IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/nature/v426y2003i6967d10.1038_nature02111.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Coupled spatial variations in precipitation and long-term erosion rates across the Washington Cascades

Author

Listed:
  • Peter W. Reiners

    (Yale University)

  • Todd A. Ehlers

    (University of Michigan)

  • Sara G. Mitchell

    (University of Washington)

  • David R. Montgomery

    (University of Washington)

Abstract

Past studies of tectonically active mountain ranges have suggested strong coupling and feedbacks between climate, tectonics and topography1,2,3,4,5. For example, rock uplift generates topographic relief, thereby enhancing precipitation, which focuses erosion and in turn influences rates and spatial patterns of further rock uplift. Although theoretical links between climate, erosion and uplift have received much attention2,6,7,8,9,10, few studies have shown convincing correlations between observable indices of these processes on mountain-range scales11,12. Here we show that strongly varying long-term (>106–107 yr) erosion rates inferred from apatite (U–Th)/He cooling ages across the Cascades mountains of Washington state closely track modern mean annual precipitation rates. Erosion and precipitation rates vary over an order of magnitude across the range with maxima of 0.33 mm yr-1 and 3.5 m yr-1, respectively, with both maxima located 50 km west (windward) of the topographic crest of the range. These data demonstrate a strong coupling between precipitation and long-term erosion rates on the mountain-range scale. If the range is currently in topographic steady state, rock uplift on the west flank is three to ten times faster than elsewhere in the range, possibly in response to climatically focused erosion.

Suggested Citation

  • Peter W. Reiners & Todd A. Ehlers & Sara G. Mitchell & David R. Montgomery, 2003. "Coupled spatial variations in precipitation and long-term erosion rates across the Washington Cascades," Nature, Nature, vol. 426(6967), pages 645-647, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:426:y:2003:i:6967:d:10.1038_nature02111
    DOI: 10.1038/nature02111
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/nature02111
    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/nature02111?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.

    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:426:y:2003:i:6967:d:10.1038_nature02111. 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.