Rapid Uplift of the Altiplano Revealed Through 13 C- 18 O Bonds in Paleosol Carbonates
Top Cited Papers
- 27 January 2006
- journal article
- other
- Published by American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in Science
- Vol. 311 (5760) , 511-515
- https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1119365
Abstract
The elevation of Earth's surface is among the most difficult environmental variables to reconstruct from the geological record. Here we describe an approach to paleoaltimetry based on independent and simultaneous determinations of soil temperatures and the oxygen isotope compositions of soil waters, constrained by measurements of abundances of 13 C- 18 O bonds in soil carbonates. We use this approach to show that the Altiplano plateau in the Bolivian Andes rose at an average rate of 1.03 ± 0.12 millimeters per year between ∼10.3 and ∼6.7 million years ago. This rate is consistent with the removal of dense lower crust and/or lithospheric mantle as the cause of elevation gain.Keywords
This publication has 32 references indexed in Scilit:
- Subandean thrust and fold belt of northwestern Argentina: Geometry and timing of the Andean evolutionAAPG Bulletin, 2003
- The altitude effect on the isotopic composition of tropical rainsPublished by Elsevier ,2001
- Oxygen isotope evidence for high-altitude snow in the Laramide Rocky Mountains of North America during the Late Cretaceous and PaleogeneGeology, 2000
- Topographic development of the Southern Alps recorded by the isotopic composition of authigenic clay minerals, South Island, New ZealandChemical Geology, 1999
- Origin of the high plateau in the central Andes, Bolivia, South AmericaTectonics, 1997
- Stable carbon and oxygen isotopes of pedogenic carbonates, Ajo Mountains, southern Arizona: implications for paleoenvironmental changePalaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 1996
- Effect of regional topography and hydrology on the lacustrine isotopic record of Miocene paleoclimate in the Rocky MountainsPalaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 1993
- Tectonic significance of paleobotanically estimated climate and altitude of the late Eocene erosion surface, ColoradoGeology, 1992
- Creation and destruction of lower continental crustInternational Journal of Earth Sciences, 1991
- Middle Miocene climatic change in the Atacama Desert, northern Chile: Evidence from supergene mineralization at La EscondidaGSA Bulletin, 1988