Rock-type control on erosion-induced uplift, eastern Swiss Alps

Abstract

There is growing evidence that Quaternary rock uplift in parts of the European Alps is a consequence of climate- and erosion-driven isostatic rebound. Contemporary rates of rock uplift U in the Swiss Alps show two distinctive dome-like peak regions that attain ~ 1.6 mm yr − 1 . We focus on the Alpenrhein catchment and its surroundings, where one of these peak regions spatially coincides with widely exposed Cretaceous Bündner schist and lower Tertiary flysch. Field assessments and analyses of hillslope gradient distributions quantitatively demonstrate the low rock-mass strength and high erodibility of these rocks. This is reflected in mean postglacial catchment erosion rates D ~ 4 mm yr − 1 , as opposed to 0.7 mm yr − 1 in more resistant crystalline rocks. Though largely inferred from landslide- and debris-flow prone tributary catchments < 20 km 2, the localised erosion rates in Bündner schist and flysch are among the highest documented for the Alps, and corroborated by historic suspended sediment yields, and thus export, from the region. We further find that the steepness of bedrock rivers, the density of large landslides, and D correlate with the highest values of U. Our observations highlight the possibility that erosion of mechanically weak Bündner schist and flysch enhanced by large landslides may have contributed to regional crustal unloading, and concomitant rock uplift. Irrespective of whether this is betraying a coupling between long-term uplift and erosion modulated by rock type, our findings indicate that long-term (10 3 to 10 4 yr) geomorphic signals contained in bedrock-river steepness, spatial density of large landslides, and postglacial erosion rates strikingly correlate with regional gradients of historic (10 1 yr) rock uplift rates.