Asymmetrical erosion and morphological development of the central Ladakh Range, northern India

Geomorphology

Volumn 135, Issue 1-2, 2011, Pages 167-180

  Dortch, Jason M ^a   Owen, Lewis A ^a   Schoenbohm, Lindsay M ^b   Caffee, Marc W ^c  

^a UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI   (United States)

^b UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO   (Canada)

^c PURDUE UNIVERSITY   (United States)

Author keywords

Catchment wide erosion; Cosmogenics; ELA; Ladakh Range; Long river profile; Swath

Indexed keywords

ALLUVIAL DEPOSIT; CATCHMENT; DENUDATION; EROSION; EROSION RATE; GEOMORPHOLOGY; LANDSCAPE EVOLUTION; MORPHOMETRY; SEDIMENT TRANSPORT; UPLIFT;

HIMALAYAS; KARAKORAM FAULT ZONE; LADAKH HIMALAYAS;

EID: 80053611611     PISSN: 0169555X     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1016/j.geomorph.2011.08.014     Document Type: Article

References (90)

1. Anders A.M., Mitchell S.G., Tomkin J.H. Cirques, peaks, and precipitation patterns in the Swiss Alps: connections among climate, glacial erosion, and topography. Geology 2010, 38:239-242.
2. Benn D.I., Owen L.A., Osmaston H.A., Seltzer G.O., Porter S.C., Mark B. Reconstruction of equilibrium-line altitudes for tropical and sub-tropical glaciers. Quaternary International 2005, 138-139:8-21.
3. Bierman P. Using in situ produced cosmogenic isotopes to estimate rates of landscape evolution: a review from the geomorphic perspective. Journal of Geophysical Research 1994, 99. 13,885-13,896.
4. Bierman P., Steig E.J. Estimating rates of denudation using cosmogenic isotope abundances in sediment. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms 1996, 21:125-139.
5. Bojar A.-V., Fritz H., Nicolescu S., Bregar M., Gupta R.P. Timing and mechanisms of central Himalayan exhumation: discriminating between tectonic and erosion processes. Terra Nova 2005, 17:427-433.
6. Bookhagen B., Thiede R.C., Strecker M.R. Late Quaternary intensified monsoon phases control landscape evolution in the northwest Himalaya. Geology 2005, 33:149-152.
7. Brocklehurst S.H., Whipple K.X. Glacial erosion and relief production in the eastern Sierra Nevada, California. Geomorphology 2002, 42:1-24.
8. Brocklehurst S.H., Whipple K.X. Hypsometry of glaciated landscapes. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms 2004, 29:907-926.
9. Brocklehurst S.H., Whipple K.X. Assessing the relative efficiency of fluvial and glacial erosion through simulation of fluvial landscapes. Geomorphology 2006, 75:283-299.
10. Broecker W.S., Denton G.H. What drives glacial cycles?. Scientific American 1990, 262:48-56.
11. Brown E.T., Bendick R., Bourles D.L., Gaur V., Molnar P., Raisbeck G.M., Yiou F. Slip rates of the Karakoram Fault, Ladakh, India, determined using cosmic ray exposure dating of debris flows and moraines. Journal of Geophysical Research 2002, 107. 10.1029/2000JB000100.
12. Brown E.T., Molnar P., Bourlés D.L. Comment on "slip-rate measurements on the Karakorum Fault may imply secular variations in fault motion". Science 2005, 309:1326b.
13. Brozovic N., Burbank D.W., Meigs A.J. Climatic limits on landscape development in the northwestern Himalaya. Science 1997, 276:571-574.
14. Burbank D.W., Fort M.B. Bedrock control on glacial limits; examples from the Ladakh and Lanshan Ranges, north-western Himalaya. Journal of Glaciology 1985, 31:143-149.
15. Burbank D.W., Anderson R.S., Brozovic N., Duncan C., Fielding E., Leland J., Reid M.R. Bedrock incision, rock uplift and threshold hillslopes in the northwestern Himalayas. Nature 1996, 379:505-510.
16. Burbank D.W., Blythe A.E., Putkonen J., Pratt-Sitaula B., Gabet E., Oskin M., Barros A., Ojha T.P. Decoupling of erosion and precipitation in the Himalayas. Nature 2003, 426:652-655.
17. CGIAR-CSI The CGIAR Consortium for Spatial Information Accessed on April 2010. http://srtm.csi.cgiar.org/SELECTION/inputCoord.asp.
18. Chevalier M.-L., Ryerson F.J., Tapponnier P., Finkel R.C., Van Der Woerd J., Haibing L., Qing L. Slip-rate measurements on the Karakorum fault may imply secular variations in fault motion. Science 2005, 307:411-414.
19. Choubey V.M. Fission track geochronology of the southern part of the Ladakh batholith, Ladakh, northwest Himalaya. Geoscience Journal 1987, VIII:73-80.
20. Clift P.D., Carter A., Krol M., Kirby E. Constraints on India-Eurasia collision in the Arabian Sea region taken from the Indus Group, Ladakh Himalaya, India. Special Publication 2002, 195:97-116. Geological Society of London. P.D. Clift, D. Kroon, J. Craig, C. Gaedicke (Eds.).
21. Dewey J.F., Cande S., Pitman W.C. Tectonic evolution of the India-Eurasia collision zone. Eclogae Geologicae Helvetiae 1989, 82:717-734.
22. Dortch J., Owen L.A., Haneberg W.C., Caffee M.W., Dietsch C., Kamp D.U. Nature and timing of large-landslides in the Himalaya and Transhimalaya of northern India. Quaternary Science Reviews 2009, 28:1037-1054.
23. Dortch J.M., Owen L.A., Caffee M.W. Timing and extent of Quaternary glaciation in the Nubra and Shyok valleys, northernmost Ladakh, India. Quaternary Research 2010, 74:132-144.
24. Dortch J.M., Owen L.A., Dietsch C., Caffee M.W., Bovard K. Episodic fluvial incision of rivers and rock uplift in the Himalaya and Transhimalaya. Geological Society of London 2011, 10.1144/0016-76492009-158.
25. Dortch J.M., Owen L.A., Caffee M.W., Kamp D.U. Catastrophic partial drainage of Pangong Tso, Ladakh, northern India. Journal of Geomorphology 2011, 125:109-121.
26. Dunlap W.J., Wysoczanski R. Thermal evidence for early Cretaceous metamorphism in the Shyok suture zone and age of the Khardung volcanic rocks, Ladakh, India. Journal of Asian Earth Sciences 2002, 20:481-490.
27. Dunlap W.J., Weinberg R.F., Searle M.P. Karakoram fault zone rocks cool in two phases. Geological Society of London 1998, 155:903-912.
28. Fang J.-Q. Lake evolution during the past 30,000years in China, and its implications for environmental change. Quaternary Research 1991, 36:37-60.
29. Fort M. Geomorphological observations in the Ladakh area (Himalayas): Quaternary evolution and present dynamics. Stratigraphy and Structure of Kashmir and Ladakh Himalaya 1983, 39-58. Hindustan Publishing Corporation, New Delhi, India. V.J. Gupta (Ed.).
30. Foster D., Brocklehurst S.H., Gawthorpe R.L. Glacial-topographic interactions in the Teton Range, Wyoming. Journal of Geophysical Research 2010, 115:F01007. 10.1029/2008JF001135.
31. Gasse F., Arnold M., Fontes J.C., Fort M., Gilbert E., Huc A., Bingyan L., Yuanfang L., Qing L., Melleres F., Van Campo E., Fubao W., Qingsong Z. A 13,000-year climate record from western Tibet. Nature 1991, 353:742-745.
32. Gasse F., Fontes J.C., Van Campo E., Wei K. Holocene environmental changes in Bangong Co basin (western Tibet). Part 4: discussion and conclusions. Paleogeography, Paleoclimatology, Paleoecology 1996, 120:79-92.
33. Global Digital Elevation Model (GDEM) and. http://www.ersdac.or.jp/GDEM/E/4.html.
34. Granger D.E., Kirchner J.W., Finkel R. Spatially averaged long-term erosion rates measured from in situ-produced cosmogenic nuclides in alluvial sediment. Journal of Geology 1996, 104:249-257.
35. Hobley D.E.J., Sinclair H.D., Cowie P.A. Process, rates, and time scales of fluvial response in an ancient postglacial landscape of the northwestern Indian Himalaya. Geological Society of America Bulletin 2010, 122:1569-1584.
36. Hodges K.V. Tectonics of the Himalaya and southern Tibet from two perspectives. Geological Society of America Bulletin 2000, 112:324-350.
37. Hodges K. Climate and the evolution of mountains. Scientific American 2006, 72-79. August.
38. Hodges K.V., Hurtado J.M., Whipple K.X. Southward extrusion of Tibetan crust and its effects on Himalayan tectonics. Tectonics 2001, 20:799-809.
39. Hodges K.V., Wobus C., Ruhl K., Schildgen T., Whipple K.X. Quaternary deformation, river steepening, and heavy precipitation at the front of the higher Himalayan ranges. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 2004, 220:379-389.
40. Jacobson A. Solar energy measurements of Ladakh, India. Proceedings of the 24th National Renewable Energy Convention 200 of the Solar Energy Society of India, Nov 30-Dec 2, 2000, Mumbai, India 2000.
41. Jamieson S.S.R., Sinclair H.D., Kirstein L.A., Purves R.S. Tectonic forcing of longitudinal valleys in the Himalaya: morphological analysis of the Ladakh batholith, North India. Geomorphology 2004, 58:49-65.
42. Johnson M.W.R. Shortening budgets and the role of continental subduction during the India-Asia collision. Earth Science Reviews 2002, 59:101-123.
43. Kirstein L.A. Thermal evolution and exhumation of the Ladakh batholith, northwest Himalaya, India. Tectonophysics 2011, 503:222-233.
44. Kirstein L.A., Sinclair H., Stuart F.M., Dobson K. Rapid early Miocene exhumation of the Ladakh batholith, western Himalaya. Geologic Society of America 2006, 34:1049-1052.
45. Kirstein L.A., Foeken J.P.T., van der Beek P., Stuart F.M., Phillips R.J. Cenozoic unroofing history of the Ladakh batholith, western Himalaya, constrained by thermochronology and numerical modeling. Geological Society of London 2009, 166:667-678.
46. Kohl C.P., Nishiizumi K. Chemical isolation of quartz for measurements of in-situ-produced cosmogenic nuclides. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 1992, 56:3583-3587.
47. Lal D. Cosmic ray labeling of erosion surfaces: in situ nuclide production rates and erosion models. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 1991, 104:424-439.
48. Lal D., Arnold J.R. Tracing quartz through the environment. Proceedings of the Indian Academy of Sciences, Earth and Planetary Sciences 1985, 94:1-5.
49. 26Al exposure age dating of bedrock straths. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 1998, 154:93-107.
50. MacGregor K.R., Anderson R.S., Anderson S.P., Waddington E.D. Numerical simulations of glacial-valley longitudinal profile evolution. Geology 2000, 28:1031-1034.
51. MacGregor K.R., Anderson R.S., Waddington E.D. Numerical modeling of glacial erosion and headwall processes in alpine valleys. Geomorphology 2009, 103:189-204.
52. MATLAB v. Matrix laboratory - the language of technical computing http://www.mathworks.com/.
53. Molnar P., England P. Late Cenozoic uplift of mountain ranges and global climate change: chicken or egg?. Nature 1990, 346:29-34.
54. NASA National Aeronautics and Space Administration Land Processes Distributed Active Archive Center, Earth Observing Data Gateway Accessed on April 2010. http://edcimswww.cr.usgs.gov/pub/imswelcome/.
55. Nash ReadArcGrid: histograms elevations read from datasets in ASCII ArcGrid format. Also calculates dimensionless hypsometric curve Accessed on April 2010. http://homepages.uc.edu/~nashdb/.
56. Naylor S., Gabet E.J. Valley asymmetry and glacial versus nonglacial erosion in the Bitterroot Range, Montana, USA. Geology 2007, 35:375-378.
57. 10Be AMS standards. Nuclear Instruments & Methods in Physics Research-Beam Interactions with Materials and Atoms 2007, 258B:403-413.
58. Oskin M., Burbank D.W. Alpine landscape evolution dominated by cirque retreat. Geology 2005, 33:933-936.
59. Owen L.A., Benn D.I. Equilibrium-line altitudes for the Last Glacial Maximum for the Himalaya and Tibet: an assessment and evaluation of results. Quaternary International 2005, 138(139):55-78.
60. Owen L.A., Caffee M.W., Bovard K.R., Finkel R.C., Sharma M.C. Terrestrial cosmogenic nuclide surface exposure dating of the oldest glacial successions in the Himalayan orogen: Ladakh Range, northern India. Geological Society of America Bulletin 2006, 118:383-392.
61. Pant R.K., Phadtare N.R., Chamyal L.S., Juyal N. Quaternary deposits in Ladakh and Karakoram Himalaya: a treasure trove of the paleoclimate records. Current Science 2005, 88:1789-1798.
62. Phartiyal B., Sharma A., Upadhyay R., Ram-Awatar, Sinha A.K. Quaternary geology, tectonics and distribution of palaeo- and present fluvio/glacio lacustrine deposits in Ladakh, NW Indian Himalaya-a study based on field observations. Geomorphology 2005, 65:241-256.
63. Portenga E.W., Bierman P.R. Understanding Earth's eroding surface with 10Be. GSA Today 2011, 21:4-10.
64. Porter S.C. Quaternary glacial record in Swat Kohistan, west Pakistan. Geological Society of America Bulletin 1970, 81:1421-1446.
65. Pratt B., Burbank D.W., Heimsath A., Ojha T. Impulsive alluviation during early Holocene strengthened Monsoons, central Nepal Himalaya. Geology 2002, 30:911-914.
66. Rex A.J., Searle M.P., Tirrul R., Crawford M.B., Prior D.J., Rex D.C., Barnicoat A. The geochemical and tectonic evolution of the central Karakoram, north Pakistan. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London 1988, 326:229-255.
67. Robinson A.C. Geologic offsets across the northern Karakorum fault: implications for its role and terrane correlations in the western Himalayan-Tibetan orogen. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 2009, 279:123-130.
68. Robinson A.C. Evidence against Quaternary slip on the northern Karakorum fault suggests kinematic reorganization at the western end of the Himalayan-Tibetan orogen. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 2009, 286:158-170.
69. Schaller M., von Blanckenburg F., Hovius N., Kubik P.W. Large-scale erosion rates from in situ-produced cosmogenic nuclides in European river sediments. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 2001, 188:441-458.
70. 39 Ar and fission track ages: the Indus River-Tso Morari transect, NW Himalaya. Geological Society of London 2003, 160:385-399.
71. Schoenbohm L., Jie C., Stutz J., Jie C. Glacial erosion, deep exhumation and the development of high topography alng the Kongur detachment, Pamir Mountians, Western China. Proceedings for the 25th Himalaya-Karakoram-Tibet Workshop. U.S. Geological Survey, Open-File Report 2010-1099 2009, 115. M.L. Leech, S.L. Klemperer, W.D. Mooney (Eds.).
72. Searle M.P. Geology and Tectonics of the Karakoram Mountains 1991, 358. John Wiley and Sons, Chichester, UK.
73. Searle M.P., Owen L.A. The evolution of the Indus River in relation to topographic uplift, erosion, climate and geology of western Tibet, the Transhimalayan and High Himalayan Ranges. The Indus River 1999, 210-230. Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK. A. Meadows, P. Meadows (Eds.).
74. Searle M.P., Phillips R.J. Relationships between right-lateral shear along the Karakoram fault and metamorphism, magmatism, exhumation and uplift: evidence from the K2-Gasherbrum-Pangong Ranges, north Pakistan and Ladakh. Journal of the Geological Society 2007, 164:439-450.
75. Searle M.P., Richard J.P. Relationships between right-lateral shear along the Karakoram fault and metamorphism, magmatism, exhumation and uplift: evidence from the K2-Gasherbrum, Pangong Ranges, north Pakistan and Ladakh. Geological Society of London 2007, 164:439-450.
76. Searle M.P., Dewey J.F., Dunlap W.J., Strachan R.A., Weinberg R.F. Transpressional tectonics along the Karakoram fault zone, northern Ladakh; constraints on Tibetan extrusion. Geological Society Special Publications, Continental Transpressional and Transtensional Tectonics 1998, 135:307-326.
77. Shi Y., Yu G., Liu X., Li B., Yao T. Reconstruction of the 30-40ka BP enhanced Indian monsoon climate based on geological records from the Tibetan Plateau. Paleogeography, Paleoclimatology, Paleoecology 2001, 169:69-83.
78. Sinclair H.D., Jaffey N. Sedimentology of the Indus group, Ladakh, northern India: implications for the timing of initiation of the palaeo-Indus River. Journal of the Geological Society of London 2001, 158:151-162.
79. Sorkhabi R.B., Jain A.K., Nishimura S., Itaya T., Lal N., Manickavasagam R.M., Tagami T. New age constraints on the cooling and unroofing history of the Trans-Himalayan Ladakh Batholith (Kargil area), N.W. India. Indian Academy of Science Proceedings 1994, 103:83-97.
80. Spotila, J.A., in press. Glacially-influenced tectonic geomorphology: the impact of the glacial buzz-saw on topography and orogenic systems. In: Owen, L.A. (Ed.), Tectonic Geomorphology, Treatise of Geomorphology. vol. 5. Elesvier, London.
81. Spotila J.A., Farley K.A., Sich K. Uplift and erosion of the San Bernardino Mountains associated with transpression along the San Andreas fault, California, as constrained by radiogenic helium thermochronometry. Tectonics 1998, 17:360-378.
82. Spotila J.A., Buscher J.T., Meigs A., Reiners P.W. Long-term glacial erosion of active mountain belts: example of the Chugach/St. Elias Range, Alaska. Geology 2004, 32:501-504.
83. Stone J.O. Air pressure and cosmogenic isotope production. Journal of Geophysical Research 2000, 105:23753-23759.
84. Vannay J.-C., Grassmann B., Rahn M., Frank W., Carter A., Baudraz V., Cosca M. Miocene to Holocene exhumation of metamorphic crustal wedges in the NW Himalaya: evidence for tectonic extrusion coupled to fluvial erosion. Tectonics 2004, 23(TC1014). 10.1029/2002TC001429.
85. Weatherbase.com Weather Records and Averages 2010, Accessed on April 2010. http://www.weatherbase.com/weather/weather.php3?s=44534&refer=&units=us.
86. Whipple K.X., Kirby E., Brocklehurst S.H. Geomorphic limits to climate induced increases in topographic relief. Nature 1999, 401:39-43.
87. Willet S.D., Brandon M.T. On steady state in mountain belts. Geology 2002, 30:175-178.
88. Wobus C., Whipple K.X., Kirby E., Snyder N., Johnson J., Spyropolou K., Crosby B., Sheehan D. Tectonics for topography: procedures, promise, and pitfalls. Special Paper 398, Geological Society of America, Penrose Conference Series 2006, 55-74.
89. Yin A., Harrison T.M. Geologic evolution of the Himalayan-Tibetan orogen. Annual Reviews of Earth and Planetary Science 2000, 28:211-280.
90. Zeitler P.K., Meltzer A.S., Koons P.O., Craw D., Hallet B., Chamberlin C.P., Kidd W.S.F., Park S.K., Seeber L., Bishop M., Shroder J. Erosion, Himalayan geodynamics and the geomorphology of metamorphism. Geologic Society of America Today 2001, 113:1443-1455.