| Summary: | Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, 2004. Some pages folded. Includes bibliographical references. (cont.) Xianshuihe-Xiaojiang fault system during growth of the southeast plateau margin. Cosmogenic ²⁶A1 and ¹⁰Be basin-wide erosion rate and burial ages indicate a background incision rate of [approximately] 0.05 to 0.10 mm/a, lower than the long-term incision rate minimum of [approximately] 0.26 mm/a. Cosmogenically-determined incision rate approximately doubles to [approximately] 0.20 mm/a in the region of maximum dip-slip displacement on the Red River fault. This thesis also develops a new cosmogenic tool for quantitative landscape analysis: using depth dependence data for multiple cosmogenic nuclides from a single site to constrain an erosion history. This method is applied in the Dry Valleys region of Antarctica. This thesis outlines the Cenozoic development of the Red River region, exploring regional landscape evolution and tectonic accommodation of the India-Eurasia collision, focusing on the Oligo-Miocene, left-lateral Ailao Shan shear zone and the active, right-lateral Red River fault on the northeast margin of the shear zone, along which the Red River has incised a deep valley. Oligo-Miocene fluvial and alluvial conglomerates in the valley record shear zone unroofing: pervasive, syn-depositional shortening indicates transpressional exhumation. A low-relief landscape, developed in Late Miocene time, was probably uplifted in Pliocene time, triggering the incision of the Red River and isolating the low-relief landscape from modem base level. On the basis of stratigraphic data, river incision began in Pliocene time or later. Tributary longitudinal profiles indicate two-phase incision, the result of pulsed plateau growth or trunk channel adjustments to changing climate conditions. Paleo-Red River reconstruction indicates [approximately] 1400 m river incision, 1400-1500 m surface uplift and 750 m vertical displacement across the ...
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