来海岸线变化预测的影响。     

New constraints on Holocene uplift rates for the Baudo Mountain Range,northwestern Colombia

A beach deposit on the southern end of the Baudo Mountain Range, at an elevation of ∼2.0 m above the backshore of the modern beach, was dated at ∼2870 years using optically stimulated luminescence dating. The calculated average uplift rate necessary to raise this deposit is 0.7 mm/yr. This rate combines the long-term regional deformation associated with the subduction of the Nazca Plate under the South American Plate and the collision of the Choco Block microplate against the South American continent, as well as uplift from local faults. We propose that rapid emergence probably as several pulses, each involving decimeter scale coseismic uplift, is likely to have occurred to elevate the beach above the intertidal zone and offset destructive wave erosion.     

Morphology and sedimentary architecture of a beach‐ridge system (Anholt,the Kattegat sea): a record of punctuated coastal progradation and sea‐level change over the past ∼1000 years

Flakket on the island of Anholt in Denmark is a cuspate foreland facing the microtidal Kattegat sea. It is composed of a number of beach ridges typically covered by dune sand and separated by swales and wetlands. OSL dating indicates that the evolution of Flakket began c. AD 1000. Foreland growth was punctuated by a major episode of coastal reorganization leading to coastal retreat c. AD 1800. Coastal retreat led to the formation of an erosion surface that separates older and higher‐lying beach‐ridge and swale deposits from younger and lower‐lying deposits. The palaeo‐sea level is deduced from the architecture of the deposits, and interpretation of ground‐penetrating radar data and geomophological observations indicates that relative sea level was about 1.90±0.25 m above present sea level c. AD 1000, but about 0.00±0.25 m relative to present sea level c. AD 1830 and c. AD 1870. Anholt is situated at the margin of the uplifted Fennoscandian area; assuming uplift to be about 1.2 mm a^?1 it follows that absolute sea level was about +0.70±0.25 m at AD 1000, but around ?0.22±0.25 m at AD 1830 and around ?0.17±0.25 m at AD 1870. Within the uncertainties of the age control, the sea‐level indicators mapped by ground‐penetrating radar reflections and the variability of estimates of uplift found in the literature, the result obtained for AD 1000 is consistent with findings from the Stockholm area in Sweden and with a recently published global sea‐level curve.     

The Holocene Storegga Slide tsunami in the United Kingdom

All currently known sites in the United Kingdom with evidence for the Holocene Storegga Slide tsunami are described. Information on the altitude, distribution, stratigraphical context, age, particle size profile and microfossil characteristics of the deposits is presented. The tsunami involved a greater area than previously described, reaching a coastline over 600 km long. The ubiquitous sand layer which forms the main deposit associated with the event is shown to exhibit a consistent morphology and a particle size profile marked by fining-upwards sequences. An analysis of new and previously published radiocarbon dates indicates that from evidence in the United Kingdom, the event took place sometime around 7100 radiocarbon years BP (7900 calibrated years BP). A new isobase model for mainland Scotland and adjacent areas, providing a preliminary estimate of land uplift since the tsunami, is presented. The model estimates contemporary sea surface level offshore at 14 m below the present day mean high water spring tides. Tsunami sediment run-up is greatest in inlets, where it reaches at least 25 m on Shetland and at least 5 m along the mainland coastline to the south, and run-up of the tsunami would have exceeded these values. The tsunami sediments identified here are considered particularly valuable as a synchronous marker horizon.     

Reprocessing and enhanced interpretation of the initial COCORP Southern Appalachians traverse

Reprocessing of the 1978–1980 COCORP Southern Appalachian seismic reflection data has produced improved images of structures related to the emplacement of the Blue Ridge–Inner Piedmont allochthon. The results enhance and extend the interpretation presented previously that the Blue Ridge and Inner Piedmont are allochthonous above a shallow, and shallow dipping, detachment that can be followed from outcrop at the Blue Ridge/Valley and Ridge transition to at least beneath the Carolina terrane. The continuity of reflections in the new images supports the interpretation that the southern Appalachian detachment is not rooted on the east side of the Inner Piedmont, but rather projects as a low-angle detachment (or zone of decoupling) to beneath the Coastal Plain. An implication of this geometry is that terranes, such as the Carolina terrane, between autochthonous North America and the Alleghanian suture beneath the Coastal Plain are detached, thin flakes.     

Late Holocene coseismic uplift on the Hua-tung coast, eastern Taiwan: Evidence from mass mortality of intertidal organisms

The evidence of coseismic uplift on the dynamic, wave-dominated Hua-tung coast fringing the active Coastal Range (eastern Taiwan) has been equivocal, due to complex controls by wave and terrestrial sediment over morphological and ecological systems of the coast. This study, by applying radiocarbon dating methods, demonstrates coseismic-uplift nature of the coast by finding synchronously killed intertidal organisms (mostly boring shell Jouannetia sp.) stranded at different sites of the coast with distinct physiographic characters. Based on these data, together with evidence from wave-cut notch sequences, two coseismic-uplift systems are recognized. One centers around the northern-middle part of the coast and yields events with uplift amounts of maximal 3–6 m and an average recurrence interval of at least several hundred years. The most recent activity of this system, influencing at least 70 km of coast, occurred at ~ 0.9 ka. The earthquake generating this event also triggered extensive landslides/debris flows in the region. Another system, exemplified by the uplift associated with the 2003 Cheng-kung earthquake, centers on the southern part of the coast and yields uplift of likely < 1 m every < 0.2 ky. Two pre-historic events of this system are identified as occurring at ~ 0.7 ka and ~ 1.1 ka. These two coseismic-uplift systems are consistent in position with two anticlinal structures defined by long-term uplift of the coast. However, the areas subjected to maximal coseismic uplift are located off where the climaxes of long-term uplift occur, implying that the latter areas have been uplifted mainly by aseismic and/or relatively frequent/small-magnitude coseismic motion.     

Middle Miocene to present plate tectonic history of the southern Central American Volcanic Arc

New mid Miocene to present plate tectonic reconstructions of the southern Central American Volcanic Arc (CAVA) reveal that the inception of Cocos Ridge subduction began no earlier than 3 Ma, and possibly as late as 2 Ma. The Cocos Ridge has been displaced from the Malpelo Ridge to the southeast since 9 Ma along the Panama Fracture Zone (PFZ) system. Ambiguous PFZ and Coiba Fracture Zone (CFZ) interaction since 9 Ma precludes conclusively establishing the age of initial Cocos Ridge subduction. Detailed reconstructions based on magnetic anomalies offshore reveal several other variations in subduction parameters beneath southern Central America that preceded subduction of the Cocos Ridge, including southeastward migration of the Nazca–Cocos–Caribbean triple junction along the Middle America Trench (MAT) from 12 Ma to present, and subduction of ≤2 km high scarps both parallel and perpendicular to the trench from 6 to 1 Ma.The timing of changes in subduction processes has commonly been determined by (and correlated with) geologic changes in the upper plate. However, reliable ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar dating of these events has become available only recently [Abstr. Programs-Geol. Soc. Am. (2002)]. These new dates better constrain the magmatic and structural history of southern Costa Rica. Observations from this data set include: a gap in the volcanic record from 11 to 6 Ma, which coincides temporally with emplacement of most plutons in southern Costa Rica, normal arc volcanism ceased after 3.5 Ma in southern Costa Rica, and Pliocene (mostly 1.5 Ma) adakite volcanism was widely distributed from central Panama to southern Costa Rica (though volumetrically insignificant).This new data reveals that many geologic phenomena, commonly attributed to subduction and underplating of the buoyant Cocos Ridge, in fact precede inception of Cocos Ridge subduction and seem to correlate more favorably in time with earlier tectonic events. Adakite volcanic activity corresponds in space and time with the subduction of a large scarp associated with a tectonic boundary off southern Panama. Regional unconformities and an 11–6 Ma gap in arc volcanism match temporally with oblique subduction of the Nazca plate beneath central and southern Costa Rica. Cessation of volcanic activity, low-temperature cooling of plutons in the Cordillera de Talamanca (CT), and rapid increases in sedimentation in the fore-arc and back-arc basins coincide with passage of the Nazca–Cocos–Caribbean triple junction and initiation of subduction of “rough” crust associated with Cocos–Nazca rifting 3.5 Ma, closely followed by initial subduction of the Cocos Ridge 2–3 Ma. None of the aforementioned geologic events occurred at a time that would allow for underplating by the Cocos Ridge. Rather they are probably related to complex interactions with subduction of complicated plates offshore. All of the aforementioned events indicate that the southern Central American subduction system has been in flux since at least 12 Ma.     

西秦岭北缘漳县韩家沟砾岩对青藏高原东北缘地壳隆升的约束

对西秦岭北缘漳县地区上新统韩家沟砾岩的地貌特征、高程分布、沉积特征、构造变形等研究表明：1）该套砾岩分布受西秦岭北缘断层系F₂逆冲断层控制,主要由巨砾-中砾砾岩组成,有近源快速磨拉石沉积的特征,代表了上新世以来西秦岭地块沿北缘断层向北逆冲挤出形成的再生前陆磨拉石盆地,指示了西秦岭地块上新世以来的一次强烈的构造隆升。2）这套砾岩出露高程及宏观地貌特征指示了其形成之后又与西秦岭地块一起经历了侵蚀夷平,形成了现今海拔2 600 m 左右统一的夷平面。该夷平面的整体隆升和解体、韩家沟砾岩雅丹地貌形成和发育六级侵蚀阶地或基座阶地的漳河水系形成才真正标志着西秦岭及北缘区域的整体隆升。现今海拔1 800 m 漳河河床与2 600 m 山顶夷平面之间的高差反映了西秦岭及其北缘第四纪以来至少相对隆升了800 m。3）西秦岭北缘漳县韩家沟砾岩下伏的渐新统-中新统红层盆地沉积序列具有伸展断陷盆地充填特征,指示了这个时期西秦岭北缘处于拉张伸展构造状态,也就是说以构造挤压缩短为动力学背景下的青藏高原隆升和构造变形在渐新世-中新世时期尚未扩展至西秦岭北缘区域。尽管该断陷盆地最上部河流相-洪泛相粗碎屑沉积增多和之后地层掀斜及褶皱缩短有可能反映了中新世末或上新世初西秦岭北缘由伸展到挤压的构造转换和构造隆升,但这并不是西秦岭及北缘区域的一次强烈隆升。综上所述,我们认为西秦岭北缘上新统韩家沟砾岩出现标志着西秦岭地块向北强烈逆冲和构造隆升,但西秦岭的这次强烈隆升仅持续到上新统韩家沟砾岩沉积结束,之后西秦岭地块和北部的再生前陆磨拉石盆地一起经历了整体隆升和侵蚀夷平,形成了上新世末或第四纪初的统一夷平面。该山顶夷平面是西秦岭及其北缘区域最后整体强烈隆升的起点。韩家沟砾岩雅丹地貌形成、发育六级侵蚀阶地或基座阶地的漳河水系形成真正指示了西秦岭及北缘区域的整体隆升过程。如果西秦岭及其北缘新生代以来隆升过程在青藏高原东北缘具有代表性,那么就说明青藏高原东北缘真正隆升成为现今青藏高原系统组成部分只是上新世末期或第四纪以来地质事件。     

Pliocene extensional tectonics in the Eastern Central Patagonian Cordillera: geochronological constraints and new field evidence

Recent field work and review of radiometric data obtained from Neogene lavas and plutonic rocks exposed in the Eastern Central Patagonian Cordillera (46–48ºS), which overlie subducted segments of the South Chile Ridge, suggest important Late Miocene to Pleistocene morphological changes in relation to base level variations and/or tectonic events. We present new field observations from a region south of Lago General Carrera‐Buenos Aires, between the main Cordillera and the Meseta del Lago Buenos Aires, demonstrating that normal faulting controlled valley incisions and occurred during lava emplacement at 5–4 Ma and after 3 Ma. We also show that the 12 Ma basaltic flows of the Meseta del Lago Buenos Aires (∼2000 m a.s.l.) have been subjected to deep incision, with younger lavas dated at 1.2 Ma partially filling the valleys. These incisions are thought to reflect progressive eastward tilting of the entire meseta. Our new observations, together with additional features from Central Patagonia, strongly suggest that tectonic events led to a regional widespread morphological change after 5 Ma. The coincidence in time and space between the subduction of segments of the South Chile Ridge at 6 and 3 Ma causing opening of a slab window, and strong base level variations in the studied area, suggests a cause‐and‐effect relationship. In Central Patagonia, compressional tectonics ended well before extensional events reported here. Causes of uplift and further extension are probably completely disconnected. The uplift is purely tectonic in origin and occurred prior to the subduction of the South Chile Ridge. Extension should be a consequence of this subduction.     

Holocene coastal uplift in the western Pacific Rim in the context of late Quaternary uplift

This paper reviews recent studies of Holocene coastal uplift in tectonically active areas near the plate boundaries of the western Pacific Rim. Emergent Holocene terraces exist along the coast of North Island of New Zealand, the Huon Peninsula of Papua New Guinea, the Japanese Islands, and Taiwan. These terraces have several features in common. All comprise series of subdivided terraces. The highest terrace is a constructional terrace, underlain by estuarine or marine deposits, and the lower terraces are erosional, cutting into transgressive deposits or bedrock. The highest terrace records the culmination of Holocene sea-level rise at ca. 6–6.5 ka BP. Lower terraces were coseismically uplifted. Repeated major earthquakes have usually occurred at ka intervals and meter-scale uplift. The maximum uplift rate and number of terraces are surprisingly similar, about 4 m/ka and seven to four major steps in North Island, Huon Peninsula, and Japan. Taiwan, especially along the east coast of the Coastal Range, is different, reaching a maximum uplift rate of 15 m/ka with 10 subdivided steps. They record a very rapid uplift. Comparison between short-term (Holocene) and long-term since the last interglacial maximum (sub-stage 5e) uplift rates demonstrates that a steady uplift rate (Huon Peninsula) or accelerated uplift toward the present (several areas of Japan and North Island) has continued at least since isotope sub-stage 5e. Rapid uplift in eastern Taiwan probably started only in the early Holocene, judging from the absence of any older marine terraces. Most of the causative faults for the coastal uplift may be offshore reverse faults, branched from the main plate boundary fault, but some of them are onshore faults, which deformed progressively with time.     

Holocene shore displacement and deglaciation chronology in Norrbotten, Sweden

The coastal zone of Norrbotten, northern Sweden, was gradually inundated by the Ancylus Lake following the retreating ice margin and forming a highest coastline approximately 210 m above the present sea level. The succeeding shore displacement is reconstructed based on lithological investigations and radiocarbon datings of identified isolation sequences from 12 cored lake basins. The highest lake basins, along with two basins above the highest shoreline, suggest ice-free conditions already at 10 500 cal. yr BP. This is at least 500 years earlier than previously thought and implies rapid ice-sheet break-up in the Gulf of Bothnia. The shore displacement (RSL) curve represents a forced regression of successively decreasing rate through the Holocene, from 9 m/100 yr to 0.8 m/100 yr. During the first 1000-1200 years, the isostatic uplift is exponentially declining, followed by a constant uplift rate from c. 9500 cal. yr BP to 5500-5000 cal. yr BP. The last 5000 years seem to be characterized by a low but constant rebound rate. The development of the Ancylus Lake stage of the Baltic may also be discerned in the Norrbotten RSL curve, suggesting that the chronology of the Ancylus Lake stages may have to be revised. The Littorina transgression is also reflected by the RSL curve shape. In addition, a series of early to mid-Holocene beach terraces were OSL-dated to allow for comparison with the ¹⁴C-dated shore displacement curve. Interpretations of these ages and their relation to former sea levels were clearly more problematic than the dating of the lake basin isolations.     

The Andes as a peripheral orogen of the breaking-up Pangea

Formation conditions of the peripheral orogen are expressed most fully in the Central Andes, a mountain system almost not yielding in height to the Himalayan-Tibetan system but formed at the margin of ocean without any relations to intercontinental collision. The marine transgression and rejuvenation of subduction in the Early Jurassic during the origination of foldbelt at the margin of Pangea marked the transition to a new supercontinental cycle, and the overall further evolution began and continues now in the frame of the first half of this cycle. The marginal position of this belt above the subduction zone, the rate and orientation of convergence of the lithospheric plates, the age of “absolute” movement of the continental plate, variation in slab velocity, and subduction of heterogeneities of the oceanic crust were the crucial factors that controlled the evolution of the marginal foldbelt. At the stage of initial subsidence (Jurassic-Mid-Cretaceous), during extension of the crust having a moderate thickness (30–35 km), the Andean continental margin comprises the full structural elements of an ensialic island arc that resembled the present-day Sunda system. These conditions changed with the separation and onset of the western drift of the South American continent. Being anchored in the mantle and relatively young, the slab of the Andean subduction zone served as a stop that brought about compression that controlled the subsequent evolution. Due to the contribution of deep magma sources along with marine sediments and products of tectonic erosion removed to a depth, the growth of crust above the subduction zone was favorable for heating of the crust. By the middle Eocene, when compression enhanced owing to the acceleration of subduction, the thermal evolution of the crust had already prepared the transition to the orogenic stage of evolution, i.e., to the progressive viscoplastic shortening and swelling of the mechanically weakened lower crust and the concomitant reverse faulting and thrusting of the upper crust. The general compression of the Central Andes by more than 250 km relative to the stop created by the oceanic slab accommodated up to 40% of the western continental drift over this time and increased the thickness of the crust up to 65–75 km. It is suggested that the onset of fast uplift and growth of the mountain edifice 12–10 Ma ago was predetermined by the approach of the submarine Juan Fernandez Ridge in the south and the Nazca Ridge in the north toward the continental margin and their involvement in subduction. As a result, the Central Andes were transformed into a region of advanced shortening and vigorous orogeny.     

Continental/Cordilleran ice interactions: a dominant cause of westward super-elevation of the last glacial maximum continental ice limit in southwestern Alberta, Canada

In southwestern Alberta, Canada, a westward-rising last-glacial-maximum continental ice limit has been identified. This limit is defined by the upper elevation of Canadian Shield erratics deposited by last-glacial-maximum continental ice along the flanks of prominent ridges and buttes within the region. The interpolation between ice-limit data points has produced two distinct slope profiles: 2.9 m/km to the east, and 4.2 m/km to the west of Mokowan Butte. Three hypotheses are proposed to explain this westward rise of the last-glacial-maximum continental ice limit: (1) regional tectonic uplift, (2) glacio-isostatic uplift, and (3) continental ice-flow convergence due to topographic obstacles and interaction with montane ice. Inferred long-term rates of tectonic uplift and glacio-isostatic modelling show that these two mechanisms account for less than 25% of the observed absolute elevation increase of the limit between the Del Bonita uplands and Cloudy Ridge in southwestern Alberta. The remaining rise in elevation of the continental ice-sheet margin in this region is thought to result from continental ice-flow convergence due to the combined effects of the regional topography and interaction with montane glaciers to the west. The steeper rise in the former continental ice surface west of Mokowan Butte can be explained by the topographic obstruction and interaction with montane glaciers in the area of the Rocky Mountain front.     

Pliocene‐Quaternary history of Futuna Island,south Vanuatu,southwest Pacific

U‐series ages from thermal ionisation mass spectrometry are reported here for the raised coral reefs of Futuna Island, which lies adjacent to the eastern margin of the backarc Futuna Trough in south Vanuatu, southwest Pacific. U‐series ages from coral from the lowest raised reef indicate that its upper part is most likely to be ca 210 ka, whereas the most elevated raised reef has a likely age of ca 520 ka (range 600–440 ka). The inferred Pliocene‐Quaternary history for Futuna Island and the adjacent Futuna Trough is: (i) formation of the Pliocene—Early Quaternary basaltic‐andesite cone in a southeast part of the Vanuatu Island Arc; (ii) inception of the Futuna Trough (adjacent to the west margin of Futuna Island) since 1.8 Ma; (iii) subsequent uplift of the volcanic cone above sea‐level caused ～500 m of its upper part to be removed by marine erosion; (iv) the island then subsided and at least 160 m of limestone was deposited on the truncated cone; and (v) during the period 520 ka to ca 210 ka seven fringing reefs formed at the margin of the cone as the island was uplifted. Since ca 210 ka Futuna further subsided and, as a result, the post ca 210 ka history of the island is obscure.     

New insights from low-temperature thermochronology into the tectonic and geomorphologic evolution of the south-eastern Brazilian highlands and passive margin

The South Atlantic passive margin along the south-eastern Brazilian highlands exhibits a complex landscape,including a northern inselberg area and a southern elevated plateau,separated by the Doce River valley.This landscape is set on the Proterozoic to early Paleozoic rocks of the region that once was the hot core of the Aracuai orogen,in Ediacaran to Ordovician times.Due to the break-up of Gondwana and consequently the opening of the South Atlantic during the Early Cretaceous,those rocks of the Araquai orogen became the basement of a portion of the South Atlantic passive margin and related southeastern Brazilian highlands.Our goal is to provide a new set of constraints on the thermo-tectonic history of this portion of the south-eastern Brazilian margin and related surface processes,and to provide a hypothesis on the geodynamic context since break-up.To this end,we combine the apatite fission track(AFT)and apatite(U-Th)/He(AHe)methods as input for inverse thermal history modelling.All our AFT and AHe central ages are Late Cretaceous to early Paleogene.The AFT ages vary between 62 Ma and90 Ma,with mean track lengths between 12.2μm and 13.6μm.AHe ages are found to be equivalent to AFT ages within uncertainty,albeit with the former exhibiting a lesser degree of confidence.We relate this Late Cretaceous-Paleocene basement cooling to uplift with accelerated denudation at this time.Spatial variation of the denudation time can be linked to differential reactivation of the Precambrian structural network and differential erosion due to a complex interplay with the drainage system.We argue that posterior large-scale sedimentation in the offshore basins may be a result of flexural isostasy combined with an expansion of the drainage network.We put forward the combined compression of the Mid-Atlantic ridge and the Peruvian phase of the Andean orogeny,potentially augmented through the thermal weakening of the lower crust by the Trindade thermal anomaly,as a probable cause for the uplift.     

Geomorphic constraints on the Late Neogene tectonics of the Otway Range,Victoria

A Pliocene strandline system in the Hanson Plain Sands, between the volcanic plains of the Western District and the northern flanks of the Otway Range in southwest Victoria, provides an excellent datum against which to measure Late Neogene fault‐related uplift. Individual strandlines that can be traced from elevations of ～120 m near Cobden to ～245 m on the Ferguson Hill structure are displaced across northeast‐trending faults and monoclines associated with the Simpson and Ferguson Hill structures. A break in slope in the Otway Range front at elevations of 230–280 m, beneath which drainage incision parallels the trends of the strandlines, probably correlates with the Pliocene coastline on the ancestral Otway Range. By analogy with correlative systems in the Murray Basin, deposition occurred during sea‐stands between 0 and 65 m above present‐day sea‐level, implying uplift of between 175 and 240 m since the Early Pliocene. Enhanced incision parallel to the strandlines, in combination with tilting of fault blocks about northeast axes at a high angle to the strandlines, has facilitated the development of a remarkable rectilinear drainage net. Local inversion of the drainage where it focused basalt flows constrains the age of incision and faulting to greater than ca 1 Ma and, most probably, less than ca 2 Ma.     

Drainage patterns in southeast Queensland: the key to concealed geological structures?

Southeast Queensland's geomorphology is characterised by northwest – southeast-trending trunk drainage channels and highlands that strongly correlate with the distribution of geological units and major faults. Other geomorphological trends strongly coincide with subsidiary faults and geological domains. Australia is presently under compressional stress. Seismicity over the past 130 years records 56 earthquakes of >2 magnitude indicating continuing small-scale earth movements in the Moreton region. Highlands in this region are dominated by Paleozoic to Triassic metamorphic and igneous rocks, and are generally 20 – 80 km from the coastline. Coastal lowlands are largely dominated by Mesozoic sedimentary basins and a veneer of surficial sediments. The eastern coast of Australia represents a passive margin; crustal sag along this margin could be expected to produce relatively short, high-energy, eastward-flowing drainage systems. We performed a geomorphological analysis to characterise the drainage patterns in southeast Queensland and identify associations with geological features. Anomalous channel, valley and escarpment features were identified, which failed to match the anticipated drainage model and also lacked obvious geological control. Despite their proximity to the coast (base level), these features include areas where drainage channels flow consistently away from, or parallel to, the coastline. Although many channels do coincide with geological structures, the drainage anomalies cannot be directly related to known structural discontinuities. Anomalous drainage patterns are suggested to indicate previously unidentified structural features and in some cases relatively young tectonic control on the landscape. Recent seismicity data have also been analysed to assess spatial correlations between earthquakes and geomorphological features. Our results show that structure largely controls drainage patterns in this region, and we suggest that a presently unmapped and potentially active, deep-seated structure may exist parallel to the coast in the northern coastal region. We propose that this structure has been associated with uplift in the coastal region of southeast Queensland since mid-Cenozoic times.