T304 Quantifying Geomorphic Processes and Rates of Landscape Evolution II

Wednesday, 28 September 2016
1:30 PM - 5:30 PM
Room 405

INFLUENCE OF STRIKE-SLIP FAULT ACTIVITY ON THE TOPOGRAPHIC EVOLUTION OF THE EASTERN ALPS

Paper number: T304-10
Program: Technical Sessions
Time: 3:55 PM – 4:10 PM

Authors

Abstract

We present results of a numerical model that is used to investigate aspects of the  landscape evolution of the Eastern European Alps in the Miocene. The model allows the consideration of strike-slip faulting - an inherent feature of the Miocene tectonics in the Eastern Alps - within a viscous medium. Mechanical deformation of this medium  is coupled with a landscape evolution model to describe surface processes like valley incision. For the input variables, the activity history of strike-slip faulting in the Eastern  Alps is compiled from literature sources. The results present a major improvement in the predicted topographic history over earlier models in terms of the location and  build-up of valleys and mountain ranges that form in response to the strike-slip faulting  activity. Intra-montane basins that are a typical feature of the Miocene evolution of the Eastern Alps are predicted and a Tauern Window uplift evolves dynamically in the simulations, related to well-known east-west striking strike-slip faults in the region. Overall, the model under-predicts the mean elevation of the Eastern Alps by some 300 m, which is interpreted in terms of an independent, deep rooted event of the last 5 Ma, that has been inferred previously from other field data.

Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs. Vol. 48, No. 7

doi: 10.1130/abs/2016AM-282681

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