Late Cenozoic uplift of mountain ranges and global climate.pdfVIP

REVIEW ARTICLE Late Cenozoic uplift of mountain ranges and global climate change: chicken or egg? Peter Molnar Philip England The high altitudes of most mountain ranges have commonly been ascribed to late Cenoloic uplift, without reference to when crustal thickening and other tectonic processes occurred. Deep incision and recent denudation of these mountain ranges, abundant late Cenoloic coarse sediment near them, and palaeo- botanical 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 Cenoloic global climate change: towards lower temperatures, increased alpine glaciation, a stormier climate, and perturbations to humidity, vegetative cover and precipitation. NOT long after continental glaciation had been recognized, differences that are not obtained in such experiments on land- Dana[ linked it to a late Cenozoic rise of mountain ranges. Over scapes with little or no high terrain 13. Finally, chemical weather- the next 100 years, several eminent Earth scientists2 - 7 supported ing, enhanced by the increased exposure of minerals eroded and developed this idea, but in all cases the main logical link rapidly from cold high altitudes and transported to warmer, remained the temporal correlation of mountain building with moister low elevations, would absorb more carbon dioxide from the onset of glaciation. Then, when geologists discovered more the atmosphere, thus decreasing the natural greenhouse than one Pleistocene g