Tectonic uplift is the geologic uplift of

Earth's surface Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to Planetary habitability, harbor life. This is enabled by Earth being an ocean world, the only one in the Solar System sustaining liquid surface water. Almost all ...

that is attributed to

plate tectonics Plate tectonics (, ) is the scientific theory that the Earth's lithosphere comprises a number of large tectonic plates, which have been slowly moving since 3–4 billion years ago. The model builds on the concept of , an idea developed durin ...

. While isostatic response is important, an increase in the mean elevation of a region can only occur in response to tectonic processes of crustal thickening (such as

mountain building Mountain formation occurs due to a variety of geological processes associated with large-scale movements of the Earth's crust (List of tectonic plates, tectonic plates). Fold (geology), Folding, Fault (geology), faulting, Volcano, volcanic acti ...

events), changes in the density distribution of the crust and underlying mantle, and flexural support due to the bending of rigid

lithosphere A lithosphere () is the rigid, outermost rocky shell of a terrestrial planet or natural satellite. On Earth, it is composed of the crust and the lithospheric mantle, the topmost portion of the upper mantle that behaves elastically on time ...

. Tectonic uplift results in

denudation Denudation is the geological process in which moving water, ice, wind, and waves erode the Earth's surface, leading to a reduction in elevation and in relief of landforms and landscapes. Although the terms erosion and denudation are used interchang ...

(processes that wear away the earth's surface) by raising buried rocks closer to the surface. This process can redistribute large loads from an elevated region to a topographically lower area as well – thus promoting an isostatic response in the region of denudation (which can cause local bedrock uplift). The timing, magnitude, and rate of denudation can be estimated by

geologist A geologist is a scientist who studies the structure, composition, and History of Earth, history of Earth. Geologists incorporate techniques from physics, chemistry, biology, mathematics, and geography to perform research in the Field research, ...

s using pressure-temperature studies.

Crustal thickening

Crustal thickening has an upward component of motion and often occurs when

continental crust Continental crust is the layer of igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary rocks that forms the geological continents and the areas of shallow seabed close to their shores, known as '' continental shelves''. This layer is sometimes called '' si ...

thrust Thrust is a reaction force described quantitatively by Newton's third law. When a system expels or accelerates mass in one direction, the accelerated mass will cause a force of equal magnitude but opposite direction to be applied to that ...

onto continental crust. Basically

nappe In geology, a nappe or thrust sheet is a large sheetlike body of rock that has been moved more than or above a thrust fault from its original position. Nappes form in compressional tectonic settings like continental collision zones or on the ...

s (thrust sheets) from each plate collide and begin to stack one on top of the other; evidence of this process can be seen in preserved ophiolitic nappes (preserved in the

Himalayas The Himalayas, or Himalaya ( ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the Earth's highest peaks, including the highest, Mount Everest. More than list of h ...

) and in rocks with an inverted metamorphic gradient. The preserved inverted metamorphic gradient indicates that nappes were actually stacked on top of each other so quickly that hot rocks did not have time to equilibrate before being thrust on top of cool rocks. The process of nappe stacking can only continue for so long, as gravity will eventually disallow further vertical growth (there is an upper limit to vertical mountain growth).

Density distribution of the crust and underlying mantle

Although the raised surfaces of

mountain range A mountain range or hill range is a series of mountains or hills arranged in a line and connected by high ground. A mountain system or mountain belt is a group of mountain ranges with similarity in form, structure, and alignment that have aris ...

s mainly result from crustal thickening, there are other forces at play that are responsible for the tectonic activity. All tectonic processes are driven by

gravitational force Newton's law of universal gravitation describes gravity as a force by stating that every particle attracts every other particle in the universe with a force that is proportional to the product of their masses and inversely proportional to the sq ...

when density differences are present. A good example of this would be the large-scale circulation of the

Earth's mantle Earth's mantle is a layer of silicate mineral, silicate rock between the Earth's crust, crust and the Earth's outer core, outer core. It has a mass of and makes up 67% of the mass of Earth. It has a thickness of making up about 46% of Earth's ...

. Lateral density variations near the surface (such as the creation, cooling, and

subduction Subduction is a geological process in which the oceanic lithosphere and some continental lithosphere is recycled into the Earth's mantle at the convergent boundaries between tectonic plates. Where one tectonic plate converges with a second p ...

of oceanic plates) also drive plate motion. The dynamics of mountain ranges are governed by differences in the

gravitational energy Gravitational energy or gravitational potential energy is the potential energy an object with mass has due to the gravitational potential of its position in a gravitational field. Mathematically, it is the minimum mechanical work that has to be do ...

of entire ''columns'' of the lithosphere (see

isostasy Isostasy (Greek wikt:ἴσος, ''ísos'' 'equal', wikt:στάσις, ''stásis'' 'standstill') or isostatic equilibrium is the state of gravity, gravitational mechanical equilibrium, equilibrium between Earth's crust (geology), crust (or lithosph ...

). If a change in surface height represents an isostatically compensated change in crustal thickness, the rate of change of potential energy per unit surface area is proportional to the rate of increase of average surface height. The highest rates of working against gravity are required when the thickness of the crust (not the lithosphere) changes.England and Molnar, 1990, ''Surface uplift, uplift of rocks, and exhumation of rocks,'' Geology, v. 18 no. 12 p. 1173-117
Abstract
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Lithospheric flexure

Lithospheric flexure In geology, lithospheric flexure (also called regional isostasy) is the process by which the lithosphere (rigid, thin outer layer of the Earth) bends under the action of forces such as the weight of a growing orogeny or changes in ice thickness ...

is the process by which the lithosphere bends under the action of forces such as the weight of a growing

orogeny Orogeny () is a mountain-mountain formation, building process that takes place at a convergent boundary, convergent plate margin when plate motion compresses the margin. An or develops as the compressed plate crumples and is tectonic uplift, u ...

or changes in ice thickness related to glaciation. The lithosphere rests on the

asthenosphere The asthenosphere () is the mechanically weak and ductile region of the upper mantle of Earth. It lies below the lithosphere, at a depth between c. below the surface, and extends as deep as . However, the lower boundary of the asthenosphere i ...

, a viscous layer that in geological time scales behaves like a fluid. Thus, when loaded, the lithosphere progressively reaches an isostatic equilibrium. For example, the lithosphere on the oceanward side of an

oceanic trench Oceanic trenches are prominent, long, narrow topography, topographic depression (geology), depressions of the seabed, ocean floor. They are typically wide and below the level of the surrounding oceanic floor, but can be thousands of kilometers ...

at a subduction zone will curve upwards due to the elastic properties of the Earth's crust.

Orogenic uplift

Orogenic uplift is the result of tectonic-plate collisions and results in mountain ranges or a more modest uplift over a large region. Perhaps the most extreme form of orogenic uplift is a continental-continental crustal collision. In this process, two continents are sutured together, and large mountain ranges are produced. The collision of the Indian and Eurasian plates is a good example of the extent to which orogenic uplift can reach. Heavy thrust faulting (of the Indian plate beneath the Eurasian plate) and folding are responsible for the suturing together of the two plates. The collision of the Indian and Eurasian plates produced the Himalayas and is also responsible for crustal thickening north into

Siberia Siberia ( ; , ) is an extensive geographical region comprising all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has formed a part of the sovereign territory of Russia and its predecessor states ...

. The

Pamir Mountains The Pamir Mountains are a Mountain range, range of mountains between Central Asia and South Asia. They are located at a junction with other notable mountains, namely the Tian Shan, Karakoram, Kunlun Mountains, Kunlun, Hindu Kush and the Himalaya ...

Tian Shan The Tian Shan, also known as the Tengri Tagh or Tengir-Too, meaning the "Mountains of God/Heaven", is a large system of mountain ranges in Central Asia. The highest peak is Jengish Chokusu at high and located in Kyrgyzstan. Its lowest point is ...

, Altai,

Hindu Kush The Hindu Kush is an mountain range in Central Asia, Central and South Asia to the west of the Himalayas. It stretches from central and eastern Afghanistan into northwestern Pakistan and far southeastern Tajikistan. The range forms the wester ...

, and other mountain belts are all examples of mountain ranges formed in response to the collision of the Indian with the Eurasian plate. The

Ozark Plateau The Ozarks, also known as the Ozark Mountains, Ozark Highlands or Ozark Plateau, is a physiographic region in the U.S. states of Missouri, Arkansas, and Oklahoma, as well as a small area in the southeastern corner of Kansas. The Ozarks cov ...

is a broad uplifted area which resulted from the

Permian The Permian ( ) is a geologic period and System (stratigraphy), stratigraphic system which spans 47 million years, from the end of the Carboniferous Period million years ago (Mya), to the beginning of the Triassic Period 251.902 Mya. It is the s ...

Ouachita Orogeny to the south in the states of

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the West South Central region of the Southern United States. It borders Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, Texas to the southwest, and Oklahoma ...

Oklahoma Oklahoma ( ; Choctaw language, Choctaw: , ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Texas to the south and west, Kansas to the north, Missouri to the northea ...

, and

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

. Another related uplift is the Llano Uplift in Texas, a geographical location named after its uplift features. The

Colorado Plateau The Colorado Plateau is a physiographic and desert region of the Intermontane Plateaus, roughly centered on the Four Corners region of the Southwestern United States. This plateau covers an area of 336,700 km2 (130,000 mi2) within w ...

which includes the

Grand Canyon The Grand Canyon is a steep-sided canyon carved by the Colorado River in Arizona, United States. The Grand Canyon is long, up to wide and attains a depth of over a mile (). The canyon and adjacent rim are contained within Grand Canyon Nati ...

is the result of broad tectonic uplift followed by river

erosion Erosion is the action of surface processes (such as Surface runoff, water flow or wind) that removes soil, Rock (geology), rock, or dissolved material from one location on the Earth's crust#Crust, Earth's crust and then sediment transport, tran ...

. When mountains rise slowly, either due to orogenic uplift or other processes (e.g., rebound after glaciation), an unusual feature known as a water gap may occur. In these, erosion from a stream occurs faster than mountain uplift, resulting in a

gorge A canyon (; archaic British English spelling: ''cañon''), gorge or chasm, is a deep cleft between escarpments or cliffs resulting from weathering and the erosion, erosive activity of a river over geologic time scales. Rivers have a natural tend ...

valley A valley is an elongated low area often running between hills or mountains and typically containing a river or stream running from one end to the other. Most valleys are formed by erosion of the land surface by rivers or streams over ...

that runs through a mountain range from low-lying country on one side to similar country on the other. Examples of such water gaps include the Manawatū Gorge in New Zealand and the Cumberland Narrows in

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...

Isostatic uplift

The removal of mass from a region will be isostatically compensated by crustal rebound. If we take into consideration typical crustal and mantle densities, erosion of an average 100 meters of rock across a broad, uniform surface will cause the crust to isostatically rebound about 85 meters and will cause only a 15-meter loss of mean surface elevation. An example of isostatic uplift is post-glacial rebound following the melting of

ice sheet In glaciology, an ice sheet, also known as a continental glacier, is a mass of glacier, glacial ice that covers surrounding terrain and is greater than . The only current ice sheets are the Antarctic ice sheet and the Greenland ice sheet. Ice s ...

s. The

Hudson Bay Hudson Bay, sometimes called Hudson's Bay (usually historically), is a large body of Saline water, saltwater in northeastern Canada with a surface area of . It is located north of Ontario, west of Quebec, northeast of Manitoba, and southeast o ...

region of Canada, the

Great Lakes The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes spanning the Canada–United States border. The five lakes are Lake Superior, Superior, Lake Michigan, Michigan, Lake Huron, H ...

of Canada and the United States, and

Fennoscandia __NOTOC__ Fennoscandia (Finnish language, Finnish, Swedish language, Swedish and ; ), or the Fennoscandian Peninsula, is a peninsula in Europe which includes the Scandinavian Peninsula, Scandinavian and Kola Peninsula, Kola peninsulas, mainland ...

are currently undergoing gradual rebound as a result of the melting of ice sheets 10,000 years ago. Crustal thickening, which for example is currently occurring in the Himalayas due to the continental collision between the Indian and the Eurasian plates, can also lead to surface uplift; but due to the isostatic sinking of thickened crust, the magnitude of surface uplift will only be about one-sixth of the amount of crustal thickening. Therefore, in most convergent boundaries, isostatic uplift plays a relatively small role, and high peak formation can be more attributed to tectonic processes. Direct measures of the elevation change of the land surface can only be used to estimate erosion or bedrock uplift rates when other controls (such as changes in mean surface elevation, volume of eroded material, timescales and lags of isostatic response, variations in crustal density) are known.

Coral islands

In a few cases, tectonic uplift can be seen in

coral island A coral island is a type of island formed from coral detritus and associated organic material. It occurs in tropical and sub-tropical areas, typically as part of a coral reef which has grown to cover a far larger area under the sea. The term low ...

s. This is evidenced by the presence of various oceanic islands composed entirely of

coral Corals are colonial marine invertebrates within the subphylum Anthozoa of the phylum Cnidaria. They typically form compact Colony (biology), colonies of many identical individual polyp (zoology), polyps. Coral species include the important Coral ...

, which otherwise appear to be

volcanic island Geologically, a volcanic island is an island of volcanic origin. The term high island can be used to distinguish such islands from low islands, which are formed from sedimentation or the uplifting of coral reefs (which have often formed ...

s. Examples of such islands are found in the Pacific, notably the three

phosphate Phosphates are the naturally occurring form of the element phosphorus. In chemistry, a phosphate is an anion, salt, functional group or ester derived from a phosphoric acid. It most commonly means orthophosphate, a derivative of orthop ...

islet An islet ( ) is generally a small island. Definitions vary, and are not precise, but some suggest that an islet is a very small, often unnamed, island with little or no vegetation to support human habitation. It may be made of rock, sand and/ ...

s of

Nauru Nauru, officially the Republic of Nauru, formerly known as Pleasant Island, is an island country and microstate in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies within the Micronesia subregion of Oceania, with its nearest neighbour being Banaba (part of ...

Makatea Makatea, or Mangaia-te-vai-tamae, is a raised coral atoll in the northwestern part of the Tuamotus, which is a part of the French overseas collectivity of French Polynesia. It is located southwest from Rangiroa to the west of the Palliser Islan ...

, and

Banaba BanabaThe correct spelling and etymology in Gilbertese should be ''Bwanaba'' but the Constitution of Kiribati writes Banaba. Because of the spelling in English or French, the name was very often written Paanapa or Paanopa, as it was in 1901 A ...

, as well as Maré and

Lifou Lifou () is a communes of France, commune of France in the Loyalty Islands Province of New Caledonia, Pacific Ocean. Geography Lifou is made up of Lifou Island, the largest and most heavily populated of the Loyalty Islands, its smaller neighbou ...

New Caledonia New Caledonia ( ; ) is a group of islands in the southwest Pacific Ocean, southwest of Vanuatu and east of Australia. Located from Metropolitan France, it forms a Overseas France#Sui generis collectivity, ''sui generis'' collectivity of t ...

; Fatu Huku in the

Marquesas Islands The Marquesas Islands ( ; or ' or ' ; Marquesan language, Marquesan: ' (North Marquesan language, North Marquesan) and ' (South Marquesan language, South Marquesan), both meaning "the land of men") are a group of volcano, volcanic islands in ...

; and Henderson Island in the

Pitcairn Islands The Pitcairn Islands ( ; Pitkern: '), officially Pitcairn, Henderson, Ducie and Oeno Islands, are a group of four volcanic islands in the southern Pacific Ocean that form the sole British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory in the ...

. The uplift of these islands is the result of the movement of oceanic tectonic plates. Sunken islands or

guyot In marine geology, a guyot (), also called a tablemount, is an isolated underwater volcanic mountain (seamount) with a flat top more than below the surface of the sea. The diameters of these flat summits can exceed . Guyots are most commonly fo ...

s with their coral reefs are the result of crustal subsidence as the oceanic plate carries the islands to deeper or lower oceanic crust areas.

Uplift vs. exhumation

The word "uplift" refers to displacement contrary to the direction of the gravity vector, and displacement is only defined when the object being displaced and the frame of reference is specified. Molnar and England identify three kinds of displacement to which the term "uplift" is applied: # Displacement of the Earth's surface with respect to the

geoid The geoid ( ) is the shape that the ocean surface would take under the influence of the gravity of Earth, including gravitational attraction and Earth's rotation, if other influences such as winds and tides were absent. This surface is exte ...

. This is what we refer to as "surface uplift"; and surface uplift can be defined by averaging elevation and changes in elevation over surface areas of a specified size. # The "uplift of rocks" refers to the displacement of rocks with respect to the geoid. # The displacement of rocks with respect to the surface is called

exhumation Burial, also known as interment or inhumation, is a method of final disposition whereby a dead body is placed into the ground, sometimes with objects. This is usually accomplished by excavating a pit or trench, placing the deceased and object ...

. This simple equation relates the three kinds of displacement: ::''Surface uplift = uplift of rock – exhumation'' The term geoid is used above to mean ''

mean sea level A mean is a quantity representing the "center" of a collection of numbers and is intermediate to the extreme values of the set of numbers. There are several kinds of means (or "measures of central tendency") in mathematics, especially in statist ...

'' and makes a good frame of reference. A given displacement within this frame of reference allows one to quantify the amount of work being done against gravity. Measuring uplift and exhumation can be tricky. Measuring the uplift of a point requires measuring its elevation change – usually geoscientists are not trying to determine the uplift of a singular point but rather the uplift over a specified area. Accordingly, the change in elevation of all points on the surface of that area must be measured, and the rate of erosion must be zero or minimal. Also, sequences of rocks deposited during that uplift must be preserved. Needless to say, in mountain ranges where elevations are far above sea level these criteria are not easily met. Paleoclimatic restorations though can be valuable; these studies involve inferring changes in climate in an area of interest from changes with time of flora/fauna that is known to be sensitive to temperature and rainfall.Burbank, Douglas West., and Robert S. Anderson. Tectonic Geomorphology. Malden, MA: Blackwell Science, 2000. The magnitude of the exhumation a rock has been subjected to may be inferred from geothermobarometry (measuring previous pressure and temperature history of a rock or assemblage). Knowing the pressure and temperature history of a region can yield an estimate of the ambient

geothermal gradient Geothermal gradient is the rate of change in temperature with respect to increasing depth in Earth's interior. As a general rule, the crust temperature rises with depth due to the heat flow from the much hotter mantle; away from tectonic plat ...

and bounds on the exhumation process; however, geobarometric/geothermometric studies do not produce a rate of exhumation (or any other information on time). Exhumation rates can be inferred from fission tracks and from radiometric ages as long as a thermal profile can be estimated.

Gallery

File:Cliffs of Moher (1542448559).jpg, Cliffs of Moher File:Blue Mountains National Park Uplift.jpg, Tectonic uplifting in the

Blue Mountains National Park The Blue Mountains National Park is a protected national park that is located in the Blue Mountains region of New South Wales, in eastern Australia. The national park is situated approximately west of the Sydney CBD, and the park boundary is ...

File:Tasmania Tasman National Park 5.jpg, Cliffs of the Tasman National Park File:Horseshoe Bend 13 February 2023.jpg, Incised meander caused by downcutting of

Colorado River The Colorado River () is one of the principal rivers (along with the Rio Grande) in the Southwestern United States and in northern Mexico. The river, the List of longest rivers of the United States (by main stem), 5th longest in the United St ...

during uplift of

File:2018 07 12 Schottland (171) Duncansby Stacks.jpg, Duncansby Stacks File:Aerial view of 12 Apostles, Victoria, Australia (Ank Kumar) 03.jpg, The Twelve Apostles File:Paracas National Reserve. Ica, Peru.jpg, Coast and cliffs of Paracas National Reserve

References

External links

An explanation of tectonic forces
{{Authority control Geomorphology Plate tectonics Mountain geomorphology