Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
8907013 | Earth and Planetary Science Letters | 2018 | 12 Pages |
Abstract
The Earth surface is modulated by interactions among tectonics, climate, and biota. The influence of each of these factors on hillslope denudation rates is difficult to disentangle. The Chilean Coastal Cordillera offers a strong climate and vegetation gradient from arid and unvegetated in the North to humid and vegetated in the South. A similar (convergent) plate tectonic boundary lies to the West of the Coastal Cordillera. We present eight depth profiles analyzed for in situ-produced cosmogenic 10Be in four study areas. These profiles reveal denudation rates of soil-mantled hillslopes and the depth of mobile layers. Depth profiles were investigated from both S- and N-facing mid-slope positions. Results indicate the depth of the mobile layers in the four study areas increase from N to S in latitude. When mixing is present in the mobile layers they are completely mixed. In the S- and N-facing hillslopes of each study area, mid-slope positions do not show a systematic change in depth of the mobile layers nor in denudation rates based on cosmogenic depth profiles. From N to S in latitude, modelled denudation rates of hillslopes increase from â¼0.46 to â¼5.65 cm/kyr and then decrease to â¼3.22 cm/kyr in the southernmost, highest vegetation cover, study area. Calculated turnover times of soils decrease from â¼30 to â¼11 kyr and then increase to â¼22 kyr. In this work, the increasing denudation rates are attributed to increasing mean annual precipitation from N to S. However, despite the ongoing increase in precipitation from N to S, the denudation rate in the southernmost location does not continue to increase due to the protective nature of increasing vegetation cover. This indicates a vegetation induced non-linear relationship with denudation rates.
Related Topics
Physical Sciences and Engineering
Earth and Planetary Sciences
Earth and Planetary Sciences (General)
Authors
M. Schaller, T.A. Ehlers, K.A.H. Lang, M. Schmid, J.P. Fuentes-Espoz,