Nature 385, 501 - 507 (06 February 1997); doi:10.1038/385501a0

Measurement of tectonic surface uplift rate in a young collisional mountain belt

Lon D. Abbott^*†, Eli A. Silver^*, Robert S. Anderson^*, Randall Smith^‡, James C. Ingle^§, Stanley A. Kling, David Haig^¶, Eric Small^*, Joseph Galewsky^* & William S. Sliter^£

^*Department of Earth Sciences, University of California, Santa Cruz, California 95064, USA
^‡Geolnformation Technology, 2771 E. Shaw Avenue, Fresno, California 93710, USA
^§Department of Geological and Environmental Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, USA
416 Shore View Lane, Leucadia, California 92024, USA
^¶ Department of Geology and Geophysics, University of Western Australia, Nedlands, Perth, Western Australia 6009, Australia
^£United States Geological Survey, Western Geologic Mapping Team-Mail Stop 975, 345 Middlefield Road, Menlo Park, California 94025, USA
^†Present address: Down To Earth Technology, 2964 Palo Parkway, Boulder, Colorado 80301, USA.

Measurement of the rate of tectonically driven surface uplift is crucial to a complete understanding of mountain building dynamics. The lack of a suitable rock record typically prevents determination of this quantity, but the unusual geology of Papua New Guinea's Finisterre mountains makes measurement of this rate possible. The tectonic surface uplift rate at the Finisterre range is 0.8-2.1 mmyr^-1, approximately that expected to arise from crustal thickening.

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