STATUS OF RESEARCH ON CLIMATE, TECTONICS, AND LANDSCAPE EVOLUTION IN CENOZOIC BASINS OF THE CENTRAL AND NORTHERN BASIN AND RANGE

The Basin and Range province serves as the single-most important natural laboratory for studying continental extension in wide rifts. The Cenozoic evolution of this province spans a significant time period characterized both by dynamic tectonic and paleoclimatological events, ostensibly accompanied by dramatic landscape changes. However, the vast majority of research in the Basin and Range has focused on tectonic processes, from local deformation features to continental- and lithospheric- scale explanations for the tectonic evolution of the region. Past paleoclimatological work has primarily emphasized Pleistocene and Holocene terrestrial records, with far fewer studies that elucidate longer-term or older climate histories. Even more limited is work that explicitly links tectonic forcing on climate or vice versa, particularly when compared to the large research emphasis of such feedbacks in compressional orogens. Unlike in contractional settings, we lack even a set of testable hypotheses derived from numerical or sandbox simulations that might allow us to understand if these feedbacks even exist. The past decade has seen a growing recognition and development of new tools and methods for understanding the role of climate and tectonic interactions. Given more recent studies on exhumation histories, paleoaltimetry, and paleoclimate across the history of the Basin and Range, the time seems ripe to explore more completely the dynamic connections between climate and tectonics in this classic wide rift. We see these as especially promising current and ongoing avenues of research: (i) developing detailed local Miocene climate records to compare to local tectonics and global-scale climate forcing including the mid-Miocene Climatic Optimum, (ii) using these detailed records to develop a regional paleoclimate framework for the entire Basin and Range to test the effects of the Sierra Nevada orogeny and more localized uplift events; (iii) characterizing Oligocene post-Laramide paleoclimate and elevation records that serve as the initial conditions for Basin and Range extension; and (iv) developing coupled tectonic and climate models to create testable hypotheses that drive future research.