Mountain uplift and the glaciation of North America – a sensitivity study

Foster, G. L.; Lunt, D. J.; Parrish, R. R.

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-6-707-2010

Articles | Volume 6, issue 5

Article
Peer review
Metrics
Related articles

Articles | Volume 6, issue 5

https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-6-707-2010

Articles | Volume 6, issue 5

Article
Peer review
Metrics
Related articles

25 Oct 2010

| 25 Oct 2010

Mountain uplift and the glaciation of North America – a sensitivity study

G. L. Foster, D. J. Lunt, and R. R. Parrish

G. L. Foster

School of Ocean & Earth Science, National Oceanography Centre, Southampton, University of Southampton, Waterfront Campus, Southampton SO14 3ZH, UK

D. J. Lunt

School of Geographical Sciences, University of Bristol, University Road, Bristol, BS8 1SS, UK

R. R. Parrish

NERC Isotope Geosciences Laboratory, British Geological Survey, Keyworth, Nottingham, NG12 5GG, UK

Cited articles

Balco, G. and Rovey, C. W., II: Absolute chronology for major pleistocene advances of the laurentide ice sheet, Geology, 38, 795–798, 10.1130/G30946.1, 2010.

Bonelli, S., Charbit, S., Kageyama, M., Woillez, M.-N., Ramstein, G., Dumas, C., and Quiquet, A.: Investigating the evolution of major Northern Hemisphere ice sheets during the last glacial-interglacial cycle, Clim. Past, 5, 329–345, 2009.

Broccoli, A. J. and Manabe, S.: The effects of orography on midlatitude Northern Hemisphere dry climates, J. Climate, 5, 1181–1201, 1992.

Broccoli, A. J. and Manabe, S.: Mountains and midlatitude aridity, in: Tectonic uplift and climate change, edited by: Ruddiman, W. F., Plenum Press, NY, USA, 89–121, 1997.

Burchfiel, B. C., Cowan, D. S., and Davis, G. A.: Tectonic overview of the cordilleran orogen in the western united states, in: The cordilleran orogen: Conterminous US, edited by: Burchfiel, B. C., Lipman, P. W., and Zoback, M. L., Geological Society of America, The Geology of North America, Boulder, Colorado, USA, 407–479, 1992.

Campbell, R. B. and Dodds, C. J.: Operation St. Elias, Yukon Territory, Geological Survey of Canada, Paper, 78-1a, 35–41, 1978.

Cattle, H. and Crossley, J.: Modelling arctic climate change, Phil. Trans. Royal Soc., A352, 201–213, 1995.

Chamberlain, C. P. and Poage, M. A.: Reconstructing the paleotopography of mountain belts from the isotopic composition of authigenic minerals, Geology, 28, 115–118, 2000.

Clague, J. J.: Quaternary glaciation and sedimentation, in: Geology of the cordilleran orogen in Canada, edited by: Gabrielse, H., and Yorath, C. J., Geological Survey of Canada, Ottawa, Canada, 419–434, 1991.

Cox, P., Betts, R., Bunton, C., Essery, R., Rowntree, P. R., and Smith, J.: The impact of new land-surface physics on the GCM simulation and climate sensitivity, Clim. Dynam., 15, 183–203, 1999.

DeConto, R. M. and Pollard, D.: Rapid Cenozoic glaciation of Antarctica induced by declining atmospheric CO₂, Nature, 421, 245–249, 2003.

DeConto, R. M., Pollard, D., Wilson, P. A., Palike, H., Lear, C. H., and Pagani, M.: Thresholds for Cenozoic bipolar glaciation, Nature, 455(7213), 652–656, https://doi.org/10.1038/nature07337, 2008.

Denton, G. H. and Armstrong, R. L.: Miocene-Pliocene glaciations in southern Alaska, Am. J. Sci., 267, 1121–1142, 1969.

Edwards, J. M. and Slingo, A.: Studies with a flexible new radiation code 1: Choosing a configuration for a large-scale model, Q. J. Roy. Meteorol. Soc., 122, 689–719, 1996.

England, P. and Molnar, P.: Surface uplift, uplift of rocks and exhumation of rocks, Geology, 18, 1173–1177, 1990.

Farley, K. A., Rusmore, M. E., and Bogue, S. W.: Post 10-ma uplift and exhumation of the northern Coast Mountains, British Columbia, Geology, 29, 99–102, 2001.

Fitzgerald, P. G., Sorkhabi, R. B., Redfield, T. F., and Stump, E.: Uplift and denudation of the central Alaska Range: A case study in the use of fission track thermochronology to determine absolute uplift parameters, J. Geophys. Res., 100, 20175–20191, 1995.

Fox, D. L.: Growth increments in gomphotherium tusks and implications for late Miocene climate change in North America, Palaeogeogr. Palaeoclim. Palaeoecol., 156, 327–348, 2000.

Garizone, C. N., Hoke, G. D., Libarkin, J. C., Withers, S., MacFadden, B., Eiler, J., Ghosh, P., and Mulch, A.: Rise of the Andes, Science, 320, 1304–1307, 2008.

Gent, P. R. and McWilliams, J. C.: Isopycnal mixing in ocean circulation models, J. Phys. Oceanogr., 20, 150–155, 1990.

Gordon, C., Cooper, C., Senior, C. A., Banks, H., Gregory, J. M., Johns, T. C., Mitchell, J. F. B., and Wood, R. A.: The simulation of SST, sea ice extents and ocean heat transports in a version of the hadley centre coupled model without flux adjustments, Clim. Dynam., 16, 147–168, 2000.

Gregory, D., Kershaw, R., and Inness, P. M.: Parametrisation of momentum transport by convection ii: Tests in single column and general circulation models, Q. J. Roy. Meteorol. Soc., 123, 1153–1183, https://doi.org/10.1002/qj.49712354103, 1997.

Gregory, J. M. and Mitchell, J. F. B.: The climate response to CO₂ of the hadley centre coupled AOGCM with and without flux adjustment, Geophys. Res. Lett., 24, 1943–1946, 1997.

Hibler, W. D.: A dynamic thermodynamic sea ice model, J. Phys. Oceanogr., 9, 815–846, 1979.

Horton, T. W., Sjostrom, D. J., Abruzzese, M. J., Poage, M. A., Waldbauer, J. R., Hren, M., Wooden, J., and Chamberlain, C. P.: Spatial and temporal variation of Cenozoic surface elevation in the Great Basin and Sierra Nevada, Am. J. Sci., 304, 832–888, 2004.

Hyndman, R. D., Currie, C. A., and Mazzotti, S. P.: Subduction zone backarcs, mobile belts, and orogenic heat, GSA Today, 15, 4–10, 2005.

Kent-Corson, M. L., Sherman, L. S., Mulch, A., and Chamberlain, C. P.: Cenozoic topographic and climatic response to changing tectonic boundary conditions in western North America, Earth Planet. Sci. Lett., 252, 453–466, 2006.

Kohn, M. J. and Fremd, T. J.: Miocene tectonics and climate forcing of biodiversity, western United States, Geology, 36, 783–786, https://doi.org/710.1130/G24928A.24921, 2008.

Kohn, M. J., Miselis, J. L., and Fremd, T. J.: Oxygen isotope evidence for progressive uplift of the Cascade Range, Oregon, Earth Planet. Sci. Lett., 204, 151–165, 2002.

Kürschner, W. M., van der Burgh, J., Visscher, H., and Dilcher, D. L.: Oak leaves as biosensors of Late Neogene and Early Pleistocene paleoatmospheric CO₂ concentrations, Mar. Micropalentol., 27, 299–312, 1996.

Kürschner, W. M., Kvacek, Z., and Dilcher, D. L.: The impact of Miocene atmospheric carbon dioxide fluctuations on climate and the evolution of terrestrial ecosystems, PNAS, 105, 440–453, 2008.

Kutzbach, J. E., Guetter, P. J., Ruddiman, W. F., and Prell, W. L.: Sensitivity of climate to Late Cenozoic uplift in southern Asia and the American West: Numerical experiments, J. Geophys. Res., 94, 18393–18407, 1989.

Lambeck, K. and Nakiboglu, S. M.: Seamount loading and stress in the ocean lithosphere, J. Geophys. Res., 85, 6403–6418, 1980.

Lunt, D. J., Haywood, A. M., Foster, G. L., and Stone, E. J.: The arctic cryosphere in the mid-pliocene and the future, Phil. Trans. Roy. Soc. A, https://doi.org/10.1098/rsta.2008.0218, 2009.

Lunt, D. J., Foster, G. L., Haywood, A. M., and Stone, E. J.: Late Pliocene Greenland glaciation controlled by a decline in atmospheric CO₂ levels, Nature, 454, 1102–1105, 2008a.

Lunt, D. J., Valdes, P. J., Haywood, A. M., and Rutt, I. C.: Closure of the Panama Seaway during the Pliocene: Implications for climate and Northern Hemisphere Glaciation, Clim. Dynam. 30, 1–18, 2008b.

Lunt, D. J., Flecker, R., and Clift, P. D.: The impacts of Tibetan uplift on palaeoclimate proxies, Geol. Soc. London, in press, 2010.

Martin, H. E. and Rouse, G. E.: Palynology of late tertiary sediments from Queen Charlotte Islands, British Columbia, Can. J. Bot., 44, 171–208, 1966.

Montgomery, D. R. and Brandon, M. T.: Topographic controls on erosion rates in tectonically active mountain ranges, Earth Planet. Sci. Lett., 673, 1–9, 2002.

Mudelsee, M. and Raymo, M. E.: Slow dynamics of the Northern Hemisphere Glaciation, Paleoceanography, 20, PA4022, https://doi.org/10.1029/2005PA001153, 2005.

O'Sullivan, P. B. and Parrish, R. R.: The importance of apatite composition and single-grain ages when interpreting fission-track data from plutonic rocks: A case study from the Coast Ranges, British Columbia, Earth Planet. Sci. Lett., 132, 213–224, 1995.

O'Sullivan, P. B. and Currie, L. D.: Thermotectonic history of Mt Logan, Yukon territory, Canada: Implications of multiple episodes of Middle to Late Cenozoic denudation, Earth Planet. Sci. Lett., 144, 251–261, 1996.

Pagani, M., Freeman, K. H., and Arthur, M. A.: Late Miocene atmospheric CO₂ concentrations and the expansion of C₄ grasses, Science, 285, 876–879, 1999.

Pagani, M., Lemarchand, D., Spivack, A., and Gaillardet, J.: A critical evaluation of the boron isotope-pH proxy: The accuracy of ancient pH estimates, Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta, 69, 953–961, 2005.

Pagani, M., Liu, Z., LaRiviere, J., and Ravelo, A. N.: High Earth-system climate sensitivity determined from Pliocene carbon dioxide concentrations, Nature Geosci., 3, 27–30, 2009.

Parrish, R. R.: Cenozoic thermal evolution and tectonics of the coast mountains of British Columbia 1. Fission-track dating, apparent uplift rates, and patterns of uplift, Tectonics, 2, 601–631, 1983.

Parrish, R. R., Carr, S. D., and Parkinson, D. L.: Eocene extensional tectonics and geochronology of the southern Omineca Belt, British-Columbia and Washington, Tectonics, 7, 181–212, 1988.

Passey, B. H., Cerling, T. E., Perkins, M. E., Voorhies, M. R., Harris, J. M., and Tucker, S. T.: Environmental change in the Great Plains: An isotopic record from fossil horses, J. Geol., 110, 123–139, 2002.

Payne, A. J.: A thermomechanical model of ice flow in west antarctica, Climate Dynamics, 15, 115–125, 1999.

Pearson, P. N. and Palmer, M. R.: Atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations over the past 60 million years, Nature, 406, 695–699, 2000.

Pollard, D. and Thompson, S. L.: Driving a high-resolution dynamic ice sheet model with gcm climate: Ice-sheet initiation at 116 000 bp, Ann. Glaciol., 25, 296–304, 1997.

Randall, D. A., Wood, R. A., Bony, S., Colman, R., Fichefet, T., Fyfe, J., Kattsov, V., Pitman, A., Shukla, J., Srinivasan, J., Stouffer, R. J., Sumi, A., and Talyor, K. E.: Climate models and their evaluation, in: Cilmate Models and Their Evaluation. In: Climate Change 2007: The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, edited by: Soloman, S., Qin, D., Manning, M., Chen, Z., Marquis, M., Averyt, K. B., Tignor, M., and Miller, H. L., Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, 2007.

Raymo, M. E., Ruddiman, W. F., and Froelich, P. N.: Influence of Late Cenozoic mountain building on ocean geochemical cycles, Geology, 16, 649–653, 1988.

Raymo, M. E. and Ruddiman, W. F.: Tectonic forcing of Cenozoic climate, Nature, 359, 117–122, 1992.

Reeh, N.: Parameterization of melt rate and surface temperature on the Greenland ice sheet, Polarforschung, 59, 113–128, 1991.

Reidel, S. P., Campbell, N. P., Fecht, K. R., and Lindsey, K. A.: Late Cenozoic structure and stratigraphy of south-central Wasthington, Washington Division of Geology and Earth Resources Bulletin, 80, 159–180, 1994.

Reiners, P. W., Ehlers, T. A., Garver, J. I., Gran Mitchell, S., Montgomery, D. R., Vance, J. A., and Nicolescu, S.: Late miocene exhumation and uplift of the washington cascade range, Geology, 30, 767–770, 2002.

Retallack, G. J.: Neogene expansion of the North American prairie, Palios, 12, 380–390, 1997.

Retallack, G. J.: Late Oligocene bunch grassland and Early Miocene sod grassland paleosols from central Oregon, USA, Palaeogeogr. Palaeoclim. Palaeoecol., 207, 203–237, 2004.

Rouse, G. E. and Mathews, W. H.: Tertiary geology and palynology of the Quesnel area, British Columbia, B. Can. Petrol. Geol., 27, 418–445, 1979.

Rowley, D. B. and Garizone, C. N.: Stable isotope-based Paleoaltimetry, Ann. Rev. Earth Planet. Sci, 35, 463–508, 2007.

Ruddiman, W. F. and Kutzbach, J. E.: Forcing of the Late Cenozoic Northern Hemisphere climate by plateau uplift in southern Asia and the America West, J. Geophys. Res., 94, 18409–18427, 1989.

Ruddiman, W. F.: A Paleoclimatic Enigma?, Science, 328, 838–839, 2010.

Rutt, I. C., Hagdorn, M. H., Hulton, N. R. J., and Payne, A. J.: The Glimmer community ice sheet model, J. Geophys. Res., 114, F02004, https://doi.org/10.1029/2008JF001015, 2009.

Sahagian, D., Proussevitch, A., and Carlson, W.: Timing of Colorado plateau uplift: Initial constraints from vesicular basalt-derived paleoelevations, Geology, 30, 807–810, 2002.

Seager, R., Battisti, D. S., Yin, J., Gordon, N., Naik, N., Clement, A. C., and Cane, M. A.: Is the gulf stream responsible for europe's mild winters, Q. J. R. Meterol. Soc., 128, 2563–2586, 2002.

Seki, O., Foster, G. L., Schmidt, D. N., Mackensen, A., Kawamura, K., and Pancost, R. D.: Alkenone and boron based Plio-Pleistocene pCO₂ records, Earth Planet. Sci. Lett., 292, 201–211, 2010.

Souther, J. G. and Yorath, C. J.: Neogene assemblages, in: Geology of the Cordilleran Orogen in Canada, edited by: Gabrielae, H., and Yorath, C. J., Geol. Surv. Can., Geol. Canada, 373–401, 1992.

Supulchre, P., Ramstein, G., Fluteau, F., Schuster, M., Tiercelin, J.-J., and Brunet, M.: Tectonic uplift and Eastern Africa aridification, Science, 313, 1419–1423, 2006.

Swanson, D. A.: Uplift of the southern Washington Cascades in the past 17 million years, Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, 29, 68, 1997.

Takeuchi, A. and Larson, P. B.: Oxygen isotope evidence for the Late Cenozoic development of an orographic rain shadow in eastern Washington, USA, Geology, 33, 313–316, 2005.

White, J. M., Ager, T. A., Adam, D. P., Leopold, E. B., Liu, G., Jette, H., and Schweger, C. E.: An 18 million year record of vegetation and climate change in northwestern Canada and Alaska: Tectonic and global climatic correlates, Palaeogeogr. Palaeoclim. Palaeoecol., 130, 293–306, 1997.

Winkler, A.: The climate history of the high northern latitudes since the middle Miocene: Indications from sedimentological and clay mineralogical analyses (ODP leg 151, central Fram strait), Reports on Polar Research, Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, Bremerhaven, Germany, 344, 117 pp., 1999.

Wolfe, J. A., Forest, C. E., and Molnar, P.: Paleobotanical evidence of Eocene and Oligocene paleoaltitudes in midlatitude western North America, Geol. Soc. Am. Bull., 110, 664–678, 1998.

Zachos, J., Pagani, M., Sloan, L., Thomas, E., and Billups, K.: Trends, rhythms, and aberrations in global climate 65 Ma to present, Science, 292, 686–693, 2001.

Zachos, J. C., Dickens, G. R., and Zeebe, R. E.: An Early Cenozoic perspective on greenhouse warming and carbon-cycle dynamics, Nature, 451, 279–283, https://doi.org/10.1038/nature06588, 2008.