New constraints on the late Cenozoic incision history of the New River, Virginia
Ward DJ, Spotila JA, Hancock GS, Galbraith JM. 2005. New constraints on the late Cenozoic incision history of the New River, Virginia. Geomorphology. 72:54-72
The New River crosses three physiogeologic provinces of the ancient, tectonically quiescent Appalachian orogen and is ideally situated to record variability in fluvial erosion rates over the late Cenozoic. Active erosion features on resistant bedrock that floors the river at prominent knickpoints demonstrate that the river is currently incising toward base level. However, thick sequences of alluvial fill and fluvial terraces cut into this fill record an incision history for the river that includes several periods of stalled downcutting and aggradation.We used cosmogenic 10Be exposure dating, aided by mapping and sedimentological examination of terrace deposits, to constrain the timing of events in this history.
- Type
- Journal Article
- Authors
- Ward, Dylan; Spotila, James; Hancock, Gregory; Galbraith, John
- Units
- NERI
- Keywords
- Appalachians, Cosmogenic Dating, Fluvial terraces, landscape evolution