lecture 3: big rivers: setting the background geology...

Lecture 3: Big Rivers: setting the background – geology, tectonics and sea-level

•What is the geologic setting of the Worlds big rivers?•What controls the course of big rivers?•What influence does sea-level have on the course of big rivers?

• Tectonics – sets relief

• Climate – e.g. glaciations

• Base level – e.g. sea-level

• Volcanism

http://pubs.usgs.gov/publications/text/Vigil.html

http://www.starrynighteducation.com/sntimes

from Potter and Hamblin, 2006

from Potter and Hamblin, 2006

• Plate Convergence• Plate Separation• Regional Tilting• Crustal Doming• Basins and Arches• Shear and Megashears• Faulting

from Potter and Hamblin, 2006

Longitudinal Foreland Basin

Longitudinal Foreland Basin

Transverse Systems: Amazon

Transverse Systems:Amazon –

lets look in the past!

from Horne et al., 2010

Transverse Systems: Mississippi

Intrabasinal Setting: Brahmaputra

Intrabasinal Setting: Mekong

from Potter and Hamblin, 2006

Himalayas…uplift

since c. 40-50 my

ago

from Cox, 1989

from Potter and Hamblin, 2006

Tight bend in the Changjiang

diversion c. 1.7million years ago?

Kong et al., 2012

……..river capture, volcanism, desertification and glaciation

from Potter and Hamblin, 2006

Tectonics, climate and sea-level

The Sunda Shelf

Alqahtani et al., 2015

Chapter 2: pages 7-17Geology of Large River SystemsSampat Tandon and Rajiv Sinha

Big Rivers: setting the background – climate, hydrology and sediment yields.

Revision/discussion questions.