『Abstract
Latitudinal gradients in topography, relief, climate, and deformation
have been used to suggest that climate-driven erosion has exerted
a first order control on the development of the central Andes.
We synthesize the spatial and temporal variations in denudation
across the eastern Bolivian Andes (14-22゜S) from new and existing
estimates to test whether physical evidence exists to support
the hypothesis that erosion influences thrust belt evolution.
Basin-morphometry, channel network indices, climate, and longitudinal
river profiles indicate a northward increase in relative relief,
fluvial incision, and denudation. Short-term denudation-rate averages
from landslide mapping and sediment-flux data range from 1 to
9 mm/yr in the north compared to 0.3 to 0.4mm/yr in the south.
Long-term denudation-rate estimates from thermochronology, cosmogenic
radionuclides, foreland basin sediment volumes, stratigraphy,
paleoerosion surface degradation, and balanced cross sections
range from 0.04 to 1.6 mm/yr with rates up to more than twice
as fast in the north when comparing estimates from the same method.
The shorter-term denudation rates exhibit the greatest variance.
Our denudation synthesis shows that an along-strike disparity
in denudation (greater in the north) has existed throughout the
Holocene and perhaps existed since as early as the late Miocene.
Our denudation synthesis also suggests that the disparity and
denudation rates have increased to the present. Correlations between
the thrust belt geology, geometry, geomorphology, climate, and
kinematics of the orogenic wedge provides a case study in observing
the regional scale interactions between uplift, climate, and erosion.
We conclude that the denudation history, uplift history, and tectonic-geomorphic
correlations suggest that models of the evolution of the Bolivian
Andes should incorporate a latitudinal erosion gradient for the
last 10 kyrs to perhaps 10 Myrs.』
Introduction
Physical setting: Topography, tectonics, and climate
Denudation
Relative denudation
Basin-morphometry
Channel network and river profiles
Climate
Denudation-rate estimates
Short-term denudation rates
Long-term denudation rates
Discussion
Denudation rates: Trends across time and space
Basin-morphometry, river profiles, and climate: North versus
south
History of uplift and climate in the Bolivian Andes
The Bolivian orogenic wedge
External controls
Global atmospheric circulation
Critical taper
Kinematic models and erosion
Rates of uplift and erosion in the Bolivian Andes
Conclusions
Acknowledgments
References