Assignment No : 13

Submitted by: Fazlullah

Submitted to: Mr. Sohial wahid sb

Subject: Tectonic

Topic

Underplating, Uplift and Exhumation

Underplating is the accumulation of partial melts at the base of the crust where an ocean plate is
subducting under continental crust.

Underplating is the result of partial melts being produced in the mantle wedge above a
subducting plate. The partial melting is induced by a lowering of the melting temperature, the
solidus, by the input of water and other volatiles supplied by phase transitions in the subducting
slab. When the buoyant partial melt rises upwards through the mantle, it will usually stall at the
base of the crust and pond there. This is because the crust is usually less dense than the
underplating magma, and this is the point at which the ascending magma reaches a level of
neutral buoyancy.

Fig (1) As magma rises up to the surface, some may get trapped at the crust-mantle boundary,
accumulating and eventually solidifying, thickening the crust.
Magmatic underplating occurs when basaltic magmas are trapped during their rise to the surface
at the Mohorovičić discontinuity or within the crust. Entrapment (or 'stalling out') of magmas
within the crust occurs due to the difference in relative densities between the rising magma and
the surrounding rock. Magmatic underplating can be responsible for thickening of the crust when
the magma cools.Geophysical seismic studies (as well as igneous petrology and geochemistry)
utilize the differences in densities to identify underplating that occurs at depth.

Uplift:

In geology, vertical elevation of the Earth’s surface in response to natural causes. Broad,
relatively slow and gentle uplift is termed warping, or epeirogeny, in contrast to the more
concentrated and severe orogeny, the uplift associated with earthquakes and mountain building.
Uplift of the Earth’s surface also has occurred in response to the removal of Pleistocene ice
sheets through melting and wastage. Such elastic rebound is both measurable and ongoing in
southern Canada and in the general Scandinavian area today.

Orogenic uplift is the result of tectonic-plate collisions and results in mountain ranges or a more
modest uplift over a large region. Perhaps the most extreme form of orogenic uplift is a
continental-continental crustal collision. In this process, two continents are sutured together and
large mountain ranges are produced. The collision of the Indian and Eurasian plates is a good
example of the extent to which orogenic uplift can reach. Heavy thrust faulting (of the Indian
plate beneath the Eurasian plate) and folding are responsible for the suturing together of the two
plates. The collision of the Indian and Eurasian plates not only produced the Himalaya but is also
responsible for crustal thickening north into Siberia. The Pamir Mountains, Tian Shan, Altai,
Hindu Kush, and other mountain belts are all examples of mountain ranges formed in response to
the collision of the Indian with the Eurasian plate. Deformation of continental lithosphere can
take place in several possible modes.

Fig: (2) show uplifting

This process can redistribute large loads from an elevated region to a topographically lower area
as well – thus promoting an isostatic response in the region of denudation (which can cause local
bedrock uplift).

Exhumation:

In geology, the term exhumation refers to the process by which a parcel of rock (that was
formerly buried), approaches Earth's surface.

It differs from the related ideas of rock uplift and surface uplift in that it is explicitly measured
relative to the surface of the Earth, rather than with reference to some absolute reference frame,
such as the Earth's geoid.

Fig: 3. Show Exhumation

Exhumation of buried rocks should be considered as two different categories namely,

exhumation by denudation/erosion or exhumation by tectonic processes followed by erosion. In
the latter case, rocks (or rock packages) from deeper crustal levels (meter to kilometer depths
below the Earth's surface) are brought towards the Earth's surface (i.e.shallower crustal levels) by
crustal thickening and or extensional tectonics and are subsequently exposed by erosion. Often
exhumation involves a complex interaction between crustal thickening, extensional tectonics and
erosion.

Notably, there are overlapping characteristics between the different modes of burial and
exhumation and distinction and between them relies on a series of parameters such as:

• The spatial and temporal distribution of the finite strain pattern

• The metamorphic field gradient

• The spatial distribution of cooling ages (see for example radiometric dating of
hornblende)

• The spatial distribution of metamorphic pressure-temperature-time (P-T-t) paths.

 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exhumation_(geology)).

References

Wikipedia

Book