Nature 346, 29 - 34 (05 July 1990); doi:10.1038/346029a0

Late Cenozoic uplift of mountain ranges and global climate change: chicken or egg?

Peter Molnar & Philip England

Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA
Department of Earth Sciences, Oxford University, Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3PR, UK.

The high altitudes of most mountain ranges have commonly been ascribed to late Cenozoic uplift, without reference to when crustal thickening and other tectonic processes occurred. Deep incision and recent denudation of these mountain ranges, abundant late Cenozoic coarse sediment near them, and palaeobotanical evidence for warmer climates, where high mountain climates today are relatively cold, have traditionally been interpreted as evidence for recent uplift. An alternative cause of these phenomena is late Cenozoic global climate change: towards lower temperatures, increased alpine glaciation, a stormier climate, and perturbations to humidity, vegetative cover and precipitation.

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