Along-strike variation in catchment morphology and cosmogenic denudation rates reveal the pattern and history of footwall uplift, Main Gulf Escarpment, Baja California

Abstract

Topography is expected to record tectonic, climatic, and rock strength controls on longterm denudation rates in active margins. We test this hypothesis in the Sierra San Pedro Mártir, Mexico-the footwall of the normal-faulted, western margin of the Gulf of California rift system-by relating topographic metrics with 10Be-derived catchment-averaged denudation rates. Denudation rates and topographic metrics record along-strike gradients in rock uplift relative to base level that increase asymmetrically from fault tips to maxima within the northern half of the range. Surface uplift of an Eocene erosional surface and slope-break knickpoints found at increasingly higher elevations in the northern ..