Geochronology and thermochronology are valuable tools for investigating the synergy between the deformational and erosional processes that shape mountainous terrains. Though numerous techniques have been developed to probe the rate and timing of events within these settings, the research presented here explores how scientists can use fewer samples to produce richer data products with broader contextual importance.

The beginning of this compilation focuses on establishing laboratory techniques to facilitate this goal. I developed a novel laser ablation ‘double dating’ (LADD) technique that rapidly yields paired U/Pb and (U-Th)/He dates for the accessory minerals zircon, titanite, and apatite. The technique obviates the need for geometric corrections typically applied during (U-Th)/He data reduction, enables the analysis of a broader spectrum of detrital crystals, and provides the opportunity for additional mapping and isotopic analyses that are traditionally challenging to procure and/or fraught with assumptions. Despite the technique’s promise, I also found it essential to weigh several considerations of relevance when attempting to date young (≤ Miocene) accessory minerals with low concentrations of U + Th. Consequently, I discuss the impact that such variables have on the magnitude of analytical imprecision and the data’s flexibility for geologic interpretation.

Beyond the lab, I collected a suite of bedrock and detrital samples from small catchments draining the southeastern Sierra Nevada mountains of California. Using the techniques described above as well as conventional methods for (U-Th)/He zircon dating, I compared the utility of both bedrock and detrital approaches for extrapolating local exhumation histories. I additionally tested the ability to employ detrital datasets to extrapolate cooling histories that span from mineral crystallization to rock exhumation through the upper crust. Employing principal mode dates from a combination of zircon and apatite LADD dates and detrital hornblende 40Ar/39Ar dates, I was able to derive thermal models that demonstrate the existence of significant variability in the cooling histories of various intrusive units along the eastern Sierra Nevada. While these results only scratch the surface of what’s possible within the realm of detrital-based research, this contribution demonstrates the utility of expanding the temporal and spatial scope of traditional detrital methodologies.

It has been hypothesized that the ~25 km Rochechouart-Chassenon impact structure (RCIS) in the NW Massif Central, France, was formed during a Late Triassic (ca. 214 Ma) terrestrial impact event that produced a catena of several large craters. Testing this hypothesis, and assessing its possible impacts on biological evolution, requires both accurate and precise dating of candidate impact structures. Like many of these structures, the age of the RCIS is controversial because geochronological datasets yield contradictory results, even when a single isotopic system is used; for example, the two most recent 40Ar/39Ar studies of RCIS yielded statistically inconsistent dates of 201 ± 2 Ma (2σ) and 214 ± 8 Ma (2σ). While the precision offered by various geochronometers used to date impact structures varies significantly, a fair way to assess the confidence scientists might have in the accuracy of an impact age is to establish whether or not multiple chronometers yield statistically indistinguishable ages when applied to that structure. With that in mind, I have applied the (U-Th)/He, U/Pb, and radiation damage chronometers to zircons separated from two different RCIS impactites. My best estimate of the zircon (U-Th)/He age of the impact event is 191.6 ± 9.1 Ma at the 95% confidence level. U/Pb zircon dates suggest that most zircons in the RCIS target rocks were not completely reset during impact, but a subset (n = 8) of zircons appear to have crystallized from the impact melt or to have been completely reset; these zircons indicate a U/Pb impact age of 202.6 ± 5.8 Ma (95% confidence level). Zircon radiation damage dates are highly variable, indicating that the RCIS event resulted only in partial annealing of pre-impact zircon in the country rock, but a small sub-population of zircons yielded a mean date of 211 ± 13 Ma (95% confidence level). These results – all statistically indistinguishable from the previously published 40Ar/39Ar date of 201 ± 2 Ma – collectively argue that the impact age was near the presently agreed upon Triassic-Jurassic boundary. This age raises the possibility that seismite and tsunamite deposits found in the present-day British Isles may be related to the RCIS.

The San Gabriel Mountains (SGM) of southern California provide the opportunity to study the topographic controls on erosion rate in a mountain range where climate and lithology are relatively constant. I use a combination of digital elevation model data, detailed channel survey data, decadal climate records, and catchment-averaged erosion rates quantified from 10Be concentrations in stream sands to investigate the style and rates of hillslope and channel processes across the transition from soil-mantled to rocky landscapes in the SGM. Specifically, I investigate (1) the interrelations among different topographic metrics and their variation with erosion rate, (2) how hillslopes respond to tectonic forcing in "threshold" landscapes, (3) the role of discharge variability and erosion thresholds in controlling the relationship between relief and erosion rate, and (4) the style and pace of transient adjustment in the western SGM to a recent increase in uplift rate. Millennial erosion rates in the SGM range from 0.03-1.1 mm/a, generally increasing from west to east. For low erosion rates (< 0.3 mm/a), hillslopes tend to be soil-mantled, and catchment-averaged erosion rates are positively correlated with catchment-averaged slope, channel steepness, and local relief. For erosion rates greater than 0.3 mm/a, hillslopes become increasingly rocky, catchment-mean hillslope angle becomes much less sensitive to erosion rate, and channels continue to steepen. I find that a non-linear relationship observed between channel steepness and erosion rate can be explained by a simple bedrock incision model that combines a threshold for erosion with a probability distribution of discharge events where large floods follow an inverse power-law. I also find that the timing of a two-staged increase in uplift rate in the western SGM based on stream profile analysis agrees with independent estimates. Field observations in the same region suggest that the relict topography that allows for this calculation has persisted for more than 7 Ma due to the stalling of migrating knickpoints by locally stronger bedrock and a lack of coarse sediment cover.