Denudational Processes

This article appeared in a journal published by Elsevier. The attached copy is furnished to the author for internal non-commercial research and education use, including for instruction at the authors institution and sharing with colleagues. Other uses, including reproduction and distribution, or selling or licensing copies, or posting to personal, institutional or third party websites are prohibited. In most cases authors are permitted to post their version of the article (e.g. in Word or Tex form) to their personal website or institutional repository. Authors requiring further information regarding Elsevier's archiving and manuscript policies are encouraged to visit: http://www.elsevier.com/copyright a b s t r a c t Dartmoor, in SW England, is a classic periglaciated granite upland adorned with a population of over 150 tors. The origin of the tors has been controversial, but their emergence by differentiation after stripping of regolith during Pleistocene cold phases is accepted. However, their actual age has been unknown, with possible scenarios ranging from preservation since the early Middle Pleistocene to relatively short-lived landforms in a maritime climate with high denudation rates. The latter is now supported by 32 cosmogenic surface exposure dates from 28 tors across the whole upland. The distribution of apparent 10 Be ages peaks strongly in the Middle Devensian (36e50 ka), which with corrections for weathering and limited ice shielding could be interpreted as Early Devensian. These ages are much younger than those found for three glacially unmodified Cairngorms tors, and somewhat younger even than glacially modified Cairngorms tors. The dates show little spatial variation. Although an ice cap has now been modelled in the heart of northern Dartmoor, tors here are of median age, suggesting that ice cover sufficient to shield tors from incoming radiation was of short duration. The few younger tor ages support the idea of continuing landform instability across the landscape, with weathering flakes redeveloping soon after inferred loss of top pillows by gelifraction or gravitational toppling. The few older tor ages have no systematic explanation, and may indicate inheritance from an earlier cycle of bedrock near-exposure. Since most tors are modest in height (typically 2e5 m), volumetrically insignificant, and often in advanced stages of disintegration, the general impression is that they are evanescent features, which emerge and quickly disappear during every Pleistocene climatic downturn. Tor populations may thus flicker across the landscape rather randomly over the Quaternary. The remarkably consistent age of the present tor population could be associated with a stripping event at the start of the Devensian, but fuller analysis must await closer controls on tor denudation rates in different climatic phases, and on ice cover extent and duration. These results only date extant tor surfaces, not the landscape, but as the best available erosion pins they have evident value in exploring theories of the evolution of Dartmoor during the Quaternary.

Authigenic 10 Be/ 9 Be ratios and 10 Be-fluxes reconstructed using the 230 Th xs normalization, proxies of the cosmogenic radionuclide 10 Be production rate in the atmosphere, have been measured in a sedimentary core from Baffin Bay (North Atlantic) spanning the last 136 ka BP. The normalization applied on the exchangeable (authigenic) 10 Be concentrations using the authigenic 9 Be isotope and 230 Th xs methods yield equivalent results strongly correlated with sedimentological parameters (grain-size and mineralogy). Lower authigenic beryllium (Be) concentrations and 10 Be/ 9 Be ratios are associated with coarse-grained carbonate-rich layers, while higher authigenic Be values are related to fine-grained felspar-rich sediments. This variability is due to: i) sediment composition control over beryllium-scavenging efficiency and, ii) glacial history that contributed to modify the 10 Be concentration in Baffin Bay by input and boundary scavenging condition changes. Most paleo-denudation rates inferred from the 10 Be/ 9 Be ratio vary weakly around 220 ± 76 tons.km À2 .yr À1 (0.09 ± 0.03 mm.yr À1) corresponding to relatively steady weathering fluxes over the last glacial cycle except for six brief intervals characterized by sharp increases of the denudation rate. These intervals are related to ice-surging episodes coeval with Heinrich events and the last deglaciation period. An average freshwater flux of 180.6 km 3 .yr À1 (0.006 Sv), consistent with recent models, has been calculated in order to sustain glacially-derived 10 Be inputs into Baffin Bay. It is concluded that in such environments, the authigenic 10 Be measured mainly depends on climatic effects related to the glacial dynamics, which masks the 10 Be production variation modulated by geomagnetic field changes. Altogether, these results challenge the simple interpretation of 10 Be-concentration variation as a proxy of Interglacial/Glacial (interstadial/stadial) cycles in Arctic and sub-Arctic regions. They rather suggest the effect of higher-frequency paleoclimatic changes and local glacial dynamics on 10 Be signature.

Keywords: Brazilian passive margin escarpment 10 Be cosmogenic nuclide Continental Rift of Southeast Brazil Landscape evolution a b s t r a c t This study aims to quantify the denudation dynamics of the Brazilian passive margin along a segment of the Continental Rift of Southeast Brazil. The denudation rates of 30 basins that drain both horsts of the continental rift, including the mountain ranges of the Serra do Mar (seaside horst); and the Serra da Mantiqueira (continental horst); were derived from 10 Be concentrations measured in sand-sized river sediment. The mean denudation rate ranges from 9.2 m Ma À1 on the plateau of the Serra do Mar to 37.1 m Ma À1 along the oceanic escarpment of the Serra do Mar. The seaward-facing scarps of both mountain ranges exhibit mean denudation rates that are approximately 1.5 times those of the inland-facing scarps. The escarpments of the horst nearer to the ocean (Serra do Mar) exhibit higher denuda-tion rates (mean 30.2 m Ma À1) than the escarpments of the continental horst (Serra da Mantiqueira) (mean 16.5 m Ma À1). The parameters that impact these denudation rates include the catchment relief, the slope gradient, the rock and the climate. The incongruent combination of a mountainous landscape and moderate to low 10 Be-based denudation rates averaging at ~20 m Ma À1 suggests a reduction in intraplate tectonic activity beginning in the Middle Quaternary or earlier.

Keywords: landscape evolution carbonates denudation cosmogenic nuclides hillslope processes Understanding topographic evolution requires integrating elementary processes acting at the hillslope scale into the long-wavelength framework of landscape dynamics. Recent progress has been made in the quantification of denudation of eroding landscapes and its links with topography. Despite these advances, data is still sparse in carbonate terrain, which covers a significant part of the Earth's surface. In this study, we measured both long-term denudation rates using in situ-produced 36 Cl concentrations in bedrock and regolith clasts and surface convexity at 12 sites along ridges of the Luberon carbonate range in Provence, Southeastern France. Starting from ∼30 mm/ka for the lowering of the summit plateau surface, denudation linearly increases with increasing hilltop convexity up to ∼70 mm/ka, as predicted by diffusive mass transport theory. Beyond this point denudation rates appear to be insensitive to the increase in hilltop convexity. We interpret this constant denudation as indicating a transition from a regime where hillslope evolution is primarily controlled by diffusive downslope regolith transport, toward a situation in which denudation is limited by the rate at which physical and chemical weathering processes can produce clasts and lower the hilltop. Such an abrupt transition into a weathering-limited dynamics may prevent hillslope denudation from balancing the rate of base level fall imposed by the river network and could potentially explain the development of high local relief in many Mediterranean carbonate landscapes.

The terrace sequence of the Hungarian part of the Danube valley preserves a record of varying tectonic uplift rates along the river course and throughout several climate stages. To establish the chronology of formation of these terraces, two different dating methods were used on alluvial terraces: exposure age dating using in situ produced cosmogenic 10 Be and luminescence dating. Using Monte Carlo approach to model the denudation rate-corrected exposure ages, in situ produced cosmogenic 10 Be samples originated from vertical depth profiles enabled the determination of both the exposure time and the denu-dation rate. Post-IR IRSL measurements were carried out on K-feldspar samples to obtain the ages of sedimentation. The highest terrace horizon remnants of the study area provided a best estimate erosion-corrected minimum 10 Be exposure age of >700 ka. We propose that the abandonment of the highest terrace of the Hungarian Danube valley was triggered by the combined effect of the beginning tectonic uplift and the onset of major continental glaciations of Quaternary age (around MIS 22). For the lower terraces it was possible to reveal close correlation with MIS stages using IRSL ages. The new chronology enabled the distinction of tIIb (~90 ka; MIS 5bec) and tIIIa (~140 ka; MIS 6) in the study area. Surface denudation rates were well constrained by the cosmogenic 10 Be depth profiles between 5.8 m/Ma and 10.0 m/Ma for all terraces. The calculated maximum incision rates of the Danube relevant for the above determined >700 ka time span were increasing from west (<0.06 mm/a) to east (<0.13 mm/a), toward the more elevated Transdanubian Range. Late Pleistocene incision rates derived from the age of the low terraces (~0.13e0.15 mm/a) may suggest a slight acceleration of uplift towards present.