A multi-proxy reconstruction of Pleistocene-Holocene denudation rates in the eastern Teton Range, Wyoming

Erosion forms a dynamic link between tectonics and climate, and assessing erosion rates through time can provide valuable insight into the processes and feedbacks that drive landscape evolution. The Teton Range in northwestern Wyoming is a tectonically-active mountain range that hosted extensive alpine glaciers during the Last Glacial Maximum, and as such provides an ideal natural laboratory for such investigations. Here, we reconstruct basin-averaged denudation rates in four valleys in the eastern Teton Range using a combination of lake sediment analysis and remote sensing. To evaluate temporal trends in catchment-scale denudation over the past ~14 ka, we calculate clastic sediment volumes contained in four moraine-dammed lakes. We also present LiDAR-based volume estimates for geomorphic features such as moraines and talus fans. We discuss the relative roles of climate and tectonic activity on erosion in the eastern Teton Range, with particular emphasis on glaciation and mass wasting events. We also examine the influence of varying catchment morphology on sediment yield in each of the four study valleys. Our results highlight the utility of generating erosion rate estimates at both the local and regional scale, and provide quantitative constraints on rates of landscape change that can be compared against process-based erosion models in alpine settings.