Role of climate changes for wind gap formation in a young, actively growing mountain range

Publikation: Beitrag in FachzeitschriftArtikelForschungPeer-Review

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  • Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster (WWU)
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OriginalspracheEnglisch
Seiten (von - bis)441-448
Seitenumfang8
FachzeitschriftTERRA NOVA
Jahrgang28
Ausgabenummer6
PublikationsstatusVeröffentlicht - 1 Dez. 2016

Abstract

Wind gaps in actively growing mountain ranges are unique geomorphological features testifying to the competition between tectonics and fluvial incision. Although it is clear that these landforms reflect the defeat of rivers during sustained rock uplift, the role of climate changes in their formation has never been explored. Here, we use a coupled tectonics–landscape evolution model to show that temporal changes in precipitation rate exert an important control on wind gap formation. In models with a constant precipitation rate, rivers flowing across a growing range are either defeated at an early stage or they abandon their valleys very late, if at all. If precipitation varies, wind gaps form mostly c. 100–200 ka after a transition to drier conditions because of sediment aggradation upstream of the range. Our results suggest that the Pliocene–Quaternary aridification of Central Asia contributed to wind gap formation in active mountain ranges in the foreland of northeastern Tibet.

ASJC Scopus Sachgebiete

  • Erdkunde und Planetologie (insg.)
  • Geologie

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Role of climate changes for wind gap formation in a young, actively growing mountain range. / Hampel, Andrea; Hetzel, Ralf.
in: TERRA NOVA, Jahrgang 28, Nr. 6, 01.12.2016, S. 441-448.

Publikation: Beitrag in FachzeitschriftArtikelForschungPeer-Review

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