Problem

Tools

Current elevation

Original elevation

Tectonic displacement

Geomorphic displacement

Field obs. DEM Geochron. Interpretive Environment

Models

Surface processes act to change elevation through erosion and deposition while tectonic processes depress or elevate the surface directly.

Elevation change with time

Divergence of sediment flux and rock uplift rate

Pollard & Fletcher,

2005

• The study of landforms and landscapes which record a measurable tectonic signal (Burbank and Anderson, 2001).

A “Poster child” for a landscape that records the record of fold growth: Wheeler Ridge California, view to NW; John S. Shelton photograph

Tectonic geomorphology

Tectonic geomorphology• How do surficial processes respond to deformation

(and what are the possible feedbacks between them)? How can we use the signal of deformation in the landscape (and the late Quaternary) to bridge the gap between annual and Myr timescales?

Active tectonics • What are spatial and

temporal scales of continental lithospheric deformation? What are the roles of faulting versus distributed deformation? What drives the deformation? What is the role of pre-existing heterogeneity?

Spatial dimensions of W. North American active deformation

http://www.earthscope.org/geo_pbo_wp.pdf

Fault system dynamics• What are the spatial and temporal distributions

of earthquakes in a region over the (late) Holocene and how do they reflect the regime and the modulation of deformation? What is the effect of mechanical interaction?

Typical range of time scales studied in tectonic geomorphology

Modified from PBO Geology White Paper http://www.unavco.org/pubs_reports/proposals/pbo/geo_pbo_wp.pdf

“No dates, no rates!”

Movement towards better access and more differently datable materials and events and more dates for all studies

Thermochronology

Challenge of multiple scales and idealization:How to

represent the action of a fault or a channel at the appropriate scale?

Main Pamir thrust in the Pamir-Alai region, Kyrgyzstan

Next picture

http://dmc.earth.sinica.edu.tw/Geophysics/twn_topo.gif

Continuous and homogeneous Discrete and heterogenous

http://www.rcep.dpri.kyoto-u.ac.jp/main/taiwan/data/indexmap-E.html

9-21-1999 Chi Chi, Taiwan Earthquake (Mw 7.7)

8 m knickpoint formed in the Chi Chi earthquake near Fengyuen—sending the signal into the landscape

Hierarchical approach to delineation of tectonically active zones

• What is the question and why important?

Spatial scale

• System: km-scale data integration

• Structure: Dm-scale structural characterization

• Event: cm-scale measure of timing and process