lecture 3: big rivers: setting the background geology...
TRANSCRIPT
Lecture 3: Big Rivers: setting the background – geology, tectonics and sea-level
•What is the geologic setting of the Worlds big rivers?•What controls the course of big rivers?•What influence does sea-level have on the course of big rivers?
• Tectonics – sets relief
• Climate – e.g. glaciations
• Base level – e.g. sea-level
• Volcanism
http://pubs.usgs.gov/publications/text/Vigil.html
http://www.starrynighteducation.com/sntimes
from Potter and Hamblin, 2006
from Potter and Hamblin, 2006
• Plate Convergence• Plate Separation• Regional Tilting• Crustal Doming• Basins and Arches• Shear and Megashears• Faulting
from Potter and Hamblin, 2006
Longitudinal Foreland Basin
Longitudinal Foreland Basin
Transverse Systems: Amazon
Transverse Systems:Amazon –
lets look in the past!
from Horne et al., 2010
Transverse Systems: Mississippi
Intrabasinal Setting: Brahmaputra
Intrabasinal Setting: Mekong
from Potter and Hamblin, 2006
Himalayas…uplift
since c. 40-50 my
ago
from Cox, 1989
from Potter and Hamblin, 2006
Tight bend in the Changjiang
diversion c. 1.7million years ago?
Kong et al., 2012
……..river capture, volcanism, desertification and glaciation
from Potter and Hamblin, 2006
Tectonics, climate and sea-level
The Sunda Shelf
Alqahtani et al., 2015
Chapter 2: pages 7-17Geology of Large River SystemsSampat Tandon and Rajiv Sinha
Big Rivers: setting the background – climate, hydrology and sediment yields.
Revision/discussion questions.