Quaternary river incision in NE Ardennes (Belgium). Insights from 10Be-26Al dating of river terraces

[en] Although it constitutes a main tool to unravel the regional recent tectonics, the chronology of the Pleistocene river incision is still poorly constrained within the uplifted Ardennes massif (Western Europe). Here, we use in situ produced cosmogenic 10Be and 26Al concentrations from depth profiles in terrace sediments of several Ardennian rivers (Meuse, Ourthe and Amblève) in order to date the so-called Younger Main Terrace (YMT), a key-level in the drainage network evolution.We present the first absolute dating of the YMT in the lower Meuse valley, where we obtained an age of 725 +/- 120 ka for a terrace deposit buried beneath 3 m of Weichselian loess at Romont. This age is consistent with some previously published estimates based on paleomagnetic data and MIS correlations. However, the ages we obtain for the same terrace level in Ardennian tributaries of the Meuse are significantly younger: 390 +/- 35 ka in the lower Ourthe, and only 220 +/- 31 ka still farther upstream, in the lower Amblève. We thus demonstrate that the post-YMT incision occurred diachronically in NE Ardennes. The ~0.5 Ma timespan needed by the erosion wave to propagate from the lower Meuse towards the Ardennian headwaters contradicts the long-held statement of a climatically driven incision that would have been synchronous throughout the catchments. Finally, we interpret the strong 10Be enrichment displayed by the lower half of the Belle eRoche (lower Amblève) profile as betraying the long-lasting, slow accumulation of the ∼8 m thick terrace deposit in that place.

Disciplines :

Earth sciences & physical geography

Author, co-author :

Rixhon, Gilles

Braucher, Régis

Bourlès, Didier

Siame, Lionel

Bovy, Benoît ; Université de Liège > Département d'astrophys., géophysique et océanographie (AGO) > Groupe infra-rouge de phys. atmosph. et solaire (GIRPAS)

Demoulin, Alain ; Université de Liège > Département de géographie > Unité de géographie physique et quaternaire (UGPQ)

Language :

English

Title :

Quaternary river incision in NE Ardennes (Belgium). Insights from 10Be-26Al dating of river terraces

Publication date :

2011

Journal title :

Quaternary Geochronology

ISSN :

1871-1014

Publisher :

Elsevier

Volume :

Pages :

273-284

Peer reviewed :

Peer Reviewed verified by ORBi

Available on ORBi :

since 24 November 2016

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