Mountain Building

Earth: Portrait of a Planet, 4th edition
by Stephen Marshak 2011 W.W. Norton & Company
Chapter 11 Crags, Cracks and Crumples: Crustal Deformation and Mountain Building
Lecture 14: Mountain Building
Prepared by:
Ronald L. Parker, Senior Geologist

Fronterra Geosciences, Denver, Colorado Earth: Portrait of a Planet, 4th edition, by Stephen Marshak 2011, W. W. Norton Chapter 11: Crustal Deformation and Mountain Building
Developed where oceanic crust is descending beneath continental crust (e.g. Andes, Cordilleran belt of western North America) In collision zones where continental plates have been welded together following destruction of an ocean (e.g. Urals, Himalayas/Alps)
Earth: Portrait of a Planet, 4th edition, by Stephen Marshak
2011, W. W. Norton
Chapter 11: Crustal Deformation and Mountain Building
Causes of Mountain Building

Steady-state subduction Steady(e.g. Andes) Crustal thickening results from longlong-term addition of magma to the crust as well as transfer of compressional stresses from the subducting ocean plate into the overlying continental plate
2011, W. W. Norton
PowerPoint slides prepared by Ronald L. Parker, Fronterra Geosciences, 700 17th Street, Suite 900, Denver, CO, 80202

Modern Orogenesis
Modern instrumentation can measure mountain growth. Global positioning systems (GPS) measure rates of:
Horizontal compression. Vertical uplift.
Fig. 11.34
Earth: Portrait of a Planet, 4th edition, by Stephen Marshak 2011, W. W. Norton Chapter 11: Crustal Deformation and Mountain Building
Accretionary orogens
Addition of fragments of crust that are buoyant and ACCRETED onto the side of the continent drives further crustal thickening FaultFault -bounded blocks of unrelated crust ave been carried as on a conveyor belt to the active margin TERRANES
2011, W. W. Norton
Accretion and mountain building

Subduction (convergent) boundaries create mountains.
Subduction-related volcanic arcs grow on overriding plate. SubductionAccretionary prisms (off(off-scraped sediment) grow upward. Compression shortens and uplifts overriding plate. A foldfold-thrust belt develops landward of the orogen orogen. .
Fig. 11.22a

Continental collision mountain belts
Two large continental blocks Each too buoyant to subduct A SUTURE within the mountain belt may define the join between the two ancient plates The suture may be marked by slices of oceanic crust (OPHIOLITES)
2011, W. W. Norton

Continental collision creates a welt of crustal thickening.
Thickening due to thrust faulting and flow folding. Centre of belt consists of high high-grade metamorphic rocks.
Fold-thrust belts extend outward on either side. FoldThe resulting high mountains may eventually collapse.
Fig. 11.23a


Continental collision follows ocean basin closure.
Complete subduction of oceanic lithosphere. Brings two blocks of continental lithosphere together.
Buoyant continental crust shuts down subduction.
Fig. 11.23b
2011, W. W. Norton
2011, W. W. Norton
Why are Mountains High?

Surface elevation is a balance between forces; isostasy. isostasy.
Gravitational attraction pulls plates into the mantle. Buoyancy floats lithosphere on top of the mantle. Adding or removing weight resets isostatic equilibrium. Change in lithospheric thickness or density alters isostasy isostasy. .
Fig. 4.1a

Why Are Mountains High?

ConvergentConvergent -margin horizontal compression causes:
Horizontal shortening, and Vertical thickening.
These processes can double crustal thickness. A thick crustal root develops beneath mountain ranges.
The thickest block floats highest and sinks deepest.
Fig. 11.26b, c

Adding igneous rock can thicken the crust.
Volcanic material is added to the surface. Plutons are added at midmid-crustal levels.
Fig. 11.22a

Removal of lithospheric mantle can cause uplift. The Tibet Plateau bears evidence of delamination.
Fig. 11.27

What Goes Up Must Come Down

The Himalayas are the maximum height possible. Why? There is an upper limit to mountain heights.
Erosion accelerates with height. Weight of high mountains overwhelms rock strength.
Deep, hot rocks eventually flow out from beneath mountains. The mountains then collapse downward like soft cheese.
Uplift, erosion, and collapse exhume deep crustal rocks.
Fig. 11.29
Cratons
A craton is crust that has not been deformed in 1 Ga. LowLow -geothermal gradient; cool, strong, and stable crust.
Two cratonic provinces.
Shields Shields Precambrian igneous and metamorphic rocks. Platforms Platforms shields covered by layers of Phanerozoic strata.
Fig. 11.30
Himalayas & Tibet Plateau

The result of the collision of India with Asia Cold Indian crust collided with warm Asian crust resulting in massive uplift and the Tibet Plateau (the most extensive upland area on Earth
2011, W. W. Norton

Early Cretaceous (120 Ma)
2011, W. W. Norton
Late Cretaceous/Palaeogene (55Ma)
2011, W. W. Norton
Successive positions of India

2011, W. W. Norton
2011, W. W. Norton
Regional structure of the Himalayas
2011, W. W. Norton

Granite with inclusions of older mafic magma in Karakorum batholith
2011, W. W. Norton
Kohistan island arc
2011, W. W. Norton
Folded turbidites of the fore fore-arc lying between the Kohistan island arc and the suture
2011, W. W. Norton

Folded turbidites of the fore fore-arc lying between the Kohistan island arc and the suture
2011, W. W. Norton
OceanOcean -floor basalts (=ophiolite (=ophiolite) ) lying along the suture zone (fore(fore-arc to N)
2011, W. W. Norton
Pillow lavas within the ophiolite
2011, W. W. Norton
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Ophiolite (dark) thrust over Indian plate limestones
2011, W. W. Norton
Simplified crosscross-sections through the Himalayas
2011, W. W. Norton
Foreland basin river deposits
2011, W. W. Norton
11

Seismic section below southern Tibet
2011, W. W. Norton
2011, W. W. Norton
Satellite image of the Kunlun strikestrike-slip fault
2011, W. W. Norton
12

Ground view of the Kunlun Fault
2011, W. W. Norton
2011, W. W. Norton
IndiaIndia -Asia collision

~4500 km of northward movement accounted for by thrusting and thickening of the Indian and Asian plates Northward movement also accommodated by sidesideways extrusion of IndoIndo-China and other blocks of crust along strikestrike-slip faults Indian plate very rigid in contrast to the Asian plate which underwent widespread deformation continental plates therefore not always strong
2011, W. W. Norton
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Older collisional mountain belts

Difficult to interpret as we have no ocean floor left (all subducted) subducted ) therefore knowledge of plate movements limited Some constraints from palaeomagnetism and isotopic dating Generally deeply eroded therefore dominated by strongly deformed metamorphic rocks again can be difficult to interpret Build up models and test them with new discoveries
2011, W. W. Norton
2011, W. W. Norton
Useful Web Resources

Marshak Chapter 11. Journal of Structural Geology
http://www.windows2universe.org/earth/Interior_Structure/interior.html
The Structural Geology Page

http://www.structural-geology.org/
Visible Geology
http:// visible-geology.appspot.com/#page/home
2011, W. W. Norton
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Earth: Portrait of a Planet, 4th edition

by Stephen Marshak 2011 W.W. Norton & Company

Lecture 14: Mountain Building

Ronald L. Parker, Senior Geologist

Earth: Portrait of a Planet, 4th edition, by Stephen Marshak

Chapter 11: Crustal Deformation and Mountain Building

Causes of Mountain Building

Earth: Portrait of a Planet, 4th edition, by Stephen Marshak

Chapter 11: Crustal Deformation and Mountain Building

Earth: Portrait of a Planet, 4th edition

Earth: Portrait of a Planet, 4th edition, by Stephen Marshak

Chapter 11: Crustal Deformation and Mountain Building

Accretion and mountain building

Earth: Portrait of a Planet, 4th edition

Earth: Portrait of a Planet, 4th edition, by Stephen Marshak

Chapter 11: Crustal Deformation and Mountain Building

Causes of Mountain Building

Earth: Portrait of a Planet, 4th edition

Causes of Mountain Building

Buoyant continental crust shuts down subduction.

Earth: Portrait of a Planet, 4th edition, by Stephen Marshak

Chapter 11: Crustal Deformation and Mountain Building

Earth: Portrait of a Planet, 4th edition, by Stephen Marshak

Chapter 11: Crustal Deformation and Mountain Building

Why are Mountains High?

Earth: Portrait of a Planet, 4th edition

Why Are Mountains High?

The thickest block floats highest and sinks deepest.

Why Are Mountains High?

Why Are Mountains High?

Earth: Portrait of a Planet, 4th edition

What Goes Up Must Come Down

Uplift, erosion, and collapse exhume deep crustal rocks.

Himalayas & Tibet Plateau

Earth: Portrait of a Planet, 4th edition, by Stephen Marshak

Chapter 11: Crustal Deformation and Mountain Building

Earth: Portrait of a Planet, 4th edition

Early Cretaceous (120 Ma)

Earth: Portrait of a Planet, 4th edition, by Stephen Marshak

Chapter 11: Crustal Deformation and Mountain Building

Late Cretaceous/Palaeogene (55Ma)

Earth: Portrait of a Planet, 4th edition, by Stephen Marshak

Chapter 11: Crustal Deformation and Mountain Building

Successive positions of India

Earth: Portrait of a Planet, 4th edition

Earth: Portrait of a Planet, 4th edition, by Stephen Marshak

Chapter 11: Crustal Deformation and Mountain Building

Earth: Portrait of a Planet, 4th edition, by Stephen Marshak

Chapter 11: Crustal Deformation and Mountain Building

Regional structure of the Himalayas

Earth: Portrait of a Planet, 4th edition, by Stephen Marshak

Chapter 11: Crustal Deformation and Mountain Building

Earth: Portrait of a Planet, 4th edition

Earth: Portrait of a Planet, 4th edition, by Stephen Marshak

Chapter 11: Crustal Deformation and Mountain Building

Kohistan island arc

Earth: Portrait of a Planet, 4th edition, by Stephen Marshak

Chapter 11: Crustal Deformation and Mountain Building

Earth: Portrait of a Planet, 4th edition, by Stephen Marshak

Chapter 11: Crustal Deformation and Mountain Building

Earth: Portrait of a Planet, 4th edition

Earth: Portrait of a Planet, 4th edition, by Stephen Marshak

Chapter 11: Crustal Deformation and Mountain Building

Earth: Portrait of a Planet, 4th edition, by Stephen Marshak