Plio-Quaternary landscape evolution in the uplifted Ardennes: New insights from 26Al/10Be data from cave-deposited alluvium (Meuse catchment, E. Belgium)

peer reviewed ; Despite a wealth of recent studies dealing with the evolution of the drainage network in the uplifted Ardennes massif (E. Belgium), especially from the Middle Pleistocene onwards, the Ardennian landscape evolution and long-term incision rates in the Meuse catchment remain poorly documented over the whole Plio-Quaternary. Alluvium-filled multilevel cave systems represent a relevant setting to unravel the Late Cenozoic history of regional river incision.Wepresent here a dataset of 26Al/10Be concentration data obtained fromfifteen pebble samples washed into the Chawresse system, o... Mehr ...

Verfasser: Rixhon, Gilles
Braucher, Régis
Bourlès, Didier
Peeters, Alexandre
Demoulin, Alain
Leanni, Laetitia
ASTER Team
Dokumenttyp: journal article
Erscheinungsdatum: 2020
Verlag/Hrsg.: Elsevier
Schlagwörter: landscape evolution / cave-deposited alluvium / 26Al/10Be burial dating / river incision / Physical / chemical / mathematical & earth Sciences / Earth sciences & physical geography / Physique / chimie / mathématiques & sciences de la terre / Sciences de la terre & géographie physique
Sprache: Englisch
Permalink: https://search.fid-benelux.de/Record/base-26592950
Datenquelle: BASE; Originalkatalog
Powered By: BASE
Link(s) : https://orbi.uliege.be/handle/2268/253676

peer reviewed ; Despite a wealth of recent studies dealing with the evolution of the drainage network in the uplifted Ardennes massif (E. Belgium), especially from the Middle Pleistocene onwards, the Ardennian landscape evolution and long-term incision rates in the Meuse catchment remain poorly documented over the whole Plio-Quaternary. Alluvium-filled multilevel cave systems represent a relevant setting to unravel the Late Cenozoic history of regional river incision.Wepresent here a dataset of 26Al/10Be concentration data obtained fromfifteen pebble samples washed into the Chawresse system, one of the largestmulti-level cave systems of Belgium,which developed in Devonian limestones of the lower Ourthe Valley, the main Ardennian tributary of the Meuse. The sample collection spans an elevation difference higher than 120mand their depleted 26Al/10Be ratios yield burial ages ranging from ~0.25 to 3.28 Ma. After critical assessment of our dataset for intra-karstic reworking issues, the most striking outcome of the obtained burial ages is the acceleration by a factor five of the incision rates (from ~30 to ~150 m/Ma) during the first half of the Middle Pleistocene. Integrating this incision peak and our pre-burial denudation rates, we then revisit the existing framework of Plio-Quaternary denudation and river incision in the Ardennian Meuse catchment. Whilst our 26Al/10Be concentration data shed new light on the temporal and spatial variability of the local river and hillslope system response to coupled tectonic and climatic forcings, it simultaneously highlights sampling issues and the need for further chronological data.