Spatial pattern of denudation in a lithologically controlled sub-tropical flat landscape: Insights from the Kimberley region, NW Australia

The Kimberley region, northwest Australia, is well known for its expansive and diverse collection of prehistorical aboriginal rock art that potentially dates back to 40,000 years ago. The region is characterized by a tropical, semiarid climate with a monsoonal rainfall distribution and a flat landscape interrupted by massive sandstone mesas and deeply incised bedrock river gorges. In order to constrain the chronology of the rock art it is necessary to quantify the spatial and temporal dimensions of landscape evolution. We report cosmogenic 10Be and 26Al concentrations in modern fluvial sediment collected from 27 catchments with areas spanning several orders of magnitude (13.6 – 13,900 km2 ). All catchments are characterized by a very low topographic gradient (average basin slopes < 3◦ ) and subdued local relief of at most 200m. Assuming negligible sediment storage times and rapid sediment transport driven by the annual monsoonal washout, we calculate 10Be based catchment-wide denudation rates ranging between 1.87 ± 0.23 and 9.48 ± 1.05 m.Myr−1 . These low rates are among the slowest recorded in the world, despite the strong climatic seasonality of the region. Our measured denudation rates exhibit a strong correlation with topographic gradient, which in the overall flat landscapes of the Kimberley, is controlled by the prevailing sandstone bedrock lithology and the presence of numerous escarpments adjacent to the river channels. We present a modelling approach that makes use of the 26Al/10Be ratio in the fluvial sediments as a source tracer (ie escarpment cliffs, river channels, plateau bedrocks), and use this to explore the control and retreat rate of the eroding escarpment cliffs in order to provide information on the spatial distribution of denudation in the landscape. © Author(s) 2016. CC Attribution 3.0 License

Recycling of Pleistocene valley fills dominates 125 ka of sediment flux, upper Indus River

Rivers draining the semiarid Transhimalayan Ranges along the western Tibetan Plateau margin underwent alternating phases of massive valley infill and incision in Pleistocene times. The imprints of these cut-and-fill cycles on long-term sediment fluxes have remained largely elusive. We investigate the timing and geomorphic consequences of headward incision of the Zanskar River, which taps the vast More Plains valley fill that currently impedes drainage of the endorheic high-altitude basins of Tso Kar and Tso Moriri. In situ 10Be exposure dating and topographic analyses indicate that a phase of valley infill gave way to net dissection of the >250-m thick sedimentary stacks ∼125 ka ago, i.e. during the last interglacial (MIS 5e). Rivers eroded >14.7 km3 of sediment from the Zanskar headwaters since then, fashioning specific sediment yields that surpass 10Be-derived denudation rates from neighbouring catchments by factors of two to ten. We conclude that recycling of Pleistocene valley fills has provided Transhimalayan headwater rivers with more sediment than bedrock denudation, at least since the beginning of the last glacial cycle. This protracted liberation of sediment stored in thick valley fills could bias rate estimates of current sediment loads and long-term bedrock denudation

Erosion and the sediment conveyor in central Australia

Why are the Neogene sedimentary fills across central Australia generally thin and discontinuous? One long-standing explanation is that sluggish tectonism and intensified aridity have combined to suppress rates of erosion and sediment production yielding a landscape crowded with inherited, preMiocene forms. Quantifying rates of sediment production, residence time and transport is possible with numerous methods, but the recent growth of cosmogenic nuclide (CN) analysis has provided unprecedented quantitative insights to rates of landscape evolution. Measurements of in situ produced cosmogenic 10Be and 26Al integrate rates of surface processes over million-year timescales—the last part of the Neogene in which aridity has strengthened across the continental interior. We present a compilation of ~600 published and unpublished 10Be and 26Al measurements from central Australia with a focus on the Neogene Eyre Basin and its periphery. Outlying and inlying bedrock uplands serve as engines of sediment production via erosion of bedrock. Surrounding the bedrock outcrops are vast sediment conveyors of varying efficiency and tempo: hillslopes, pediments, and alluvial fans are interim storage/burial zones for sediment in transit to the network of low-gradient rivers, dunes, and playas towards base level. Interactions between fluvial and aeolian processes are especially pertinent to sediment flux in the Eyre Basin. Major rivers such as the Cooper and Finke traverse dunefields in their lower reaches where quantities of alluvia are recirculated into dunes and vice versa. Tracking the trajectories of sediment from source-to-sink (including aeolian recirculation) remains a major challenge, but is central to unravelling the sedimentary dynamics of central Australia's Neogene basins. Based on the CN compilation we estimate 1) spatially averaged erosion rates at the scale of a hillslope or river catchment; 2) pointbased erosion rates on bedrock surfaces; 3) residence time of sediment in hillslope regolith and alluvial fans; and 4) cumulative burial history of sediments in transit. Catchment-scale erosion rates (n~100) are consistently low (<10 m/Myr) and include some of the lowest rates ever measured (~0.3 m/Myr); however, a small group of catchments in the Flinders Ras yield higher erosion rates (~30–60 m/Myr). Bedrock hillslopes (n~200) tend to erode even slower (<5 m/Myr), with a subset of Flinders Ras sites again being the exception (~10–30 m/Myr) and suggesting the influence of recent tectonism. Several CN depth-profiles measured on hillslopes and alluvial fans indicate sediment residence times >0.5 Myr, and high-resolution sampling along three hillslopes with differing morphology (linear, convex, and concave) reveals major variations in sediment production and transport rates that hint at the long-term evolution. In the rivers, fluvial sediments show a weak tendency to increase cumulative burial history downstream (1–2 Myr), consistent with the expanding accommodation space for storage and burial. Dune sediments sampled in the Simpson and Tirari dunefields (n~16) contain cumulative burial histories (up to 1.5 Myr) similar to that of the intersecting rivers. This points to an intimate mix of fluvial and aeolian processes in areas approaching base level. Curiously, these sediments occur in the lowest part of the continent and contain the longest histories of cumulative burial, yet do not form part of the thickest sedimentary fills in the Eyre Basin

Technical note: Accelerator mass spectrometry of 10Be and 26Al at low nuclide concentrations

Accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) is currently the standard technique to measure cosmogenic 10Be and 26Al concentrations, but the challenge with measuring low nuclide concentrations is to combine high AMS measurement efficiency with low backgrounds. The current standard measurement setup at ANSTO uses the 3+ charge state with Ar stripper gas at 6 MV for Be and 4 MV for Al, achieving ion transmission through the accelerator for 10Be3+ and 26Al3+ of around 35 % and 40 %, respectively. Traditionally, 26Al measurement uncertainties are larger than those for 10Be. Here, however, we show that 26Al can be measured to similar precision as 10Be even for samples with 26Al  27Al ratios in the range of 10−15, provided that measurement times are sufficiently long. For example, we can achieve uncertainties of 5 % for 26Al  27Al ratios around , typical for samples of late Holocene age or samples with long burial histories. We also provide empirical functions between the isotope ratio and achievable measurement precision, which allow predictive capabilities for future projects and serve as a benchmark for inter-laboratory comparisons. For the smallest signals, not only is understanding the source of 10Be or 26Al background events required to select the most appropriate blank correction method but also the impact of the data reduction algorithms on the obtained nuclide concentration becomes pronounced. Here we discuss approaches to background correction and recommend quality assurance practices that guide the most appropriate background correction method. Our sensitivity analysis demonstrates a 30 % difference between different background correction methods for samples with 26Al  27Al ratios below 10−14. Finally, we show that when the measured signal is small and the number of rare isotope counts is also low, differing 26Al or 10Be concentrations may be obtained from the same data if alternate data reduction algorithms are used. Differences in the resulting isotope concentration can be 50 % or more if only very few (≲ 10) counts were recorded or about 30 % if single measurement is shorter than 10 min. Our study presents a comprehensive method for analysis of cosmogenic 10Be and 26Al samples down to isotope concentrations of a few thousand atoms per gram of sample, which opens the door to new and more varied applications of cosmogenic nuclide analysis

Evidence for the stability of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet divide for 1.4 million years

Past fluctuations of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) are of fundamental interest because of the possibility of WAIS collapse in the future and a consequent rise in global sea level. However, the configuration and stability of the ice sheet during past interglacial periods remains uncertain. Here we present geomorphological evidence and multiple cosmogenic nuclide data from the southern Ellsworth Mountains to suggest that the divide of the WAIS has fluctuated only modestly in location and thickness for at least the last 1.4 million years. Fluctuations during glacial–interglacial cycles appear superimposed on a long-term trajectory of ice-surface lowering relative to the mountains. This implies that as a minimum, a regional ice sheet centred on the Ellsworth-Whitmore uplands may have survived Pleistocene warm periods. If so, it constrains the WAIS contribution to global sea level rise during interglacials to about 3.3 m above present

Long-term waterfall dynamics in monsoonal Australia based on cosmogenic Be-10

Extensive plateaus, arrays of escarpments and a variety of waterfalls are iconic to northern Australia. How old and stable are these features ? Tectonically, northern Australia has been quiescent during the Quaternary. Rainfall is highly seasonal and dominated by the summer monsoon. In this setting, regional landscape dynamics should be strongly afected by uctuations in monsoon and the associated uvial processes. Here, we examine timescales and processes of waterfall evolution in northern Australia. Situated in the Kimberley sandstone plateau, Durack Falls comprise a series of 1-3 m falls, while Bindoola Fall is a large 15 m fall. Surprise Creek, 100 km south of Darwin, has three 3-5 m waterfalls with deep plunge pools developed at the edge of a quartzite plateau. Over 30 samples were collected from bedrock straths up- and downstream of the waterfalls and on their headwall. Their 10Be exposure ages (assuming zero erosion) reveal contrasting results. While two waterfalls in the Kimberley show relatively young, variable ages (15-110 ka for Durack and 11-57 ka for Bindoola), Surprise Creek indicates old, but uniform ages (94-160 ka). Out-of-channel,undisturbed bedrock exhibits consistently high 10Be equivalent to steady-state erosion rates of 2-5 mm/ka, in agreement with typical bedrock erosion rates observed across Australia. Based on these data, we here present a model to evaluate process and rates of waterfalls formation, and discuss the controlling factors

Exploring sediment dynamics from source to sink in the Murray-Darling basin using cosmogenic 14C, 10Be, and 26Al

The relatively short half-life of 14C, namely, 5730 years, means that, compared to the other cosmogenic nuclides, it is substantially more sensitive to short term variations in process rates. Both the erosion of steep mountains and the dynamics of sediment transport, storage and recycling occur over timescales that are too short to be detectable by the cosmogenic nuclides that are currently used routinely, namely 10Be and 26Al. In situ 14C on the other hand is ideally suited for these short timescales, and used in combination with 26Al and 10Be, it will allow for rapid fluctuations in process rates and/or the relatively short timescales that characterise sediment transfer and storage to be measured accurately. The above make in situ 14C an important addition to the cosmogenic radionuclide toolkit. We present results of in situ cosmogenic 14C system blank and calibration sample measurements obtained with the recently established ANSTO/UOW in situ 14C extraction system. The 14C extraction scheme follows the design of the University of Cologne, which exploits the phase transformation of quartz to crystobalite to quantitatively extract the carbon as CO2. Offline high-temperature furnace extraction allows a relative rapid sample throughput and can accommodate samples ranging between 0.5 to 4 grams of clean quartz. Following extraction and isolation, the CO2gas is graphitised using a micro-furnace and then measured using AMS similarly to routine small radiocarbon samples. We also present results of 14C, 26Al, and 10Be analyses from sediment samples collected from Australia’s largest river system, the Murray-Darling basin. We use the downstream changes in the ratios of the three radionuclides in samples collected at key locations along the rivers to quantify sediment mixing and sediment storage times in the river basin. Substantial 26Al/10Be ‘burial’ signal is observed in downstream Murray and Darling samples, while in situ 14C suggests complex burial-exposure histories in these samples. This could have implication of interpreting geochemical proxies at the outlet of Murray-Darling Basin for identification of paleoclimate driven sediment sources (i.e. Monsoon vs. Westerlies). © The Author

Lowland river responses to intraplate tectonism and climate forcing quantified with luminescence and cosmogenic Be-10

Intraplate tectonism has produced large-scale folding that steers regional drainage systems, such as the 1600 km-long Cooper Ck, en route to Australia's continental depocentre at Lake Eyre. We apply cosmogenic Be-10 exposure dating in bedrock, and luminescence dating in sediment, to quantify the erosional and depositional response of Cooper Ck where it incises the rising Innamincka Dome. The detachment of bedrock joint-blocks during extreme floods governs the minimum rate of incision (17.4 +/- 6.5 mm/ky) estimated using a numerical model of episodic erosion calibrated with our 10Be measurements. The last big-flood phase occurred no earlier than similar to 112-121 ka. Upstream of the Innamincka Dome long-term rates of alluvial deposition, partly reflecting synclinal-basin subsidence, are estimated from 47 luminescence dates in sediments accumulated since similar to 270 ka. Sequestration of sediment in subsiding basins such as these may account for the lack of Quaternary accumulation in Lake Eyre, and moreover suggests that notions of a single primary depocentre at base-level may poorly represent lowland, arid-zone rivers. Over the period similar to 75-55 ka Cooper Ck changed from a bedload-dominant, laterally-active meandering river to a muddy anabranching channel network up to 60 km wide. We propose that this shift in river pattern was a product of base-level rise linked with the slowly deforming syncline-anticline structure, coupled with a climate-forced reduction in discharge. The uniform valley slope along this subsiding alluvial and rising bedrock system represents an adjustment between the relative rates of deformation and the ability of greatly enhanced flows at times during the Quaternary to incise the rising anticline. Hence, tectonic and climate controls are balanced in the long term. © 2013, Elsevier Ltd

Controls on denudation along the East Australian continental margin

We report a comprehensive inventory of 10Be-based basin-wide denudation rates (n = 160) and 26Al/10Be ratios (n = 67) from 48 drainage basins along a 3000 km stretch of the East Australian passive continental margin. We provide data from both basins draining east of the continental divide (n = 37) and discharging into the Tasman and Coral Seas, and from basins draining to the west as part of the larger Murray-Darling and Lake Eyre river systems (n = 11). 10Be-derived denudation rates in mainstem samples from east-draining basins range between 7.7 ± 1.9 (± 1σ; Mary) and 54.6 ± 13.7 mm kyr−1 (North Johnstone). Denudation rates in tributary samples range between 3.0 ± 0.7 (Burdekin) and 70.2 ± 18.9 mm kyr−1 (Liverpool). For west-draining basins, denudation rates are overall lower and with a more restricted range of 4.8 ± 1.2 (Barcoo) to 15.4 ± 3.6 mm kyr−1 (Maranoa) in mainstem samples, and between 4.4 ± 1.0 (Murrumbidgee) and 38.5 ± 7.8 mm kyr−1 (Murray) in tributary samples. East Australian denudation rates (median = 14.5 mm kyr−1) are similar to those found in other postorogenic landscapes (global median = 12.4 mm kyr−1) and the medians of the top 10% denudation rates recorded here (46.5 mm kyr−1) and in other passive margin settings are also similar, despite differences in topography and precipitation. These median denudation rate values are close to the 95th percentile denudation rate for all tectonically passive basins (≈53 mm kyr−1) and are very similar to the global silicate weathering speed limit (≈58 mm kyr−1) calculated as the 95th percentile of global soil weathering rates. The above suggests that in post-orogenic terrain, the overall rates of topographic decay have a ‘speed limit’ that is imposed by the rate at which rock is converted to soil by chemical weathering. Denudation rates along the East Australian margin correlate with topographic metrics at both the mainstem basin scale and at the smaller tributary basin scale suggesting that topography exerts the main control on rates of landscape lowering in this setting. An important link between denudation rate and rainfall is also inferred: the highest mainstem 10Be denudation rates all occur in basins which also have the highest rainfall amounts and there is a strong correlation between the distance knickpoints have travelled upstream from the river mouth and basin area — a proxy for discharge and so to some extent also rainfall. On both sides of the divide, in all but a few of the samples, 26Al/10Be ratios are consistently lower than what is expected in a setting where sediments experience a simple and continuous exposure history. East of the continental divide, the lowest 26Al/10Be ratios are found in basins that also experience increased flood variability. We posit that there is a causal link between the hydrological variability that characterises the coastal rivers of eastern Australia and the observed non-steady state 26Al/10Be ratios: the periodic stripping of vertically accreted floodplains by large floods means that deeper and potentially older material is periodically incorporated into the sediment mix transported by the modern river

Pre-development denudation rates for the Great Barrier Reef catchments derived using Be-10

Understanding of the pre-development, baseline denudation rates that deliver sediment to the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) has been elusive. Cosmogenic 10Be in sediment is a useful integrator of denudation rates and sediment yields averaged over large spatial and temporal scales. This study presents 10Be data from 71 sites across 11 catchments draining to the GBR: representing 80% of the GBR catchment area and provide background sediment yields for the region. Modern, short-term, sediment yields derived from suspended load concentrations are compared to the 10Be data to calculate an Accelerated Erosion Factor (AEF) that highlights denudation “hot-spots” where sediment yields have increased over the long-term background values. The AEF results show that 58% basins have higher modern sediment yields than long-term yields. The AEF is considered a useful approach to help prioritise on-ground investments in remediation and the additional measured empirical data in this paper will help support future predictive models