The significance of scarp retreat for cenozoic landform evolution on the Colorado Plateau, U.S.A.

Abstract

AbstractSince the beginning of the Cenozoic period several hundreds of metres of the sedimentary cover have been removed from the Colorado Plateau. Palaeoclimatic considerations show that the Colorado Plateau has been dominated by dry climates throughout the Cenozoic with the possible exception of the early Palaeocene. Today in the still prevailing arid climate, which strongly accentuates differences in rock resistance, the relief shows a structurally controlled cuesta scarp topography in the slightly deformed strata of alternating resistance.In examining whether the denudational efficiency of scarp retreat was sufficient to account for the wide erosional gaps in the sedimentary cover, rates of scarp retreat were determined by using the information of dated volcanic material and by applying a new method, which calculates the amount of retreat from the width of beheaded valleys of known age. Rates of retreat range from 0·5 to 6·7 km my−1. The results show that the rates of retreat are controlled by the thickness and resistance of the caprocks.A model of Cenozoic scarp retreat demonstrates that the rates of recession calculated for the scarps in Upper Cretaceous rocks were sufficient to bring them into their present positions from the centre of the Monument Uplift on the central Colorado Plateau. The late Eocene positions of the cliffs in the Early Tertiary formations give an indication of their maximal extent. After the Upper Cretaceous sediments had been removed from the uplifts, erosion cut through successively older rocks, and activated scarps in stratigraphically lower positions. Scarp retreat can operate simultaneously and independently at different levels, which enabled this erosional mechanism to remove great proportions of the sedimentary cover of the Colorado Plateau during the Cenozoic.