IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/nature/v410y2001i6831d10.1038_35073504.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Increased sedimentation rates and grain sizes 2–4 Myr ago due to the influence of climate change on erosion rates

Author

Listed:
  • Zhang Peizhen

    (Institute of Geology, State Seismology Bureau)

  • Peter Molnar

    (Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
    Bilby Research Center, Northern Arizona University)

  • William R. Downs

    (University of Colorado)

Abstract

Around the globe, and in a variety of settings including active and inactive mountain belts, increases in sedimentation rates as well as in grain sizes of sediments were recorded at ∼2–4 Myr ago, implying increased erosion rates. A change in climate represents the only process that is globally synchronous and can potentially account for the widespread increase in erosion and sedimentation, but no single process—like a lowering of sea levels or expanded glaciation—can explain increases in sedimentation in all environments, encompassing continental margins and interiors, and tropical as well as higher latitudes. We suggest that climate affected erosion mainly by the transition from a period of climate stability, in which landscapes had attained equilibrium configurations, to a time of frequent and abrupt changes in temperature, precipitation and vegetation, which prevented fluvial and glacial systems from establishing equilibrium states.

Suggested Citation

  • Zhang Peizhen & Peter Molnar & William R. Downs, 2001. "Increased sedimentation rates and grain sizes 2–4 Myr ago due to the influence of climate change on erosion rates," Nature, Nature, vol. 410(6831), pages 891-897, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:410:y:2001:i:6831:d:10.1038_35073504
    DOI: 10.1038/35073504
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/35073504
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/35073504?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Barry, Michael & Baur, Patrick & Gaudard, Ludovic & Giuliani, Gianluca & Hediger, Werner & Romerio, Franco & Schillinger, Moritz & Schumann, René & Voegeli, Gillaume & Weigt, Hannes, 2015. "The Future of Swiss Hydropower A Review on Drivers and Uncertainties," Working papers 2015/11, Faculty of Business and Economics - University of Basel.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:410:y:2001:i:6831:d:10.1038_35073504. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.