New physical evidence of the role of stream capture in active retreat of the Blue Ridge escarpment, southern Appalachians

The Blue Ridge escarpment of the southern Appalachian Mountains is a striking and rugged topographic feature of the ancient passive margin of eastern North America. The crest of the escarpment generally coincides with an asymmetric regional drainage divide, separating steep streams of the escarpment face from low-gradient streams of the Blue Ridge Upland. Recent exhumation and erosion rate studies suggest that the escarpment has evolved by inland erosional retreat, but the mechanism, timing, and magnitude of retreat remain poorly understood. Longitudinal stream profiles and slope–drainage area relationships of several upland basins draining the divide have led to the identification of 14 previously unknown fluvial terrace deposits preserved at the escarpment crest. These relict terraces and the associated beheaded drainages indicate the role of large stream capture events in producing ongoing escarpment retreat through landward divide migration and subsequent topographic adjustment. Terrace location and preservation suggest that rectilinear drainage patterns and divide asymmetry generate discrete high order captures and episodes of rapid localized retreat that collectively produce slower evolution of the escarpment at large. While overall retreat magnitude and rate remain unknown, roundness of terrace alluvium suggests that the most recent captures have locally produced tens of kilometers of retreat within the limited preservation lifetime of the deposits. In contrast with recent numerical modeling and cosmogenic studies, these data show the potential for stream capture and divide migration to sustain passive margin escarpment evolution long after the cessation of rifting. The fluvial record of divide retreat preserved atop the Blue Ridge escarpment suggests the potential for using field methods to better constrain the histories of younger, taller, and potentially more dynamic passive margin escarpments.