Denudation rates of a subequatorial orogenic belt based on estimates of sediment yields: evidence from the Paleozoic Appalachian Basin, USA

Abstract

AbstractThe Upper Mississippian (ca. 325 Ma) Pride Shale and Glady Fork Member in the Central Appalachian Basin comprise an upward‐coarsening, ca. 60‐m‐thick succession of prodeltaic‐delta front, interlaminated fine‐grained sandstones and mudstones gradational upwards into mouth‐bar and distributary‐channel sandstones. Analysis of laminae bundling in the Pride Shale reveals a hierarchy of tidal cycles (semi‐diurnal, fortnightly neap‐spring) and a distinct annual cyclicity resulting from seasonal fluvial discharge. These tidal rhythmites thus represent high‐resolution chronometers that can be used in basin analysis. Annual cycles average 10 cm in thickness, thus the bulk of the Pride Shale‐Glady Fork Member in any one vertical section is estimated to have accumulated in ca. 600 years. Progradational clinoforms are assumed to have had dips of 0.3–3° with a median dip of 1.7°; the latter infilled a NE‐SW oriented foreland trough up to 300 km long by 50 km wide in the relatively short time period of 90 kyr. The total volume of sediment in the Pride basin is ca. 900 km3 which, for an average sediment density of 2700 kg m−3, equates to a total mass of ca. 2.4 × 106 Mt. Thus, mass sediment load can be estimated as 27 Mt yr−1. For a drainage basin area of 89 000 km2, based on the scale of architectural channel elements and cross‐set thicknesses in the incised‐valley‐fill deposits of the underlying Princeton Formation, suspended sediment yields are estimated at ca. 310 t km−2 yr−1 equating to a mechanical denudation rate of ca. 0.116 mm yr−1. Calculated sediment yields and inferred denudation rates are comparable to modern rivers such as the Po and Fly and are compatible with a provenance of significant relief and a climate characterized by seasonal, monsoonal discharge. Inferred denudation rates also are consistent with average denudation rates for the Inner Piedmont Terrane of the Appalachians based on flexural modelling. The integration of stratigraphic architectural analysis with a novel chronometric application highlights the utility of sedimentary archives as a record of Earth surface dynamics.