Submitted by 24_Elsinore t3_10kfowd in askscience
d49s00 t1_j5r35og wrote
Just to follow on from the discussion re. accommodation space. The current layout of tectonic plates means that very little accommodation space is being created in the continental realm. So the vast majority of modern rivers are reworking, eroding and transporting sediment into the marine realm.
For accommodation space to be created in the continental realm, the continental part of a tectonic plate needs to break apart, known as a rift basin. The East African rift system is one example we can study today. Go have a look on Google Earth and you’ll see the alluvial fans, fluvial systems, sabkhas forming etc
There have been periods in Earth’s geological history where continental rift basins formed everywhere and vast continental sediments were deposited. This happened throughout the Permo-Triassic when the supercontinent Pangaea broke-up. Across Europe these sediments are known as the Buntsandstein or New Red Sandstone. These sequences are usually followed by marine sediments called the Muschelkalk when the accommodation space fell below sea level.
Over time these sediments were buried to a depth where they were lithified but not beyond the point where they are metamorphosed. Staying in Europe, if it wasn’t for the Alpine orogeny (mountain building event), these sediments would have stayed buried. Instead they have been uplifted and exposed. Once you see one Buntsandstein-Muschelkalk sequence, you’ll start to recognise them everywhere!
CrustalTrudger t1_j5t7j9q wrote
> For accommodation space to be created in the continental realm, the continental part of a tectonic plate needs to break apart, known as a rift basin.
While it's true that continental rifts are definitely locations where accommodation space is made, it's demonstrably false that these are the only continental environments where accommodation space is made either in the geologic past or in the modern. To start, there are several other tectonic environments where tectonic components of subsidence generate (many times very significant) amounts of accommodation space. The largest by far would be in convergent environments where loads associated with the growth of large mountains and/or negative buoyancy from underthrust lithosphere generates significant subsidence and thus accommodation space. Any region with mountain ranges still experiencing active convergence (e.g., Himalaya, Andes, Greater Caucasus, Taiwan, etc) will largely also be actively generating tectonic subsidence in portions of their respective foreland basins and thus actively generating accommodation space.
Other tectonic environments can also generate subsidence and accommodation space, though they tend to be more localized. For example releasing or transtensional step-overs in strike slip systems tend to also produce large amounts of (very localized) subsidence and thus accommodation space. Ridge Basin in southern California is a classic example of this type of environment (though no longer actively forming accommodation space), but there are many releasing step overs and transtensional bends in large, modern continental strike slip systems (e.g., along the San Andreas, North and East Anatolian, Altyn Tagh, etc.)
Outside of tectonic sources of subsidence, sediment deposition tends to beget more sediment deposition because the deposited mass (1) induces flexure of the lithosphere - generating accommodation space and (2) induces compaction / dewatering of underlying sediments - generating accommodation space. Additionally, in environments with large amounts of organic material incorporated into deposits (e.g., marshes, wetlands, etc.), organic decomposition can lead to large amounts of subsidence. Thus, many coastal environments, especially those adjacent to large deltas (which represent massive amounts of sediment being deposited) experience significant subsidence and accommodation space generation. As an example of this, consider the gulf coast of the US and its rapid subsidence. This is in no small part due to the combined effects of (1) continued subsidence from the mass of the Mississippi delta, (2) subsidence of compaction and organic decomposition, and (3) large scale levee systems keeping the Mississippi along its current course and thereby preventing sediment deposition in the adjacent areas. I.e., in part the elevation of the gulf coast is actively lowering because accommodation space is being generated but virtually no sediment is allowed to fill it through artificial means.
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