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Influence of a glacial buzzsaw on the height and morphology of the Cascade Range in central Washington State, USA

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Sara Gran Mitchell  and
David R. Montgomery
Sara Gran Mitchell*
Affiliation:
Department of Earth and Space Sciences, University of Washington, Box 351310 Seattle, Washington 98195, USA.
David R. Montgomery
Affiliation:
Department of Earth and Space Sciences, University of Washington, Box 351310 Seattle, Washington 98195, USA.
*
*Corresponding author. Fax: +1 206 543 0489.Email Address:[email protected](S.G. Mitchell).
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Abstract

Analysis of climatic and topographic evidence from the Cascade Range of Washington State indicates that glacial erosion limits the height and controls the morphology of this range. Glacial erosion linked to long-term spatial gradients in the ELA created a tilted, planar zone of 373 cirques across the central part of the range; peaks and ridges now rise ≤600 m above this zone. Hypsometric analysis of the region shows that the proportion of land area above the cirques drops sharply, and mean slopes >30° indicate that the areas above the cirques may be at or near threshold steepness. The mean plus 1σ relief of individual cirque basins (570 m) corresponds to the ∼600-m envelope above which peaks rarely rise. The summit altitudes are set by a combination of higher rates of glacial and paraglacial erosion above the ELA and enhanced hillslope processes due to the creation of steep topography. On the high-precipitation western flank of the Cascades, the dominance of glacial and hillslope erosion at altitudes at and above the ELA may explain the lack of a correspondence between stream-power erosion models and measured exhumation rates from apatite (U-Th/He) thermochronometry.

Keywords

Glacial erosionTopographyDigital elevation model analysisCascade RangeWashington State
Type
Original Articles
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 65 , Issue 1 , January 2006 , pp. 96 - 107
Copyright
University of Washington

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