Rates of erosion and landscape change along the Blue Ridge escarpment, southern Appalachian Mountains, estimated from in situ cosmogenic 10Be

The Blue Ridge escarpment, located within the southern Appalachian Mountains of Virginia and North Carolina, forms a distinct, steep boundary between the lower‐elevation Piedmont and higher‐elevation Blue Ridge physiographic provinces. To understand better the rate at which this landform and the adj...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Earth surface processes and landforms 2017-05, Vol.42 (6), p.928-940
Main Authors: Linari, Colleen L., Bierman, Paul R., Portenga, Eric W., Pavich, Milan J., Finkel, Robert C., Freeman, Stewart P.H.T.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Bedrock
Beryllium
Beryllium 10
beryllium‐10 (10Be)
cosmogenic isotopes
Elevation
Erosion
Erosion rates
Fault zones
Geomorphology
Highlands
Landforms
Landscape
Lowlands
Mountains
Outcrops
passive margin
Physiographic provinces
Quartz
Sediment samples
Slope
Slopes
Streams
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Summary:The Blue Ridge escarpment, located within the southern Appalachian Mountains of Virginia and North Carolina, forms a distinct, steep boundary between the lower‐elevation Piedmont and higher‐elevation Blue Ridge physiographic provinces. To understand better the rate at which this landform and the adjacent landscape are changing, we measured cosmogenic beryllium‐10 (10Be) in quartz separated from sediment samples (n = 50) collected in 32 streams and from three exposed bedrock outcrops along four transects normal to the escarpment, allowing us to calculate erosion rates integrated over 104–105 years. These basin‐averaged erosion rates (5.4–49 m Myr−1) are consistent with those measured elsewhere in the southern Appalachain Mountains and show a positive relationship between erosion rate and average basin slope. Erosion rates show no relationship with basin size or relative position of the Brevard fault zone, a fundamental structural element of the region. The cosmogenic isotopic data, when considered along with the distribution of average basin slopes in each physiographic province, suggest that the escarpment is eroding on average more rapidly than the Blue Ridge uplands, which are eroding more rapidly than the Piedmont lowlands. This difference in erosion rates by geomorphic setting suggests that the elevation difference between the uplands and lowlands adjacent to the escarpment is being reduced but at extremely slow rates. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
ISSN:0197-9337
1096-9837
DOI:10.1002/esp.4051