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Role of climate changes for wind gap formation in a young, actively growing mountain range
Author(s) -
Hampel Andrea,
Hetzel Ralf
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
terra nova
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.353
H-Index - 89
eISSN - 1365-3121
pISSN - 0954-4879
DOI - 10.1111/ter.12238
Subject(s) - aridification , aggradation , foreland basin , geology , landform , fluvial , mountain range (options) , climate change , precipitation , range (aeronautics) , quaternary , alluvial fan , physical geography , tectonics , paleontology , climatology , oceanography , sedimentary rock , structural basin , geography , composite material , materials science , meteorology , economics , financial economics
Wind gaps in actively growing mountain ranges are unique geomorphological features testifying to the competition between tectonics and fluvial incision. Although it is clear that these landforms reflect the defeat of rivers during sustained rock uplift, the role of climate changes in their formation has never been explored. Here, we use a coupled tectonics–landscape evolution model to show that temporal changes in precipitation rate exert an important control on wind gap formation. In models with a constant precipitation rate, rivers flowing across a growing range are either defeated at an early stage or they abandon their valleys very late, if at all. If precipitation varies, wind gaps form mostly c . 100–200 ka after a transition to drier conditions because of sediment aggradation upstream of the range. Our results suggest that the Pliocene–Quaternary aridification of Central Asia contributed to wind gap formation in active mountain ranges in the foreland of northeastern Tibet.