The Impact of climate on relief in the northern Japanese Alps within the past 1 Myr; The case of the Tateyama mountains

Bartz, M.*; King, G. E.*; Bernard, M.*; Herman, F.*; Wen, X.*; Sueoka, Shigeru   ; Tsukamoto, Sumiko*; Braun, J.*; Tagami, Takahiro*

The impact of climate on mountain relief is unknown, mainly due to the difficulties of measuring surface processes at the timescale of glacial-interglacial cycles. An appropriate setting for studying mountain erosion in response to Quaternary climate change is found in the Tateyama mountains in the Hida mountain range (northern Japanese Alps) due to distinct geomorphological features of glacial, periglacial, and fluvial processes. The Japanese Alps uplifted within the past ca 1-3 Myr and experienced multiple glaciations during the late Quaternary. We use ultra-low temperature thermochronometers based on the luminescence of feldspar minerals and the electron spin resonance (ESR) of quartz minerals, in combination with inverse modelling to derive rock cooling rates and exhumation rate histories at 10-10 year timescales from 19 rock samples from three transects in the Tateyama region. While luminescence signals have already reached their upper dating limit, ESR signals (Al and Ti centres) yielded ESR ages of ca 0.3-1.1 Ma, implying surface processes active in the Pleistocene. Based on a negative age-elevation relationship, local relief reduction at a cirque-basin scale is identified over the past 1 Myr, whereas a positive age distribution with elevation for samples close to the mountain top does not follow this trend. Inverse modelling reveals rock cooling rates on the order of 30-80 deg. C/Ma, with slightly faster cooling for cirque-floor samples, which equate with erosion rates of 0.5-1 mm/yr that exceed rates from periglacial and fluvial processes in the same locality. Thus, our data suggest that Quaternary climate change coupled with distinct surface processes modified the slopes of the Tateyama mountains leading to a localised decrease in relief over the second half of the Quaternary, whilst the mountain peaks were unaffected by the relief reduction.