Milankovitch-paced erosion in the southern Central Andes

Burch Fischer; Lisa Luna; William Amidon; Douglas Burbank; Bas de Boer; Lennert Stap; Bodo Bookhagen; Vincent Godard; Michael Oskin; Ricardo Alonso; Erik Tuenter; Lucas Lourens

doi:10.1038/s41467-023-36022-0

Milankovitch-paced erosion in the southern Central Andes

Burch Fischer, Lisa Luna, William Amidon, Douglas Burbank, Bas de Boer, Lennert Stap, Bodo Bookhagen, Vincent Godard, Michael Oskin, Ricardo Alonso, Erik Tuenter, Lucas Lourens

Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Academic › peer-review

Abstract

It has long been hypothesized that climate can modify both the pattern and magnitude of erosion in mountainous landscapes, thereby controlling morphology, rates of deformation, and potentially modulating global carbon and nutrient cycles through weathering feedbacks. Although conceptually appealing, geologic evidence for a direct climatic control on erosion has remained ambiguous owing to a lack of high-resolution, long-term terrestrial records and suitable field sites. Here we provide direct terrestrial field evidence for long-term synchrony between erosion rates and Milankovitch-driven, 400-kyr eccentricity cycles using a Plio-Pleistocene cosmogenic radionuclide paleo-erosion rate record from the southern Central Andes. The observed climate-erosion coupling across multiple orbital cycles, when combined with results from the intermediate complexity climate model CLIMBER-2, are consistent with the hypothesis that relatively modest fluctuations in precipitation can cause synchronous and nonlinear responses in erosion rates as landscapes adjust to ever-evolving hydrologic boundary conditions imposed by oscillating climate regimes.

Original language	English
Article number	424
Pages (from-to)	1-15
Number of pages	15
Journal	Nature Communications
Volume	14
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-36022-0
Publication status	Published - Dec 2023

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
This work was supported by NSF grant EAR-1148233 to W.H.A and D.W.B and a Jackson Distinguished Postdoctoral Fellowship to G.B.F at the University of Texas at Austin. B.d.B was funded by NWO Earth and Life Sciences (ALW)(#863.15.019) while the CLIMBER-2 dataset has been generated by E.T. within the framework of the NWO-ALW funded Vici project (#865.10.001) of L.J.L. We thank Louise McCarren for assistance in the field and Taylor Schildgen and Heiko Pingel for invaluable discussions regarding the manuscript.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2023, The Author(s).

Keywords

Accumulation rates
Argentina
Be-10
Climate-change
Cosmogenic radionuclides
Landscape response
Orographic barrier uplift
Paleoerosion rates
Salta province
Sediment

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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10.1038/s41467-023-36022-0Licence: CC BY

Fischer_etal_2022_NatCommFinal published version, 4.4 MBLicence: CC BY

Cite this

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title = "Milankovitch-paced erosion in the southern Central Andes",

abstract = "It has long been hypothesized that climate can modify both the pattern and magnitude of erosion in mountainous landscapes, thereby controlling morphology, rates of deformation, and potentially modulating global carbon and nutrient cycles through weathering feedbacks. Although conceptually appealing, geologic evidence for a direct climatic control on erosion has remained ambiguous owing to a lack of high-resolution, long-term terrestrial records and suitable field sites. Here we provide direct terrestrial field evidence for long-term synchrony between erosion rates and Milankovitch-driven, 400-kyr eccentricity cycles using a Plio-Pleistocene cosmogenic radionuclide paleo-erosion rate record from the southern Central Andes. The observed climate-erosion coupling across multiple orbital cycles, when combined with results from the intermediate complexity climate model CLIMBER-2, are consistent with the hypothesis that relatively modest fluctuations in precipitation can cause synchronous and nonlinear responses in erosion rates as landscapes adjust to ever-evolving hydrologic boundary conditions imposed by oscillating climate regimes.",

keywords = "Accumulation rates, Argentina, Be-10, Climate-change, Cosmogenic radionuclides, Landscape response, Orographic barrier uplift, Paleoerosion rates, Salta province, Sediment",

author = "Burch Fischer and Lisa Luna and William Amidon and Douglas Burbank and {de Boer}, Bas and Lennert Stap and Bodo Bookhagen and Vincent Godard and Michael Oskin and Ricardo Alonso and Erik Tuenter and Lucas Lourens",

note = "Funding Information: This work was supported by NSF grant EAR-1148233 to W.H.A and D.W.B and a Jackson Distinguished Postdoctoral Fellowship to G.B.F at the University of Texas at Austin. B.d.B was funded by NWO Earth and Life Sciences (ALW)(#863.15.019) while the CLIMBER-2 dataset has been generated by E.T. within the framework of the NWO-ALW funded Vici project (#865.10.001) of L.J.L. We thank Louise McCarren for assistance in the field and Taylor Schildgen and Heiko Pingel for invaluable discussions regarding the manuscript. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2023, The Author(s).",

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AU - Fischer, Burch

AU - Luna, Lisa

AU - Amidon, William

AU - Burbank, Douglas

AU - de Boer, Bas

AU - Stap, Lennert

AU - Bookhagen, Bodo

AU - Godard, Vincent

AU - Oskin, Michael

AU - Alonso, Ricardo

AU - Tuenter, Erik

AU - Lourens, Lucas

N1 - Funding Information: This work was supported by NSF grant EAR-1148233 to W.H.A and D.W.B and a Jackson Distinguished Postdoctoral Fellowship to G.B.F at the University of Texas at Austin. B.d.B was funded by NWO Earth and Life Sciences (ALW)(#863.15.019) while the CLIMBER-2 dataset has been generated by E.T. within the framework of the NWO-ALW funded Vici project (#865.10.001) of L.J.L. We thank Louise McCarren for assistance in the field and Taylor Schildgen and Heiko Pingel for invaluable discussions regarding the manuscript. Publisher Copyright: © 2023, The Author(s).

PY - 2023/12

Y1 - 2023/12

N2 - It has long been hypothesized that climate can modify both the pattern and magnitude of erosion in mountainous landscapes, thereby controlling morphology, rates of deformation, and potentially modulating global carbon and nutrient cycles through weathering feedbacks. Although conceptually appealing, geologic evidence for a direct climatic control on erosion has remained ambiguous owing to a lack of high-resolution, long-term terrestrial records and suitable field sites. Here we provide direct terrestrial field evidence for long-term synchrony between erosion rates and Milankovitch-driven, 400-kyr eccentricity cycles using a Plio-Pleistocene cosmogenic radionuclide paleo-erosion rate record from the southern Central Andes. The observed climate-erosion coupling across multiple orbital cycles, when combined with results from the intermediate complexity climate model CLIMBER-2, are consistent with the hypothesis that relatively modest fluctuations in precipitation can cause synchronous and nonlinear responses in erosion rates as landscapes adjust to ever-evolving hydrologic boundary conditions imposed by oscillating climate regimes.

AB - It has long been hypothesized that climate can modify both the pattern and magnitude of erosion in mountainous landscapes, thereby controlling morphology, rates of deformation, and potentially modulating global carbon and nutrient cycles through weathering feedbacks. Although conceptually appealing, geologic evidence for a direct climatic control on erosion has remained ambiguous owing to a lack of high-resolution, long-term terrestrial records and suitable field sites. Here we provide direct terrestrial field evidence for long-term synchrony between erosion rates and Milankovitch-driven, 400-kyr eccentricity cycles using a Plio-Pleistocene cosmogenic radionuclide paleo-erosion rate record from the southern Central Andes. The observed climate-erosion coupling across multiple orbital cycles, when combined with results from the intermediate complexity climate model CLIMBER-2, are consistent with the hypothesis that relatively modest fluctuations in precipitation can cause synchronous and nonlinear responses in erosion rates as landscapes adjust to ever-evolving hydrologic boundary conditions imposed by oscillating climate regimes.

KW - Accumulation rates

KW - Argentina

KW - Be-10

KW - Climate-change

KW - Cosmogenic radionuclides

KW - Landscape response

KW - Orographic barrier uplift

KW - Paleoerosion rates

KW - Salta province

KW - Sediment

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DO - 10.1038/s41467-023-36022-0

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JO - Nature Communications

JF - Nature Communications

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M1 - 424

ER -

Milankovitch-paced erosion in the southern Central Andes

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

UN SDGs

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