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Research ArticleArticles

Impact of the North American monsoon on isotope paleoaltimeters: Implications for the paleoaltimetry of the American southwest

Alexis Licht, Jay Quade, Andrew Kowler, Marie de los Santos, Adam Hudson, Andrew Schauer, Katharine Huntington, Peter Copeland and Timothy Lawton
American Journal of Science January 2017, 317 (1) 1-33; DOI: https://doi.org/10.2475/01.2017.01
Alexis Licht
* Department of Geosciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona USA
** Department of Earth and Space Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington USA
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  • For correspondence: licht@uw.edu
Jay Quade
* Department of Geosciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona USA
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Andrew Kowler
* Department of Geosciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona USA
*** Department of Earth, Space, and Planetary Sciences, UCLA, Los Angeles, California USA
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Marie de los Santos
* Department of Geosciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona USA
§ Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, University of Houston, Texas USA
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Adam Hudson
* Department of Geosciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona USA
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Andrew Schauer
** Department of Earth and Space Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington USA
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Katharine Huntington
** Department of Earth and Space Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington USA
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Peter Copeland
§ Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, University of Houston, Texas USA
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Timothy Lawton
§§ Centro de Geociencias, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Querétaro, México
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Abstract

Paleoaltimetric studies have characterized in detail the relationship between carbonate oxygen isotope ratios (δ18Oc) and elevation in orogens with simple, single-moisture-source hydrological systems, and applied this relationship to ancient continental carbonates to provide constraints on their past elevation. However, mixing of different atmospheric moisture sources in low-elevation orogens should affect δ18Oc values, but this effect has not yet been confirmed unequivocally. In the American Southwest, summer monsoonal moisture, sourced in the Equatorial Pacific and the Gulf of Mexico, and winter moisture, sourced in the East Pacific, both contribute to annual rainfall. We present stable isotope results from Quaternary carbonates within the American Southwest to characterize the regional δ18Oc-elevation relationship. We then provide stable isotope results from local Eocene carbonates to reconstruct late Laramide paleoelevations.

The Quaternary δ18Oc-elevation relationship in the American Southwest is not as straightforward as in more simple hydrological systems. δ18Oc changes with altitude are non-linear, scattered, and display an apparent isotopic lapse rate inversion above 1200 m of elevation. We speculate that decreasing surface temperatures at high altitudes limit the duration of carbonate growth to the summer months, biasing δ18Oc values toward higher values typical of the summer monsoon and leading to lapse rate inversion.

δ18Oc-elevation relationships based on modern water isotope data or distillation models predict paleoelevations that range up to as much as 2 km higher than the modern elevations of 2000 to 2400 m for our late Eocene sites located at the southern edge of the Colorado Plateau. By contrast, our δ18Oc-elevation relationship for the American Southwest yields lower paleoelevation estimates. These alternate estimates nonetheless suggest that significant elevation (at least ∼1 km) had already been attained by the Eocene, but are also compatible with < 1 km of uplift by post-Laramide mechanisms. Our results show the limitations of standard δ18Oc-elevation models in complex hydrological systems and suggest that similar mechanisms may have led to summer-biased paleoaltimetry estimates for the initial stages of other orogenies —in the American Southwest and elsewhere.

  • Paleoaltimetry
  • Colorado Plateau
  • Oxygen isotopes
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American Journal of Science: 317 (1)
American Journal of Science
Vol. 317, Issue 1
1 Jan 2017
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Impact of the North American monsoon on isotope paleoaltimeters: Implications for the paleoaltimetry of the American southwest
Alexis Licht, Jay Quade, Andrew Kowler, Marie de los Santos, Adam Hudson, Andrew Schauer, Katharine Huntington, Peter Copeland, Timothy Lawton
American Journal of Science Jan 2017, 317 (1) 1-33; DOI: 10.2475/01.2017.01

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Impact of the North American monsoon on isotope paleoaltimeters: Implications for the paleoaltimetry of the American southwest
Alexis Licht, Jay Quade, Andrew Kowler, Marie de los Santos, Adam Hudson, Andrew Schauer, Katharine Huntington, Peter Copeland, Timothy Lawton
American Journal of Science Jan 2017, 317 (1) 1-33; DOI: 10.2475/01.2017.01
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  • Article
    • Abstract
    • INTRODUCTION
    • BACKGROUND AND APPROACH
    • RESULTS
    • OXYGEN ISOTOPE-BASED PALEOALTIMETRY IN THE AMERICAN SOUTHWEST
    • APPLICATION TO MID-CENOZOIC PALEOALTIMETRY AT THE SOUTHERN EDGE OF THE COLORADO PLATEAU
    • CONCLUSION
    • ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
    • APPENDIX
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Keywords

  • Paleoaltimetry
  • Colorado Plateau
  • oxygen isotopes

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