Exhumation Processes
Exhumation processes UWE RING1, MARK T. BRANDON2, SEAN D. WILLETT3 & GORDON S. LISTER4 1Institut fur Geowissenschaften,Johannes Gutenberg-Universitiit,55099 Mainz, Germany 2Department of Geology and Geophysics, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520, USA 3Department of Geosciences, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA I 6802, USA Present address: Department of Geological Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98125, USA 4Department of Earth Sciences, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria VIC 3168,Australia Abstract: Deep-seated metamorphic rocks are commonly found in the interior of many divergent and convergent orogens. Plate tectonics can account for high-pressure meta morphism by subduction and crustal thickening, but the return of these metamorphosed crustal rocks back to the surface is a more complicated problem. In particular, we seek to know how various processes, such as normal faulting, ductile thinning, and erosion, con tribute to the exhumation of metamorphic rocks, and what evidence can be used to distin guish between these different exhumation processes. In this paper, we provide a selective overview of the issues associated with the exhuma tion problem. We start with a discussion of the terms exhumation, denudation and erosion, and follow with a summary of relevant tectonic parameters. Then, we review the charac teristics of exhumation in differenttectonic settings. For instance, continental rifts, such as the severely extended Basin-and-Range province, appear to exhume only middle and upper crustal rocks, whereas continental collision zones expose rocks from 125 km and greater. Mantle rocks are locally exhumed in oceanic rifts and transform zones, probably due to the relatively thin crust associated with oceanic lithosphere.
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