Geomorphology 360 (2020) 106848

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Geomorphology

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/geomorph

Thermal history solutions from thermochronology must be governed by

geological relationships: A comment on Jess et al. (2019)
Paul F. Green a,⁎, Peter Japsen b, Johan M. Bonow c,d, James A. Chalmers b, Ian R. Duddy a
a
Geotrack International, 37 Melville Road, Brunswick West, Victoria 3055, Australia
b
Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (GEUS), DK-1350 Copenhagen, Denmark
c
Geovisiona AB, SE-197 92 Bro, Sweden
d
Uppsala University, SE-751 05 Uppsala, Sweden

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: The recent study of the basement margin to the Nuussuaq Basin, West Greenland, by Jess et al. (2019) illustrates
Received 21 June 2019 the problems introduced by extracting thermal histories from thermochronology data without taking into ac-
Received in revised form 20 August 2019 count the constraints provided by geological evidence. Their interpretations are incompatible with numerous as-
Accepted 20 August 2019
pects of the geology of the region, and as a result their conclusions are not valid.
Available online 21 August 2019
© 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Jess et al. (2019) interpreted apatite fission track and (U-Th-Sm)/He
data in basement samples from the northern margins of the
Cretaceous–Paleocene Nuussuaq Basin, central West Greenland (Dam
et al., 2009) as defining two phases of cooling/denudation, reflecting
Mesozoic rifting followed by regional Cenozoic post-volcanic denuda-
tion. They concluded that the elevated topography of the region was
the result of long-term development instigated by Mesozoic rift flank
uplift, preserved by volcanic cover and enhanced by post-volcanic dif-
ferential erosion and isostatic response. In an earlier study focussed on
the Nuussuaq Basin, Jess et al. (2018) came to a similar conclusion,
based on reinterpretation of apatite fission track and (U-Th-Sm)/He
data originally presented by Japsen et al. (2005, 2006).
In their original study, Japsen et al. (2005, 2006) came to a very dif-
ferent conclusion in regard to the origin of the mountains of West
Greenland. They integrated thermochronology data in samples from
the Nuussuaq Basin and surrounding margins (including basement out-
crops and sedimentary rocks from both outcrops and the sub-surface)
with observations from landscape analysis and geological relationships.
From this multi-disciplinary approach, Japsen et al. (2005, 2006) de-
fined a history involving repeated cycles of burial and exhumation,
and concluded that the elevated topography in the region was the result
of three episodes of regional tectonism since the late Eocene, culminat-
ing in the final late Neogene uplift of the present-day landscape.
⁎ Corresponding author.
E-mail address: paul.green@geotrack.com.au (P.F. Green).
Jess et al. (2018, 2019) noted that Redfield (2010) raised numerous
questions concerning the Japsen et al. (2005, 2006) studies. However,
Jess et al. (2018, 2019) did not mention that Green et al. (2011) an-
swered all of the questions raised by Redfield (2010) as well as provid-
ing further illustration of the interpretations presented by Japsen et al.
(2005, 2006), which we maintain are based on sound reasoning and
an objective interpretation of all available data. In any event, the issues
raised by Redfield (2010) have no impact of those raised below in rela-
tion to the work of Jess et al. (2018, 2019).
The contrasting conclusions reached by Japsen et al. (2005, 2006) and
Jess et al. (2018, 2019) illustrate the importance of constraining viable
thermal history solutions extracted from thermochronology data by inde-
pendent information drawn from geological relationships. Jess et al.
(2018, 2019) derived thermal history solutions from thermochronology
data without taking note of the key lines of independent evidence
(outlined below) that led Japsen et al. (2005, 2006) to their conclusions.
As a result, Jess et al. (2018, 2019) did not recognise the series of events
that form the basis of the episodic evolution of the region defined by
Japsen et al. (2005, 2006).
Thermochronology data are controlled by higher temperatures in
the past, and contain no information on periods when the sample tem-
perature was lower than during later heating (Green and Duddy, 2012;
Green et al., 2013). For this reason, thermochronology can only define
episodes of cooling from higher temperatures and are insensitive to
times when samples were at or close to the surface. To obtain realistic
results it is therefore necessary to impose constraints on viable thermal
histories provided by observed geological relationships.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geomorph.2019.106848
0169-555X/© 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
2 P.F. Green et al. / Geomorphology 360 (2020) 106848
Paleocene basalts lie directly on basement across the margins of the
Nuussuaq Basin, as well as on the Disko Gneiss Ridge (Fig. 1) within the
basin (Dam et al., 2009). Jess et al. (2019) acknowledge that “Small out-
crops are found atop the region's highest topography, implying lavas cov-
ered the region during the Palaeogene”. These outcrops are remnants of
an extensively studied lava sequence more than 2 km thick in places, ex-
tending over several hundred square kilometres onshore and an even
greater area offshore (Pedersen et al., 2017, 2018). The presence of
these lavas indicates that underlying basement was at the surface
prior to being buried by basalt (Fig. 1). The thermal histories shown
by Jess et al. (2018, 2019) for basement outcrops across the region are
not consistent with this simple geological relationship. Instead their his-
tories typically involve continuous cooling from 100 °C or more in the
late Paleozoic or early Mesozoic to surface at the present day, with sam-
ples at around 60 °C in the Paleocene. Their histories therefore do not
provide an accurate representation of the tectonic development of the
region.
Fig. 1. Sample GC861-12 located on the Disko Gneiss Ridge, Nuussuaq Basin, illustrates the
importance of integrating geological constraints with thermal history interpretation of
thermochronology data. Most of the samples analysed by Jess et al. (2019) were also
adjacent to basalt outcrops, and the same considerations apply to data from that study.
A: Basement sample GC861-12 is located within a glacial valley immediately below
several hundred metres of Paleocene basalt that covered the sample location before the
valley was created. The basalt rests on a sub- Paleocene etch surface in basement (ES;
green line) and the upper surface of the basalt is a post-Eocene erosion surface (Upper
Planation Surface or UPS; blue). The basalt sequence also covers the northern Nuussuaq
Basin and basement margins studied by Jess et al. (2019). B: AFTA data from this sample
were originally provided by Japsen et al. (2005, 2006) and were reinterpreted by Jess
et al. (2018). The blue line illustrates the preferred thermal history interpretation for
sample GC861-12 presented by Jess et al. (2018), with 95% confidence limits indicated
by the magenta lines. The presence of Paleocene basalt and the sub-basalt erosion
surface show that this thermal history cannot be correct. The sample location must have
been exhumed to the surface before being subsequently re-buried by basalt, causing re-
heating prior to final cooling to the present-day surface temperature as a result of post-
Eocene denudation (as reflected in the prominent regional erosion surface UPS shown
in A). The simple constraint posed by the presence of the basalt was central to the
interpretation of episodic heating and cooling presented by Japsen et al. (2005, 2006).
Jess et al. (2018, 2019) did not take such constraints into account, and as a result their
interpretations are not geologically realistic.
It is the integration of such geological constraints with thermal
histories derived from thermochronology that led Japsen et al.
(2005, 2006) and Green et al. (2011, 2013) to define the repeated ep-
isodes of burial and exhumation which produced the present-day to-
pography of central West Greenland. Geological and
geomorphological relations across the region define a series of key
tectonic episodes, independent of the thermochronology data
which serve simply to place events in a geological timeframe and
to determine the magnitude of each event. Key aspects include:
- deposition of 6–8 km of mid- and Upper Cretaceous sediments that
were rotated, uplifted and eroded back to basement in places (e.g.
along the Disko Gneiss Ridge, Fig. 1) during an episode of extension
in the Campanian and Maastrichtian (Chalmers et al., 1999; Dam
et al., 2009) prior to deposition of up to 2 km of lavas onto this base-
ment surface in the Paleocene.
- a regional sub-Paleocene etch surface on the Disko Gneiss Ridge (ES
in Fig. 1; Bonow, 2005) onto which basalts were erupted.
- evidence of repeated Paleocene post-rift uplift followed by subsi-
dence during basalt eruption combined with the presence of intra-
volcanic (post-rift) marine strata at ~1200 m a.s.l. today, defining
subsequent post-Paleocene uplift of at least this magnitude. Jess
et al. (2018, 2019) suggested that this uplift might be the result of
isostatic response to glacial incision into uplifted rift flanks. How-
ever, Medvedev et al. (2008, 2013) concluded that this mechanism
could only account for a fraction of the observed summit elevations.
And since the marine horizons are post-rift, the possibility of a long-
term uplifted rift flank can be ruled out.
- a regional erosion surface (UPS, Fig. 1), defined by extensive map-
ping (Bonow et al., 2006a, 2006b), that cuts both Paleogene basalt
in the basin and basement outside the basin without offset at the
basin margin. This surface provides evidence of extensive regional
post-basalt denudation. Japsen et al. (2005, 2006) concluded from
their AFTA data that this denudation, leading to formation of the
UPS, began at around 35 Ma.
- the presence of broad valleys at a present-day altitude of about
1000 m defining a younger fluvial erosion surface (LPS, Fig. 1) pro-
vides evidence of more recent uplift (Bonow et al., 2006a, 2006b),
dated to have begun at around 10 Ma from AFTA (Japsen et al.,
2005, 2006).
- The LPS, which must have graded to sea-level, was lifted to its pres-
ent elevation at some time subsequent to 10 Ma. The presence of an
early Pliocene unconformity offshore above which are found thick
prograding units, suggest that this final uplift started at about 4 Ma
(Japsen et al., 2005, 2006).
Further discussion of these aspects and their relevance to the evolu-
tion of the region is provided by Green et al. (2013). None of the con-
straints provided by these simple geological and geomorphological
observations were incorporated into the modelling studies of Jess et
al. (2018, 2019), and all of the features discussed above contradict
their conclusions. Because Jess et al. (2018, 2019) neglected these inde-
pendent lines of evidence, they did not recognise the episodic nature of
the evolution of the region, which could never be revealed using
thermochronology alone. In particular, their assumption of continuous
cooling renders their approach blind to the wealth of information pro-
vided by the geology of the region (as above), which independently de-
fines the history of episodic tectonism embodied in the interpretation of
Japsen et al. (2005, 2006).
In a growing number of studies, integration of geological constraints
with thermochronology has defined histories involving repeated epi-
sodes of burial and subsequent exhumation, similar to that defined in
West Greenland by Japsen et al. (2005, 2006). These include not only
continental margins (as reviewed by Green et al., 2018; see also
Venancio da Silva et al., 2018) but also cratonic areas (e.g., Weber
 P.F. Green et al. / Geomorphology 360 (2020) 106848
et al., 2005; Flowers and Kelley, 2011; Weisberg et al., 2018). In each
case the episodic style of history is defined by integrating
thermochronology with geological constraints, generally in the form
of younger cover rocks. Such constraints are simple and direct, and can-
not be ignored.
The lack of an accepted mechanism for histories involving episodic
burial and exhumation has hindered widespread acceptance of this
style of history, and most thermochronology studies continue to adhere
to the more traditional style of continuous cooling history as adopted by
Jess et al. (2018, 2019). This appears to reflect a preference for
established tectonic models which predict that cratonic regions and
continental margins are positive, emergent features that undergo con-
tinuous exhumation, despite geological evidence showing that such his-
tories are not possible. The increasing number of studies revealing
episodic burial and exhumation requires a re-think of these models to
account for observational evidence rather than following established
practice based on assumptions that are no longer viable.
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