Articles | Volume 5, issue 1
https://doi.org/10.5194/gchron-5-35-2023
© Author(s) 2023. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/gchron-5-35-2023
© Author(s) 2023. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Short communication: age2exhume – a MATLAB/Python script to calculate steady-state vertical exhumation rates from thermochronometric ages and application to the Himalaya
Peter van der Beek
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
Institute for Geosciences, University of Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany
Taylor F. Schildgen
GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, Potsdam, Germany
Institute for Geosciences, University of Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany
Related authors
Zihao Zhao, Tianyi Shen, Guocan Wang, Peter van der Beek, Yabo Zhou, and Cheng Ma
Solid Earth, 16, 503–530, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-16-503-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-16-503-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
This study examines the evolution of the Harlik Mountains in the eastern Tian Shan. Low-relief surfaces were formed by the Early Cretaceous erosion and subsequent tectonic stability. Later fault activity segmented these surfaces, with uplift and tilting in the Cenozoic driven by tectonic reactivation. These findings provide insights into how landscapes evolve in response to geological and environmental changes over millions of years.
Lingxiao Gong, Peter van der Beek, Taylor F. Schildgen, Edward R. Sobel, Simone Racano, Apolline Mariotti, and Fergus McNab
Earth Surf. Dynam., 12, 973–994, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-12-973-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-12-973-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
We choose the large Saryjaz river from South Tian Shan to analyse topographic and fluvial metrics. By quantifying the spatial distribution of major metrics and comparing with modelling patterns, we suggest that the observed transience was triggered by a big capture event during the Plio-Pleistocene and potentially affected by both tectonic and climate factors. This conclusion underlines the importance of local contingent factors in driving drainage development.
Marion Roger, Arjan de Leeuw, Peter van der Beek, Laurent Husson, Edward R. Sobel, Johannes Glodny, and Matthias Bernet
Solid Earth, 14, 153–179, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-14-153-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-14-153-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
We study the construction of the Ukrainian Carpathians with LT thermochronology (AFT, AHe, and ZHe) and stratigraphic analysis. QTQt thermal models are combined with burial diagrams to retrieve the timing and magnitude of sedimentary burial, tectonic burial, and subsequent exhumation of the wedge's nappes from 34 to ∼12 Ma. Out-of-sequence thrusting and sediment recycling during wedge building are also identified. This elucidates the evolution of a typical wedge in a roll-back subduction zone.
Coline Ariagno, Caroline Le Bouteiller, Peter van der Beek, and Sébastien Klotz
Earth Surf. Dynam., 10, 81–96, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-10-81-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-10-81-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
The
critical zonenear the surface of the Earth is where geologic substrate, erosion, climate, and life meet and interact. This study focuses on mechanisms of physical weathering that produce loose sediment and make it available for transport. We show that the sediment export from a monitored catchment in the French Alps is modulated by frost-weathering processes and is therefore sensitive to complex modifications in a warming climate.
Xiong Ou, Anne Replumaz, and Peter van der Beek
Solid Earth, 12, 563–580, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-12-563-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-12-563-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
The low-relief, mean-elevation Baima Xueshan massif experienced slow exhumation at a rate of 0.01 km/Myr since at least 22 Ma and then regional rock uplift at 0.25 km/Myr since ~10 Ma. The high-relief, high-elevation Kawagebo massif shows much stronger local rock uplift related to the motion along a west-dipping thrust fault, at a rate of 0.45 km/Myr since at least 10 Ma, accelerating to 1.86 km/Myr since 1.6 Ma. Mekong River incision plays a minor role in total exhumation in both massifs.
Zihao Zhao, Tianyi Shen, Guocan Wang, Peter van der Beek, Yabo Zhou, and Cheng Ma
Solid Earth, 16, 503–530, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-16-503-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-16-503-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
This study examines the evolution of the Harlik Mountains in the eastern Tian Shan. Low-relief surfaces were formed by the Early Cretaceous erosion and subsequent tectonic stability. Later fault activity segmented these surfaces, with uplift and tilting in the Cenozoic driven by tectonic reactivation. These findings provide insights into how landscapes evolve in response to geological and environmental changes over millions of years.
Fergus McNab, Taylor F. Schildgen, Jens Martin Turowski, and Andrew D. Wickert
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-2468, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-2468, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
Alluvial rivers form networks, but many concepts we use to analyse their long-term evolution derive from models that treat them as single streams. We develop a model including tributary interactions and show that, while patterns of sediment output can be similar for network and single-segment models, complex signal propagation affects aggradation and incision within networks. We argue that understanding a specific catchment's evolution requires a model with its specific network structure.
Elizabeth N. Orr, Taylor F. Schildgen, Stefanie Tofelde, Hella Wittmann, and Ricardo N. Alonso
Earth Surf. Dynam., 12, 1391–1413, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-12-1391-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-12-1391-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Fluvial terraces and alluvial fans in the Toro Basin, NW Argentina, record river evolution and global climate cycles over time. Landform dating reveals lower-frequency climate cycles (100 kyr) preserved downstream and higher-frequency cycles (21/40 kyr) upstream, supporting theoretical predications that longer rivers filter out higher-frequency climate signals. This finding improves our understanding of the spatial distribution of sedimentary paleoclimate records within landscapes.
Lingxiao Gong, Peter van der Beek, Taylor F. Schildgen, Edward R. Sobel, Simone Racano, Apolline Mariotti, and Fergus McNab
Earth Surf. Dynam., 12, 973–994, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-12-973-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-12-973-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
We choose the large Saryjaz river from South Tian Shan to analyse topographic and fluvial metrics. By quantifying the spatial distribution of major metrics and comparing with modelling patterns, we suggest that the observed transience was triggered by a big capture event during the Plio-Pleistocene and potentially affected by both tectonic and climate factors. This conclusion underlines the importance of local contingent factors in driving drainage development.
Marion Roger, Arjan de Leeuw, Peter van der Beek, Laurent Husson, Edward R. Sobel, Johannes Glodny, and Matthias Bernet
Solid Earth, 14, 153–179, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-14-153-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-14-153-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
We study the construction of the Ukrainian Carpathians with LT thermochronology (AFT, AHe, and ZHe) and stratigraphic analysis. QTQt thermal models are combined with burial diagrams to retrieve the timing and magnitude of sedimentary burial, tectonic burial, and subsequent exhumation of the wedge's nappes from 34 to ∼12 Ma. Out-of-sequence thrusting and sediment recycling during wedge building are also identified. This elucidates the evolution of a typical wedge in a roll-back subduction zone.
Coline Ariagno, Caroline Le Bouteiller, Peter van der Beek, and Sébastien Klotz
Earth Surf. Dynam., 10, 81–96, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-10-81-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-10-81-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
The
critical zonenear the surface of the Earth is where geologic substrate, erosion, climate, and life meet and interact. This study focuses on mechanisms of physical weathering that produce loose sediment and make it available for transport. We show that the sediment export from a monitored catchment in the French Alps is modulated by frost-weathering processes and is therefore sensitive to complex modifications in a warming climate.
Xiong Ou, Anne Replumaz, and Peter van der Beek
Solid Earth, 12, 563–580, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-12-563-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-12-563-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
The low-relief, mean-elevation Baima Xueshan massif experienced slow exhumation at a rate of 0.01 km/Myr since at least 22 Ma and then regional rock uplift at 0.25 km/Myr since ~10 Ma. The high-relief, high-elevation Kawagebo massif shows much stronger local rock uplift related to the motion along a west-dipping thrust fault, at a rate of 0.45 km/Myr since at least 10 Ma, accelerating to 1.86 km/Myr since 1.6 Ma. Mekong River incision plays a minor role in total exhumation in both massifs.
Cited articles
Ballato, P., Landgraf, A., Schildgen, T. F., Stockli, D. F., Fox, M., Ghassemi, M. R., Kirby, E., and Strecker, M. R.: The growth of a mountain belt forced by base-level fall: Tectonics and surface processes during the evolution of the Alborz Mountains, Iran, Earth Planet. Sc. Lett., 425, 204–218, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2015.05.051, 2015.
Bernet, M., Zattin, M., Garver, J. I., Brandon, M. T., and Vance, J. A.: Steady-state exhumation of the European Alps, Geology, 29, 35–38, https://doi.org/10.1130/0091-7613(2001)029<0035:sseote>2.0.co;2, 2001.
Bernet, M., van der Beek, P., Pik, R., Huyghe, P., Mugnier, J.-L., Labrin, E., and Szulc, A.: Miocene to Recent exhumation of the central Himalaya determined from combined detrital zircon fission-track and analysis of Siwalik sediments, western Nepal, Basin Res., 18, 393–412, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2117.2006.00303.x, 2006.
Bernet, M., Brandon, M., Garver, J., Balestrieri, M. L., Ventura, B., and Zattin, M.: Exhuming the Alps through time: clues from detrital zircon fission-track thermochronology, Basin Res., 21, 781–798, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2117.2009.00400.x, 2009.
Bracciali, L., Parrish, R. R., Najman, Y., Smye, A., Carter, A., and Wijbrans, J. R.: Plio-Pleistocene exhumation of the eastern Himalayan syntaxis and its domal “pop-up”, Earth-Sci. Rev., 160, 350–385, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.earscirev.2016.07.010, 2016.
Brandon, M. T., Roden-Tice, M. K., and Garver, J. I.: Late Cenozoic exhumation of the Cascadia accretionary wedge in the Olympic Mountains, northwest Washington State, Geol. Soc. Am. Bull., 110, 985–1009, https://doi.org/10.1130/0016-7606(1998)110<0985:lceotc>2.3.co;2, 1998.
Braun, J.: Quantifying the effect of recent relief changes on age–elevation relationships, Earth Planet. Sc. Lett., 200, 331–343, https://doi.org/10.1016/s0012-821x(02)00638-6, 2002.
Braun, J., van der Beek, P., and Batt, G. E.: Quantitative Thermochronology: Numerical methods for the interpretation of thermochronological data, Cambridge University Press, 271 pp., https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511616433, 2006.
Braun, J., van der Beek, P., Valla, P., Robert, X., Herman, F., Glotzbach, C., Pedersen, V., Perry, C., Simon-Labric, T., and Prigent, C.: Quantifying rates of landscape evolution and tectonic processes by thermochronology and numerical modeling of crustal heat transport using PECUBE, Tectonophysics, 524–525, 1–28, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tecto.2011.12.035, 2012.
Butler, R. W. H.: Tectonic evolution of the Himalayan syntaxes: the view from Nanga Parbat, Geol. Soc. London Spec. Publ., 483, 215–254, https://doi.org/10.1144/sp483.5, 2019.
Chirouze, F., Huyghe, P., van der Beek, P., Chauvel, C., Chakraborty, T., Dupont-Nivet, G., and Bernet, M.: Tectonics, exhumation, and drainage evolution of the eastern Himalaya since 13 Ma from detrital geochemistry and thermochronology, Kameng River Section, Arunachal Pradesh, Geol. Soc. Am. Bull., 125, 523–538, https://doi.org/10.1130/b30697.1, 2013.
Clark, M. K. and Bilham, R.: Miocene rise of the Shillong Plateau and the beginning of the end for the Eastern Himalaya, Earth Planet. Sc. Lett., 269, 336–350, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2008.01.045, 2008.
Clubb, F. J., Mudd, S. M., Schildgen, T. F., van der Beek, P. A., Devrani, R., and Sinclair, H. D.: Himalayan valley-floor widths controlled by tectonics rather than water discharge, Research Square [preprint], https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-2065309/v1, 11 October 2022.
Coutand, I., Whipp, D. M., Grujic, D., Bernet, M., Fellin, M. G., Bookhagen, B., Landry, K. R., Ghalley, S. K., and Duncan, C.: Geometry and kinematics of the Main Himalayan Thrust and Neogene crustal exhumation in the Bhutanese Himalaya derived from inversion of multithermochronologic data, J. Geophys. Res., 119, 1446–1481, https://doi.org/10.1002/2013jb010891, 2014.
Coutand, I., Barrier, L., Govin, G., Grujic, D., Hoorn, C., Dupont-Nivet, G., and Najman, Y.: Late Miocene-Pleistocene evolution of India-Eurasia convergence partitioning between the Bhutan Himalaya and the Shillong Plateau: New evidences from foreland basin deposits along the Dungsam Chu section, eastern Bhutan, Tectonics, 35, 2963–2994, https://doi.org/10.1002/2016tc004258, 2016.
Curry, M. E., van der Beek, P., Huismans, R. S., Wolf, S. G., Fillon, C., and Muñoz, J.-A.: Spatio-temporal patterns of Pyrenean exhumation revealed by inverse thermo-kinematic modeling of a large thermochronologic data set, Geology, 49, 738–742, https://doi.org/10.1130/g48687.1, 2021.
Dal Zilio, L., Hetényi, G., Hubbard, J., and Bollinger, L.: Building the Himalaya from tectonic to earthquake scales, Nat. Rev. Earth Environ., 2, 251–268, https://doi.org/10.1038/s43017-021-00143-1, 2021.
Dodson, M. H.: Closure temperature in cooling geochronological and petrological systems, Contrib. Mineral. Petr., 40, 259–274, https://doi.org/10.1007/bf00373790, 1973.
Ehlers, T. A., Chaudhri, T., Kumar, S., Fuller, C. W., Willett, S. D., Ketcham, R. A., Brandon, M. T., Belton, D. X., Kohn, B. P., Gleadow, A. J. W., Dunai, T. J., and Fu, F. Q.: Computational tools for low-temperature thermochronometer interpretation, Rev. Mineral. Geochem., 58, 589–622, https://doi.org/10.2138/rmg.2005.58.22, 2005.
Farley, K. A.: Helium diffusion from apatite: General behavior as illustrated by Durango fluorapatite, J. Geophys. Res., 105, 2903–2914, https://doi.org/10.1029/1999jb900348, 2000.
Fox, M., Herman, F., Willett, S. D., and May, D. A.: A linear inversion method to infer exhumation rates in space and time from thermochronometric data, Earth Surf. Dynam., 2, 47–65, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-2-47-2014, 2014.
Gallagher, K.: Transdimensional inverse thermal history modeling for quantitative thermochronology, J. Geophys. Res., 117, B02408, https://doi.org/10.1029/2011jb008825, 2012.
Gallagher, K. and Brown, R.: The Mesozoic denudation history of the Atlantic margins of southern Africa and southeast Brazil and the relationship to offshore sedimentation, Geol. Soc. London Spec. Publ., 153, 41–53, https://doi.org/10.1144/gsl.sp.1999.153.01.03, 1999.
Govin, G., van der Beek, P., Najman, Y., Millar, I., Gemignani, L., Huyghe, P., Dupont-Nivet, G., Bernet, M., Mark, C., and Wijbrans, J.: Early onset and late acceleration of rapid exhumation in the Namche Barwa syntaxis, eastern Himalaya, Geology, 48, 1139–1143, https://doi.org/10.1130/g47720.1, 2020.
Hames, W. E. and Bowring, S. A.: An empirical evaluation of the argon diffusion geometry in muscovite, Earth Planet. Sc. Lett., 124, 161–169, https://doi.org/10.1016/0012-821x(94)00079-4, 1994.
Herman, F., Copeland, P., Avouac, J.-P., Bollinger, L., Mahéo, G., Le Fort, P., Rai, S., Foster, D., Pêcher, A., Stüwe, K., and Henry, P.: Exhumation, crustal deformation, and thermal structure of the Nepal Himalaya derived from the inversion of thermochronological and thermobarometric data and modeling of the topography, J. Geophys. Res., 115, B06407, https://doi.org/10.1029/2008jb006126, 2010.
Hubbard, M., Mukul, M., Gajurel, A. P., Ghosh, A., Srivastava, V., Giri, B., Seifert, N., and Mendoza, M. M.: Orogenic segmentation and its role in Himalayan mountain building, Front. Earth Sci., 9, 641666, https://doi.org/10.3389/feart.2021.641666, 2021.
Ketcham, R. A.: Forward and inverse modeling of low-temperature thermochronometry data, Rev. Mineral. Geochem., 58, 275–314, https://doi.org/10.2138/rmg.2005.58.11, 2005.
Kirstein, L. A., Fellin, M. G., Willett, S. D., Carter, A., Chen, Y. G., Garver, J. I., and Lee, D. C.: Pliocene onset of rapid exhumation in Taiwan during arc-continent collision: new insights from detrital thermochronometry, Basin Res., 22, 270–285, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2117.2009.00426.x, 2010.
Kohn, B. P., Gleadow, A. J. W., Brown, R. W., Gallagher, K., O'Sullivan, P. B., and Foster, D. A.: Shaping the Australian crust over the last 300 million years: insights from fission track thermotectonic imaging and denudation studies of key terranes, Aust. J. Earth Sci., 49, 697–717, https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1440-0952.2002.00942.x, 2002.
Lang, K. A., Huntington, K. W., Burmester, R., and Housen, B.: Rapid exhumation of the eastern Himalayan syntaxis since the late Miocene, Geol. Soc. Am. Bull., 128, 1403–1422, https://doi.org/10.1130/b31419.1, 2016.
Lang, K. A., Glotzbach, C., Ring, U., Kamp, P. J. J., and Ehlers, T. A.: Linking orogeny and orography in the Southern Alps of New Zealand: New observations from detrital fission-track thermochronology of the Waiho-1 borehole, Earth Planet. Sc. Lett., 552, 116586, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2020.116586, 2020.
Mancktelow, N. S. and Grasemann, B.: Time-dependent effects of heat advection and topography on cooling histories during erosion, Tectonophysics, 270, 167–195, https://doi.org/10.1016/s0040-1951(96)00279-x, 1997.
Reiners, P. W. and Brandon, M. T.: Using thermochronology to understand orogenic erosion, Annu. Rev. Earth Pl. Sc., 34, 419–466, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-48684-8, 2006.
Reiners, P. W., Spell, T. L., Nicolescu, S., and Zanetti, K. A.: Zircon (U-Th) He thermochronometry: He diffusion and comparisons with dating, Geochim. Cosmochim. Ac., 68, 1857–1887, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gca.2003.10.021, 2004.
Robert, X., van der Beek, P., Braun, J., Perry, C., Dubille, M., and Mugnier, J. L.: Assessing Quaternary reactivation of the Main Central thrust zone (central Nepal Himalaya): New thermochronologic data and numerical modeling, Geology, 37, 731–734, https://doi.org/10.1130/g25736a.1, 2009.
Sambridge, M.: Geophysical inversion with a neighbourhood algorithm – I. Searching a parameter space, Geophys. J. Int., 138, 479–494, https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-246x.1999.00876.x, 1999a.
Sambridge, M.: Geophysical inversion with a neighbourhood algorithm – II. Appraising the ensemble, Geophys. J. Int., 138, 727–746, https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-246x.1999.00900.x, 1999b.
Schildgen, T. F. and van der Beek, P. A.: Age2exhume python script, Zenodo [code], https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7341690, 2022a.
Schildgen, T. F. and van der Beek, P. A.: Thermochronology dataset for Himalaya, Zenodo [data set], https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7053115, 2022b.
Schildgen, T. F., van der Beek, P. A., Sinclair, H. D., and Thiede, R. C.: Spatial correlation bias in late-Cenozoic erosion histories derived from thermochronology, Nature, 559, 89–93, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-018-0260-6, 2018.
Stüwe, K., White, L., and Brown, R.: The influence of eroding topography on steady-state isotherms. Application to fission track analysis, Earth Planet. Sc. Lett., 124, 63–74, https://doi.org/10.1016/0012-821x(94)00068-9, 1994.
van der Beek, P. A. and Schildgen, T. F.: age2exhume Matlab scripts, Zenodo [code], https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7341603, 2022.
van der Beek, P. A., Thiede, R. C., Gahalaut, V. K., and Schildgen, T. F.: Topographic and thermochronologic constraints on the geometry of the Himalayan décollement and its lateral variations, in: Himalaya, Dynamics of a Giant, vol. 1, edited by: Cattin, R. and Epard, J. L., Wiley/ISTE Editions, in press, 2023.
Whipp, D. M., Kellett, D. A., Coutand, I., and Ketcham, R. A.: Short communication: Modeling competing effects of cooling rate, grain size, and radiation damage in low-temperature thermochronometers, Geochronology, 4, 143–152, https://doi.org/10.5194/gchron-4-143-2022, 2022.
Willett, S. D. and Brandon, M. T.: Some analytical methods for converting thermochronometric age to erosion rate, Geochem. Geophy. Geosy., 14, 209–222, https://doi.org/10.1029/2012gc004279, 2013.
Willett, S. D., Herman, F., Fox, M., Stalder, N., Ehlers, T. A., Jiao, R., and Yang, R.: Bias and error in modelling thermochronometric data: resolving a potential increase in Plio-Pleistocene erosion rate, Earth Surf. Dynam., 9, 1153–1221, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-9-1153-2021, 2021.
Zeitler, P. K., Meltzer, A. S., Brown, L., Kidd, W. S. F., Lim, C., and Enkelmann, E.: Tectonics and topographic evolution of Namche Barwa and the easternmost Lhasa block, Tibet, Geol. Soc. Am. Spec. Pap., 507, 23–58, https://doi.org/10.1130/2014.2507(02), 2014.
Short summary
Thermochronometric data can provide unique insights into the patterns of rock exhumation and the driving mechanisms of landscape evolution. Several well-established thermal models allow for a detailed exploration of how cooling rates evolved in a limited area or along a transect, but more regional analyses have been challenging. We present age2exhume, a thermal model that can be used to rapidly provide a synoptic overview of exhumation rates from large regional thermochronologic datasets.
Thermochronometric data can provide unique insights into the patterns of rock exhumation and the...