Descripción del proyecto
El papel del clima en la denudación de las montañas
Las investigaciones sugieren que las sierras no son estáticas, sino que evolucionan con (y responden ante) el clima de la Tierra y sus levantamientos tectónicos. Los científicos siguen debatiendo sobre cómo este proceso de erosión conocido como denudación (la rotura y eliminación de rocas de la superficie terrestre) se ve afectado por los cambios en el clima. Es difícil responder a esta pregunta, ya que ninguna de las técnicas actuales puede analizar los cambios en las tasas de erosión durante los periodos glacial e interglacial. El proyecto ICED, financiado con fondos europeos, resolverá este debate creando una serie temporal de la erosión de la roca a lo largo de un período de mil a un millón de años. Este método permitirá que los cambios en la tasa de erosión se relacionen con cambios y procesos meteorológicos concretos por primera vez.
Objetivo
Mountain ranges evolve in response to tectonic uplift, erosion and climatic change, but decoupling the feedbacks between these processes remains one of the most active debates in Earth Science. Resolving this debate is fundamental for successful projection of Earth’s surface response under a changing climate. The Impact of ClimatE on mountain Denudation remains highly contested because no technique is available to resolve changes in erosion rates over the timescale of glacial-interglacial cycles i.e. 10^3-6 years, a key time range for quantifying the role that silicate weathering and denudation plays in modulating global climatic change. ICED will resolve this debate through establishing time-series of rock erosion over 10^3-6 years, allowing erosion rate changes to be related to specific climatic changes, and specific processes, for the first time. These data will show whether tectonics or climatic feedbacks on surface processes are dominant in determining rates of surface denudation, providing insights into the influence of the lithosphere on global climatic change throughout the Quaternary period (ice age).
The objective of ICED will be achieved through the development and application of recently established thermochronometers based on the luminescence and electron spin resonance of quartz and feldspar minerals. Thermochronometers measure the rate of rock cooling, from which rates of rock exhumation and thus erosion rates can be calculated. Unlike existing methods, the new techniques developed within ICED are capable of resolving changes in erosion over timescales of between 10^3-6 years. Combining these new methods with cosmogenic nuclide data, using numerical models developed within ICED, will allow the generation of high-resolution time-series of erosion. The strategic application of these new techniques to the western European Alps will allow the Impact of ClimatE on mountain Denudation rates to be resolved for the first time.
Ámbito científico
Palabras clave
Programa(s)
Régimen de financiación
ERC-STG - Starting GrantInstitución de acogida
1015 LAUSANNE
Suiza