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Science 7 July 2006:
Vol. 313. no. 5783, pp. 87 - 89
DOI: 10.1126/science.1125986
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Reports

Hydrogen Isotopes in Eocene River Gravels and Paleoelevation of the Sierra Nevada

Andreas Mulch,* Stephan A. Graham, C. Page Chamberlain

We determine paleoelevation of the Sierra Nevada, California, by tracking the effect of topography on precipitation, as recorded in hydrogen isotopes of kaolinite exposed in gold-bearing river deposits from the Eocene Yuba River. The data, compared with the modern isotopic composition of precipitation, show that about 40 to 50 million years ago the Sierra Nevada stood tall (≥2200 meters), a result in conflict with proposed young surface uplift by tectonic and climatic forcing but consistent with the Sierra Nevada representing the edge of a pre-Eocene continental plateau.

Geological and Environmental Sciences, Stanford University, 450 Serra Mall, Building 320, Stanford, CA 94305, USA.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: mulch{at}pangea.stanford.edu

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THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
A Miocene to Pleistocene climate and elevation record of the Sierra Nevada (California).
A. Mulch, A. M. Sarna-Wojcicki, M. E. Perkins, and C. P. Chamberlain (2008)
PNAS 105, 6819-6824
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
The role of mantle delamination in widespread Late Cretaceous extension and magmatism in the Cordilleran orogen, western United States.
M. L. Wells and T. D. Hoisch (2008)
GSA Bulletin 120, 515-530
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Unroofing, incision, and uplift history of the southwestern Colorado Plateau from apatite (U-Th)/He thermochronometry.
R.M. Flowers, B.P. Wernicke, and K.A. Farley (2008)
GSA Bulletin 120, 571-587
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Stable isotope constraints on the elevation history of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, California.
B. E. Crowley, P. L. Koch, and E. B. Davis (2008)
GSA Bulletin 120, 588-598
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Arid geomorphology: recent progress from an Earth System Science perspective.
S. Tooth (2008)
Progress in Physical Geography 32, 81-101
   PDF »
Stratigraphy, paleomagnetism, and anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility of the Miocene Stanislaus Group, central Sierra Nevada and Sweetwater Mountains, California and Nevada.
N. M. King, J. W. Hillhouse, S. Gromme, B. P. Hausback, and C. J. Pluhar (2007)
Geosphere 3, 646-666
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
The Significance of Paleotopography.
M. K. Clark (2007)
Reviews in Mineralogy and Geochemistry 66, 1-21
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Stable Isotope-Based Paleoaltimetry: Theory and Validation.
D. B. Rowley (2007)
Reviews in Mineralogy and Geochemistry 66, 23-52
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Stable Isotope Paleoaltimetry in Orogenic Belts The Silicate Record in Surface and Crustal Geological Archives.
A. Mulch and C. P. Chamberlain (2007)
Reviews in Mineralogy and Geochemistry 66, 89-118
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Thermochronologic Approaches to Paleotopography.
P. W. Reiners (2007)
Reviews in Mineralogy and Geochemistry 66, 243-267
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Composition of Modern Sand from the Sierra Nevada, California, U.S.A.: Implications for Actualistic Petrofacies of Continental-Margin Magmatic Arcs.
R. V. Ingersoll and D. J. Eastmond (2007)
Journal of Sedimentary Research 77, 784-796
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »


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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)