Stable Isotope Paleoaltimetry: Linking Tectonics to the Evolution of Landscapes and Life

Abstract:

Stable isotope paleoaltimetry exploits systematic changes in the oxygen or hydrogen isotopic composition of precipitation that occur when lifting of moist air masses over topography induces orographic precipitation. Stable isotope-based reconstructions of topography, therefore, have greatly expanded what used to be very sparse global paleoaltimetric information. The topography of mountain ranges and plateaus, however, not only reflects the geodynamic processes that shape the Earth’s surface; it also represents a key control for continental moisture transport, atmospheric circulation and the distribution of biomes and biodiversity. The challenge now lies in disentangling the surface uplift component from the impact of long-term climate change on paleoaltimetry records. The robustness of stable isotope paleoaltimetry reconstructions can be greatly enhanced when high-elevation isotope proxy data are referenced against low-elevation records that track climate-modulated oxygen and hydrogen isotopes in precipitation through time. In addition, evaluating the record of precipitation upstream of the orogen reduces commonly encountered complexities such as topographic threshold conditions to atmospheric circulation, variable moisture recharge to the atmosphere through evapotranspiration over the continents or the impact of hemispheric-scale atmospheric teleconnections; all of which may conspire in setting the isotopic composition of precipitation.
Here, we highlight some of these challenges a) by using stable isotope paleoaltimetry data from the central Andes to show how differences in oxygen isotopes in precipitation between high and low elevation sites may enhance the robustness of Andean stable isotope paleoaltimetry, and b) by linking a large set of spatially distributed isotope and biological proxy data to evaluate the impact of Palaeogene surface uplift on mammalian evolution in western North America prior and during the Eocene-Oligocene transition.