The rise of New Guinea and the fall of Neogene global temperatures.

ABSTRACT: The ~2,000-km-long Central Range of New Guinea is a hotspot of modern carbon sequestration due to the chemical weathering of igneous rocks with steep topography in the warm wet tropics. These high mountains formed in a collision between the Australian plate and ophiolite-bearing volcanic arc terranes, but poor resolution of the uplift and exhumation history has precluded assessments of the impact on global climate change. Here, we develop a palinspastic reconstruction of the Central Range orogen with existing surface geological constraints and seismic data to generate time-temperature paths and estimate volumes of eroded material. New (U-Th)/He thermochronology data reveal rapid uplift and regional denudation between 10 and 6 Mya. Erosion fluxes from the palinspastic reconstruction, calibr

SUBMITTER: Martin PE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10556579 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature