PUBLICATIONS Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems RESEARCH ARTICLE A Cenozoic uplift history of Mexico and its surroundings 10.1002/2014GC005425 from longitudinal river profiles Key Points: Simon N. Stephenson1, Gareth G. Roberts1, Mark J. Hoggard2, and Alexander C. Whittaker1 Admittance calculations indicate Te of plate beneath Mexico is 11 km 1Department of Earth Science and Engineering, Royal School of Mines, Imperial College London, London, UK, Admittance indicates that Mexican 2Department of Earth Sciences, Bullard Laboratories, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK topography is dynamically supported by 1–2 km Inversion of river profiles shows dynamic support grew in the last 30 Abstract Geodynamic models of mantle convection predict that Mexico and western North America Ma share a history of dynamic support. We calculate admittance between gravity and topography, which indi- cates that the elastic thickness of the plate in Mexico is 11 km and in western North America it is 12 km. Correspondence to: Admittance at wavelengths > 500 km in these regions suggests that topography is partly supported by sub- G. G. Roberts, crustal processes. These results corroborate estimates of residual topography from isostatic calculations and
[email protected] suggest that the amount of North American topography supported by the mantle may exceed 1 km. The Cenozoic history of magmatism, sedimentary flux, thermochronometric denudation estimates, and uplifted Citation: Stephenson, S. N., G. G. Roberts, marine terraces imply that North American lithosphere was uplifted and eroded during the last 30 Ma. We M. J. Hoggard, and A. C. Whittaker jointly invert 533 Mexican and North American longitudinal river profiles to reconstruct a continent-scale (2014), A Cenozoic uplift history of rock uplift rate history.