Himalayas from ISS, Center: Kanchenjunga; Right: Everest; Bottom: Lake Paiku

Tectonic Processes & Landforms

GGP4010 Geomorp. & Hydrol.

Reading:
Bierman &
Montgomery
Ch. 15.
Outline
• Diastrophic (tectonic) processes
• Horizontal – Orogenic
• Vertical – Epeirogenic
• Tectonic settings & Landforms
• Extensional margins
• Compressional margins
• Transform margins
• Continental interiors
• Structural landforms
• Fen-wei Rift case study
Tung Ping • Sedimentary rocks: siltstone & rare tuff
interbeds – lacustrine origin
Chau • Max elevation: 48 mPD
HGM20 Sheet 4 • Ping Chau Formation 65
– 50 Ma
• Primarily siltstones,
shallow lake facies
• cs (龍落水) – Chert >
rhyolitic vitric tuff (Wang
et al., 2018)

What does this

mean?
 Orientation of Dip (angle):
geologic feature Angle below
(Fault, joint, stratum, horizontal
igneous dikes & sills)
≠ slope angle
30
(imaginary)
Horizontal Line of
plane strike

Strike: intersection
of dipping layer with
horizontal surface,
measured in
Water line
azimuth relative to
north
Number usually not shown on map

Fault, Types
Fissure in rock with displacement
[Pattern] Reverse fault:
hanging wall block moves up
relative to footwall block.
Placing older rocks on top of
younger ones.

Fault plane
• Dip-slip
• Normal
• Reverse
• Dip < 30°: Thrust
• Strike-slip

• Oblique-slip
Understanding Block Diagram
• Geologic time scale
• Principles of Stratigraphy,
Law of…
• Superposition
• Original horizontality
• Cross-cutting relationships
• Lateral continuity
• Unconformity
• Nonconformity
• Disconformity
• Angular unconformity
 Marble cylinders placed in
How Rocks Deform? laboratory conditions that mimic
their burial at varying depths

On surface, Brittle deformation Ductile deformation

undeformed

Buried at
0 0.1 0.3 0.7 1.2 1.7 3.3 6.7
depth [km]

• Rocks on Earth’s surface are Influential factors:

brittle, deform → fracture (fault) • Heat
• Pressure
• Heat & pressure turns rock ductile • Rate of deformation
& flow, deform → bend (fold) • Rock type
Lai Chi Chong geosite
UNESCO Global Geopark of Hong Kong
Slump structure of soft sediment due to gravity –
mass movement @ time of deposition
 Cylindrical folds
that span across
multiple peaks

slump
Atlas géologique de la Suisse. Feuille: 1285 Les Diablerets (1991)
Sex Rouge 2971m Oldenhorn 3122m
 Monocline
Anticline
單斜
背斜
Folds
• Continuous
deformation. Overturned
Compressed & Syncline
(倒轉)

bent into wave- 向斜

like structure

Axial plane
@max. curvature
Up-side-down
stratigraphy

Symmetrical
Recumbent
(偃臥)
Common Structural Symbols on a
Geological Map
Inclined bedding,
dip in degrees
Anticline,
axial plane

Horizontal
bedding
Syncline,
axial plane

Vertical
bedding
Geology: Tethyan Sedimentary Series

Qomolangma
Limestone
Detachment
(normal fault)
Lhotse
Why could sedimentary
8516 m rocks form the highest
peaks?
 Orogeny: mountain building
Forming of Pangea: event. Resulting in linear belts
with intensive deformation
Closing of Iapetus Ocean
Scandinavian
Eastern Caledonides
Greenland British & Irish
Caledonides Caledonides

Appalachians

Anti Atlas Mts.

Caledonian
orogeny Great Dividing
Range
Splitting up of Pangea: Greek
goddess
Opening of Atlantic Ocean Tethys ▶

Brazilian Highlands
 Alpine-Himalayan
Cenozoic Orogeny: Closing orogeny – Collisional

of Tethys Ocean
Atlas Pyrenees
Zagros Himalayas

Andes Mts

American Cordillera
orogeny –
Accretionary
Dilek & Furnes (2019)
Plains in India
(foreland basin)

Tibetan
Plateau
 Epeirogenic processes
Observed dynamic or ‘residual’ topography

Dynamic Topography as computed by removing the isostatically

compensated, tectonically driven component
of surface topography.
Areal scale:
>1000 km

or isostasy

• Braun, 2010

Braun 2010
Epeirogenic processes

Thermal
Contrast
Sketch of the obtained
lithosphere-asthenosphere
boundary below the
Hawaiian island chain.
Li et al. (2004) Nature 427: 827. Mantle plume
Density Contrast Salt glacier (鹽川; namakier)
@Zagros Mountains (Iran)

Diapir
 Kuh-e-Namak
• Iran’s “mountain of
salt”
• Mineral salt: Halite
• A solid rock that
can creep &
recover from
deformation
Buoyant force When object
= weight of fluid density < fluid
displaced by object → Floats
Buoyant force =
weight of object
Two types of lithosphere & their density
Global average
Average
elevation
difference
840 m
in elevation
~ 4.6 km Sea level
Continental crust
2.7 g/cm3 Average depth 3790 m

Oceanic crust: 2.9 – 3 g/cm3

Mantle: density 3.3 g/cm3

Controls the general

topography of the world
great continents and
ocean basins
Epeirogenic processes

Isostasy What is the origin of

this thick crustal root?
• Gravitational equilibrium
between Earth's crust
(lithosphere) & mantle
• Gives rise to ‘tectonic’
topography
Crust: density 2.7 g/cm3

Mantle: density 3.3 g/cm3

 Isostatic Response to Erosion
(compensation or rebound)

Erosion causes
𝑈𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑓𝑎𝑐𝑒 = 𝑈𝑟𝑜𝑐𝑘 − 𝐸 exhumation
(剝蝕抬升;
Erosion
Amount of unroofing)
surface uplift
(𝑈𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑓𝑎𝑐𝑒 ; -ve  Amount of
in this case) Exhumation (𝐸)
< Exhumation
Amount of
Crust: density rock uplift
2.7 g/cm3 (𝑈𝑟𝑜𝑐𝑘 )

Rock stripped off by erosion

→ Crust becomes lighter
→ Crust rises higher
& Amount of (-ve) surface uplift
2.7
= 82% of exhumation (3.3)
Mantle: density 3.3 g/cm3
Flexural Rigidity of Lithosphere
• Isostatic response is influenced by flexural rigidity
(stiffness 剛硬度) of lithosphere
• Isostatic rebound or subsidence distributed across
wide area
• 10 – 100 km
• Spatial scale >> local occurrence (& variation) of erosion
& width of individual valley
• Cool, thick lithosphere = higher rigidity (e.g. shield,
craton)
• → reduce isostatic compensation
• & spreading it across broader area
 Foreland
Basin
• Depression
adjacent & parallel
to a mountain belt
• ∵ flexural isostatic (Indian shield)
subsidence
• E.g. Indo-Gangetic
basin (Indus,
Ganges-
Brahmaputra river
basins – Quaternary
deposits)
 Orogenic wedge
Retro-foreland basin (suture zone) Pro-foreland basin

Deformation front Deformation front

Tectonic load

• Pro-foreland basin
• e.g. Indo-Gangetic;
Molasse (North
Alpine)
• Retro-foreland basin
• e.g. Po
 Active tectonic (Endogenic)
forces exert first-order
Tectonic Setting controls on topography

• Extensional margins • Controls:

Active margins

• Compressional margins • Styles of deformation &

uplift
• Transform margins • Lithologies
• Continental interiors • Degree of fracturing
(aka faults)
• Structural landforms • ∴ erosion resistance
• Hotspot (independent • Spatial variation of the
of tectonic activity) above → diversity of
landforms
Transform
fault
Passive
margin
Extensional Margins & Landforms
Under
the air
• C-C divergence – rift valley system (subaerial)
• Valleys aligned & coincide with rift axis
• e.g. East African Rift, Rio Grande Rift Rift:
• Rift shoulder later becomes passive margins Lithosphere being
pulled apart
• Axial rift typically 10s km across
• Depression filled by Lake; e.g. Baikal Lake (depth 1637m)
• Later invade by ocean; e.g. Red Sea
• O-O – Mid-ocean ridge (submarine)
 Dead Sea

Aqaba
• Put in
geographical
context
• Elevated areas along rift: Rift flank (shoulder)
• Raised block between 2 normal faults: Horst
• Down-dropped valley between 2 normal faults: Graben
• By 1 normal fault: Half-graben
• Upswelling beneath thinned crust → thermal uplift &
dynamic support of overlying topography
• Sometimes associated with volcanicity
 Gebel Hammam Faraun

Rift shoulder Fault scarp

Carbonate
Gulf of Suez
rocks

Shale &
sandstone -
Darker rift
sediment
Dead Sea
• 442m Below sea level
• Saline lake
• Salinity 34.2%
• Pacific avg. 3.5%
 Making
connections…

▼Kishcha et al. 2018

• Lake level  >1m / year

• Dams & overexploitation
 Flexure
Adjustment
@ Rift zone
• Crustal extension
• Normal fault
• Escarpment
• Mass redistribution
• Shoulder: exhumation –
unloading
• Upward elastic
flexure
• Valley (graben):
deposition – loading
• Downwarped flexure

Source: de Gelder et al., 2019

Sequence of scarp development
along fault-generated mountain front
Wallace, 1978

Young (A, B): trapezoidal facet

Mature (C, D): triangular facet
Old (E): eroded facet (cessation of uplift)
Alternating half-
grabens & ranges
(tilted crustal
blocks) – Domino
pattern
 Mid-Ocean
Ridge

• Undersea mountain • Depths of oceanic ridges

range 80,000 km in are correlated with the
length; 2500 m in height age of the ocean crust
• Ridge offset across • ∵ Distance from dynamic
topographical support
transform faults (spreading center); &
• e.g. Mid-Atlantic Ridge; thermal contraction of
East Pacific Rise crust
Magnetic 4 – 5 times every 1 Ma
during the past 10 Ma
Polarity • Reversal: magnetic N.
pole becomes S. pole
• Rotating iron core of • Cycle not predictable
Earth creates a • When lava cools &
magnetic field solidify, iron-minerals
• Not static align with magnetic
• Still a scientific mystery field, ∴ preserving past
• This magnetic field polarity signature
reverses (flips) polarity
Creating symmetrical pattern of
magnetic stripes of opposite polarity
on either side of spreading center
Compressional Margins &
Landforms
• Orogenesis
• Linear belts of highly deformed rock
• Parallel to collisional plate boundaries
• Thickening of crust
• Elevate mountains (isostatic compensation)
• River incision, steep slopes, frequent mass
movements
C-C Collision
• Crust of same density
• Neither is subducted, ∴ minimal volcanicity
• e.g. Himalaya, Zagros (Iran)
• Crustal thickening
• Trust faulting, suture zone
• Shallow reverse fault, places older stratum above younger
• Obduction → Collision
• Oceanic lithosphere rise on top of continental lithosphere
• Flexural subsidence of foreland
• Longitudinal rivers parallel to orogen Reason of
• River crossing mt. ranges were antecedent rivers marine fossils
on Everest
 Subduction

Obduction of oceanic
lithosphere onto
continental lithosphere

C-C collision after

obduction

Ophiolite (snakestone),
intact sequence of oceanic
lithosphere found on a
continental margin

DiPietro (2013)
 O-O, O-C Collision • Exhumation of spine of
ancient volcanic arc expose
intrusive rocks
• Subduction of denser • e.g. Sierra Nevada CA
O lithosphere
• O-O volcanic island arc
• Subduction of older, cooler,
& denser
• O-C volcanic arc
• Volcanism present
• Sedimentary
(accretionary) wedge
scrapped off subducting
plate & rises
• Thrust-faulted
• e.g. Taiwan
 Regionally, spreading zones can
Back arc Basin occur (& associated landforms)
at a destructive margin.

Stern 2002
Island arc
 Prof. Tanya Atwater,
India-Asia Continental Collision http://emvc.geol.ucsb.edu

• Trust fault
• Sedimentary wedge
• Suture
 Eurasia Plate Taiwan Strait

N
Philippine Sea Plate
I-Lan Plain
 Faulted Blocks of Taiwan

https://www.earth.sinica.edu.tw/content/people/yuchang/
Thrust faulting of sediment wedge
older

older

• Sediment are relatively • Sliding ∴ stalls, fault

soft – deforms easily become inactive
• Older thrust faults at the • New, younger fault
rear trapped by thick forms closer to the toe
overburden (weight of the wedge
down +normal stress) • ∵ less overburden
Transform Margins & Landforms
• Transtensional
(transform + tensional)
• Transpressional margins
• e.g. California’s Coast
Ranges
• Strike-slip fault bends;
Leading to:
• Restraining bends
(compressional pop-up)
• E.g. Santa Cruz Mountains
• Releasing bends (pull-
apart basin)
• E.g. San Francisco Bay
• Coast Range
divided by SAF
• Linear offset
stream channel
• Sag pond
Kunlun Fault
 Continental Interiors Where tectonic (Endogenic)
forcing has ended

• Deeply weathered, low- • → Structural landforms

relief terrain • Craton: vast, relative flat
• Loess, floodplains, area; <1000 m.a.s.l.; w/
internal drainage & saline
playas tectonic stability
∴ geo-
• Humid climate – slopes • Shields: ancient deformed
morphologist’s
paradise with thick regolith crystalline basement
rocks
• Arid climate – bare rock
slopes • Platforms: younger
sedimentary rock overlay
• Differential weathering crystalline basement rock
& erosion (exogenic) • Plateau: high-elevation,
becomes the dominant low-relief
process in landform • Tectonically constructed
development
Continental Interiors
(con’t)
• Recall: C-C collision → crustal
thickening
• Crust reaches 4 – 5 km a.s.l.,
geothermal heating & pressure
turns rocks @ base of lithosphere
ductile (vs brittle)
• Flows laterally
• ∴ limiting height of plateau; Further
thickening → widening
• Continuous erosion of continental interiors
↓ topography, but thick crustal root + isostasy
compensates ~82% of erosion
c.f. earlier slides
Structural Landforms
• Geomorphic features controlled by the underlying
geological structure & spatial distribution of rocks
with different resistances to erosion
• Where, 𝐸 > 𝑈𝑟𝑜𝑐𝑘 , ↑ role of lithologies & geologic
structure play in shaping topography
• Resistant rocks stand out, form steeper slopes
• e.g. Ayers Rock, Uluru – inselberg: resistant rocks rising
abruptly (steep slopes) & form an erosional plain
(German “island hill”)
• Expose deformation structures e.g. folds
 Which end of the
rock contains
N younger strata of the
sequence?
CP
Uluru

80

2 km
• Rises 350 m above adjacent plains, width 2 km
• Lithology: uniform arkose (feldspathic sandstone),
550 Ma (Cambrian)
 250 Ma

Appalachian Mt.
• Fold mt. ∵ collision of N
Am. & African plate
Massanutten
Synclinorium

Resistant quartz
sandstone
• Symmetry of
outcrop pattern
• Anticline: older
@axis (center)
• Syncline:
younger @axis
(center)
Plunging folds
• Monocline
 Dip horizontal
Dip 20 – 45
Butte /
Dip >45 Cuesta
Mesa /
Hogback Plateau
Escarpment

Monocline

Less More Hogback

resistant resistant
stratum stratum

Cuesta: Asymmetric slopes shallow at

down-dip direction

Hogback: More symmetrical slopes

Cuesta: Ping Fung Shan

Type of
Kp: Pat Sin Leng Formation (sedimentary, conglomerate) unconformity?
Jtm: Tai Mo Shan Formation (volcanic tuff)
“Table mountain”: Flat topped structure with stepped topography & compound slopes

Taller than
it is wide
Mesa
Butte

Monument Valley, Arizona

Hoodoo,
Bryce
Canyon,
Utah
 We will discuss this
final tectonic setting
in the next lecture.

Indicates mass
concentration
within the crust
 陰山

賀
蘭
山 Ordos
Fen-
Block
North
China
Craton
Wei
六 泰山
盤
山 Rift
Case study
Qinling

黃山
South
China
Craton
 陰山

Ordos 河套平原

Block 阿拉善高原 銀川

Light gray:
Graben system

Dark gray:
Orogenic belts

秦嶺
Normal Reversed Strike-slip
Fault fault fault fault Fold River City
Boundary of orogenic belt
Shanxi
(Fen-wei)
Rift
System

• Taihang
Mt. =
Horst
 Map symbol of normal fault

Intercontinental
Narrow Rift
System
• Along axial
change in half-
graben polarity
• Divided by
accommodation
zone
Younes & McClay 2002
Old & stable ▲ Stretching of the entire North China
continental
lithosphere Craton (SRS: Shanxi Rift; Peng et al., 2021)

◀ Geometric
relationship
between
tectonic, land
subsidence and
earth fissure
formation (Peng
et al., 2020)
Weihe Graben –
Guanzhong
• Origin of the Chinese
civilization
• Xi’an
• Ancient capital of 13
dynasties
• Locational factors
• Economy
• Climate, water, flat,
fertile land
• Transportation
• Trade & culture
• Defense
• Within 4 Fortified
passes (Hangu Pass,
Wu, Xiao Pass, Dasan
Pass)
Weihe graben

Tong Pass

Hangu Pass
Hangu Pass
(Qin)
Battle of Hangu Pass 五國合縱攻秦 (241BC)
 Model of Hangu Pass

Tong Pass 潼關 Tong Pass

reconstructed
Chang’an – City of Forever Peace
Qin Dynasty
Hanyang

咸陽

Ming
Han
長安 Chang’an
Chang’an

West Zhou 長安
Fanghao Tang
鎬
長安 Chang’an

澧
Tang Chang’an
Fengshui & City Planning
• Capital built on 6 parallel
loess terraces – faulted
• Taoism Classic: I Ching
• Qian the creative – the Heaven

上九 亢龍有悔
九五 飛龍在天，利見大人
九四 或躍在淵，無咎
九三 君子終日乾乾，夕惕若。厲，無咎
九二 見龍在田，利見大人
初九 潛龍勿用
Tang
Chang’an