Plateau collapse model for the Transantarctic Mountains-West Antarctic rift system; insights from numerical experiments

The high elevation and considerable length of the Transantarctic Mountains have led to speculation about their origin. To date, no model has been able to adequately reconcile the juxtaposition of the high, curvilinear Transantarctic Mountains with the adjacent West Antarctic Rift System, a broad reg...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Geology (Boulder) 2007-08, Vol.35 (8), p.687-690
Main Authors: Bialas, Robert W, Buck, W. Roger, Studinger, Michael, Fitzgerald, Paul G
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Antarctica
Cenozoic
collapse structures
continental crust
Cretaceous
crust
crustal thickening
data processing
denudation
digital simulation
finite element analysis
Geophysics
heat flow
lithosphere
Mesozoic
Mohorovicic discontinuity
numerical models
plate tectonics
plateaus
rift zones
rifting
solid Earth (tectonophysics)
temperature
thermal regime
topography
Transantarctic Mountains
two-dimensional models
viscosity
West Antarctic Rift
West Antarctica
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Summary:The high elevation and considerable length of the Transantarctic Mountains have led to speculation about their origin. To date, no model has been able to adequately reconcile the juxtaposition of the high, curvilinear Transantarctic Mountains with the adjacent West Antarctic Rift System, a broad region of thin extended continental crust exhibiting wide rift characteristics. We present a first-order investigation into the idea that the West Antarctic Rift System-Transantarctic Mountains region was a high-elevation plateau with thicker than normal crust before the onset of continental extension. With major Cretaceous extension, the rift underwent a topographic reversal, and a plateau edge with thickened crust, representing the ancestral Transantarctic Mountains, remained. In the Cenozoic, minor extension and major denudation reduce the crustal root while simultaneously uplifting peak heights in the mountains. The Cretaceous stage of this concept is investigated using two-dimensional numerical models to determine under what conditions plateau collapse is plausible. Model results indicate that elevation of a remnant plateau edge decreases with increasing initial Moho temperature. Very cold initial Moho temperatures,
ISSN:0091-7613
DOI:10.1130/G23825A.1