{"id":{"repo_id":"unm","oai_identifier":"oai:digitalrepository.unm.edu:eps_etds-1057"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/unm/oai:digitalrepository.unm.edu:eps_etds-1057","repository":{"repo_id":"unm","name":"University of New Mexico","base_url":"https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/do/oai/"},"display":{"title":"Dynamic topography of the western Great Plains : geomorphic and 40Ar/39Ar evidence for mantle-driven uplift associated with the Jemez lineament, New Mexico and SE Colorado","abstract":"The causal mechanisms for the onset and patterns of post-Miocene erosion of the western Great Plains remain the subject of an enthusiastic debate between the roles of climatically-modulated geomorphic parameters and tectonic rock uplift as drivers of long-term erosion. This study distinguishes between these drivers on the plains of New Mexico and Colorado where post-Miocene erosion and late Cenozoic volcanism of the Jemez lineament have produced distinctive modern landscapes characterized by deep bedrock canyons and inverted, basalt-capped mesas. 40Ar/39Ar ages are used to define an episodic eruption history in the Raton-Clayton volcanic field and to quantify denudation rates from flow-capped paleosurfaces. Several datasets indicate patterns of surface topography that are consistent with dynamic rock uplift along a NE-trending flexural bulge above the Jemez low-velocity mantle anomaly, but are not well-explained by climate. They include: (1) crude volcanic \"belts\" of similar age, (2) retreating erosional escarpments, (3) differential landscape denudation measured from a NE-trending hinge-line of \"low-to-no\" erosion, (4) a NE-trending zone of broad (50-100km) convexities in stream profiles identified by an analysis of channel steepness (5) reorganization of stream networks from ESE-flowing streams, to a SSE flowing Canadian River that takes advantage of a relative base level fall in the SE, and (6) a ~150-km-long, 40Ar/39Ar-dated composite paleosurface which indicates total tilting of 64 millidegrees/Ma (and ~34 millidegrees/Ma of tectonic tilting) since 3.4 Ma. Proposed mantle-driven rock uplift along the NE-trending Jemez zone is overprinted on N-S trending mid-Tertiary uplift of the Rocky Mountain orogenic plateau relative to the Great Plains.","abstract_html":"The causal mechanisms for the onset and patterns of post-Miocene erosion of the western Great Plains remain the subject of an enthusiastic debate between the roles of climatically-modulated geomorphic parameters and tectonic rock uplift as drivers of long-term erosion. This study distinguishes between these drivers on the plains of New Mexico and Colorado where post-Miocene erosion and late Cenozoic volcanism of the Jemez lineament have produced distinctive modern landscapes characterized by deep bedrock canyons and inverted, basalt-capped mesas. 40Ar/39Ar ages are used to define an episodic eruption history in the Raton-Clayton volcanic field and to quantify denudation rates from flow-capped paleosurfaces. Several datasets indicate patterns of surface topography that are consistent with dynamic rock uplift along a NE-trending flexural bulge above the Jemez low-velocity mantle anomaly, but are not well-explained by climate. They include: (1) crude volcanic "belts" of similar age, (2) retreating erosional escarpments, (3) differential landscape denudation measured from a NE-trending hinge-line of "low-to-no" erosion, (4) a NE-trending zone of broad (50-100km) convexities in stream profiles identified by an analysis of channel steepness (5) reorganization of stream networks from ESE-flowing streams, to a SSE flowing Canadian River that takes advantage of a relative base level fall in the SE, and (6) a ~150-km-long, 40Ar/39Ar-dated composite paleosurface which indicates total tilting of 64 millidegrees/Ma (and ~34 millidegrees/Ma of tectonic tilting) since 3.4 Ma. Proposed mantle-driven rock uplift along the NE-trending Jemez zone is overprinted on N-S trending mid-Tertiary uplift of the Rocky Mountain orogenic plateau relative to the Great Plains.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Nereson, Alexander"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Earth and Planetary Sciences","degree_level":"Masters","degree_discipline":"Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Karlstrom, Karl","Scuderi, Louis","Crossey, Laura"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2012,"date_issued":"2012-08-27T07:00:00Z","date_published":"2012-08-27T07:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T05:26:14Z","subjects":["dynamic topography","landscape evolution","argon geochronology","Jemez lineament"],"languages":["English"],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/eps_etds/58"],"render_values":[{"text":"https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/eps_etds/58","href":"https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/eps_etds/58","code":true}]}]},"links":{"outbound_url":"http://hdl.handle.net/1928/20997","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Karlstrom, Karl","Scuderi, Louis","Crossey, Laura"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Nereson, Alexander"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Masters","Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Earth and Planetary Sciences"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["dynamic topography","landscape evolution","argon geochronology","Jemez lineament"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language","label":"Dc Language","values":["English"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["http://hdl.handle.net/1928/20997","https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/eps_etds/58"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["The causal mechanisms for the onset and patterns of post-Miocene erosion of the western Great Plains remain the subject of an enthusiastic debate between the roles of climatically-modulated geomorphic parameters and tectonic rock uplift as drivers of long-term erosion. This study distinguishes between these drivers on the plains of New Mexico and Colorado where post-Miocene erosion and late Cenozoic volcanism of the Jemez lineament have produced distinctive modern landscapes characterized by deep bedrock canyons and inverted, basalt-capped mesas. 40Ar/39Ar ages are used to define an episodic eruption history in the Raton-Clayton volcanic field and to quantify denudation rates from flow-capped paleosurfaces. Several datasets indicate patterns of surface topography that are consistent with dynamic rock uplift along a NE-trending flexural bulge above the Jemez low-velocity mantle anomaly, but are not well-explained by climate. They include: (1) crude volcanic \"belts\" of similar age, (2) retreating erosional escarpments, (3) differential landscape denudation measured from a NE-trending hinge-line of \"low-to-no\" erosion, (4) a NE-trending zone of broad (50-100km) convexities in stream profiles identified by an analysis of channel steepness (5) reorganization of stream networks from ESE-flowing streams, to a SSE flowing Canadian River that takes advantage of a relative base level fall in the SE, and (6) a ~150-km-long, 40Ar/39Ar-dated composite paleosurface which indicates total tilting of 64 millidegrees/Ma (and ~34 millidegrees/Ma of tectonic tilting) since 3.4 Ma. Proposed mantle-driven rock uplift along the NE-trending Jemez zone is overprinted on N-S trending mid-Tertiary uplift of the Rocky Mountain orogenic plateau relative to the Great Plains."]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Dynamic topography of the western Great Plains : geomorphic and 40Ar/39Ar evidence for mantle-driven uplift associated with the Jemez lineament, New Mexico and SE Colorado"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Karlstrom, Karl","Scuderi, Louis","Crossey, Laura"],"dc:creator":["Nereson, Alexander"],"dc:description.abstract":["The causal mechanisms for the onset and patterns of post-Miocene erosion of the western Great Plains remain the subject of an enthusiastic debate between the roles of climatically-modulated geomorphic parameters and tectonic rock uplift as drivers of long-term erosion. This study distinguishes between these drivers on the plains of New Mexico and Colorado where post-Miocene erosion and late Cenozoic volcanism of the Jemez lineament have produced distinctive modern landscapes characterized by deep bedrock canyons and inverted, basalt-capped mesas. 40Ar/39Ar ages are used to define an episodic eruption history in the Raton-Clayton volcanic field and to quantify denudation rates from flow-capped paleosurfaces. Several datasets indicate patterns of surface topography that are consistent with dynamic rock uplift along a NE-trending flexural bulge above the Jemez low-velocity mantle anomaly, but are not well-explained by climate. They include: (1) crude volcanic \"belts\" of similar age, (2) retreating erosional escarpments, (3) differential landscape denudation measured from a NE-trending hinge-line of \"low-to-no\" erosion, (4) a NE-trending zone of broad (50-100km) convexities in stream profiles identified by an analysis of channel steepness (5) reorganization of stream networks from ESE-flowing streams, to a SSE flowing Canadian River that takes advantage of a relative base level fall in the SE, and (6) a ~150-km-long, 40Ar/39Ar-dated composite paleosurface which indicates total tilting of 64 millidegrees/Ma (and ~34 millidegrees/Ma of tectonic tilting) since 3.4 Ma. Proposed mantle-driven rock uplift along the NE-trending Jemez zone is overprinted on N-S trending mid-Tertiary uplift of the Rocky Mountain orogenic plateau relative to the Great Plains."],"dc:identifier":["http://hdl.handle.net/1928/20997","https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/eps_etds/58"],"dc:language":["English"],"dc:subject":["dynamic topography","landscape evolution","argon geochronology","Jemez lineament"],"dc:title":["Dynamic topography of the western Great Plains : geomorphic and 40Ar/39Ar evidence for mantle-driven uplift associated with the Jemez lineament, New Mexico and SE Colorado"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences"],"thesis:degree_level":["Masters","Thesis"],"thesis:degree_name":["Earth and Planetary Sciences"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T05:26:14Z"}