Tectonic Geomorphology of Mountains A New Approach to Paleoseismology

by Bull, William B.

• ISBN13: 9781405154796
• ISBN10: 1405154799
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2007-11-19
• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell

Summary

With a balance of theory and practical applications, Tectonic Geomorphology of Mountains is essential reading for research geologists and upper-level undergraduate and graduate students in the earth sciences. This book describes how tectonic events influence geomorphic processes and explores how landscapes respond to tectonic deformation in the ways in which they are weathered, washed, and abraded Uses new approaches to enhance theoretical models of landscape evolution and to solve practical problems such as the assessment of earthquake hazards Includes previously unpublished research and theory Examines how to use key landforms as reference levels in changing landscapes, estimate rates of mountain-range uplift, and map seismic shaking caused by prehistorical earthquakes Presents a diverse range of examples from around the world

Author Biography

William B. Bull is an applied geologist educated at Colorado and Stanford Universities. He worked 12 years for the US Geological Survey as an engineering geologist and groundwater hydrologist. Studies of collapsing soils and land subsidence were quite appealing, but he changed career goals by moving to the University of Arizona where he taught geomorphology for 28 years. He continues to study landscapes of rising mountains from the perspective of earthquake hazards.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. viii
Scrunch and Stretch Bedrock Uplift
Introduction	p. 3
Pure Uplift, Stretch and Scrunch Bedrock Uplift	p. 6
Isostatic and Tectonic Uplift	p. 6
Stretch and Scrunch Tectonics	p. 12
Landscape Responses to Regional Uplift	p. 23
Concepts for Studies of Rising Mountains
Themes and Topics	p. 27
The Fundamental Control of Base Level	p. 28
Base Level	p. 28
Base-Level Change	p. 28
The Base Level of Erosion	p. 31
The Changing Level of the Sea	p. 33
Spatial Decay of the Effects of Local Base-Level Changes	p. 37
Threshold of Critical Power in Streams	p. 39
Relative Strengths of Stream Power and Resisting Power	p. 41
Threshold-Intersection Points	p. 42
Equilibrium in Streams	p. 42
Classification of Stream Terraces	p. 42
Feedback Mechanisms	p. 45
Dynamic and Static Equilibrium	p. 46
Time Lags of Response	p. 49
Responses to Pulses of Uplift	p. 50
Perturbations that Limit Continuity of Fluvial Systems	p. 51
Lithologic and Climatic Controls of Relaxation Times	p. 54
Time Spans Needed to Erode Landforms	p. 57
Tectonically-Induced Downcutting	p. 58
Straths, Stream-Gradient Indices, and Strath Terraces	p. 58
Modulation of Stream-Terrace Formation by Pleistocene-Holocene Climatic Changes	p. 65
Nontectonic Base-Level Fall and Strath Terrace Formation	p. 66
Hydraulic Coordinates	p. 69
Mountain Fronts
Introduction	p. 75
Tectonically Active Escarpments	p. 79
Faceted Spur Ridges	p. 79
Mountain-Piedmont Junctions	p. 83
Piedmont Forelands	p. 86
Fault Segmentation of Mountain Fronts	p. 97
Different Ways to Study Active Faults	p. 97
Segmentation Concepts and Classification	p. 104
Fault-Segment Boundaries	p. 105
Normal Fault Surface Ruptures	p. 106
Strike-Slip Fault Surface Ruptures	p. 113
Summary	p. 115
Tectonic Activity Classes of Mountain Fronts
Tectonic Setting of the North America-Pacific Plate Boundary	p. 117
Appraisal of Regional Mountain Front Tectonic Activity	p. 119
Geomorphic Tools For Describing Relative Uplift Rates	p. 119
Mountain-Front Sinuosity	p. 122
Widths of Valleys	p. 124
Triangular Facets	p. 127
Diagnostic Landscape Classes of Relative Tectonic Activity	p. 128
Regional Assessments of Relative Tectonic Activity	p. 141
Response Time Complications and Strike-Slip Faulting	p. 141
Maps of Relative Uplift	p. 145
Summary	p. 164
Fault Scarps
General Features	p. 165
Scarp Morphology Changes with Time	p. 172
Changes in Scarp Height	p. 173
Decreases in Maximum Scarp Slope	p. 174
Diffusion-Equation Modeling	p. 175
Climatic Controls of Fault-Scarp Morphology	p. 181
Lithologic Controls of Fault-Scarp Morphology	p. 184
Fault Rupture of Different Materials	p. 185
Lithologic Controls on an 1887 Fault Scarp	p. 187
Geomorphic Processes	p. 190
Scarp Materials	p. 193
Scarp Morphology	p. 194
Laser Swath Digital Elevation Models	p. 196
Dating Fault Scarps with Terrestrial Cosmogenic Nuclides	p. 201
Alluvium	p. 201
Bedrock	p. 204
Summary	p. 207
Analyses of Prehistorical Seismic Shaking
Paleoseismology Goals	p. 209
Earthquake-Generated Regional Rockfall Events	p. 212
New Zealand Earthquakes	p. 212
Tectonic Setting	p. 212
Background and Procedures	p. 215
Diagnostic Lichen-Size Peaks	p. 225
Tree-Ring Analyses	p. 227
Alpine Fault Earthquakes	p. 241
Recent Marlborough Earthquakes	p. 246
California Earthquakes	p. 255
Calibration of Lichen Growth Rates	p. 257
Recent Cliff Collapse	p. 258
Rockfall Processes in Glaciated Valleys	p. 262
San Andreas Fault Earthquakes	p. 265
Lichenometry and Precise Radiocarbon Dating Methods	p. 270
Summary	p. 273
References Cited	p. 275
Index	p. 305
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