What is a “Slow” Process in a Source-to-Sink System?
The timescale of geological processes is very extensive. “Fast” processes like earthquakes, storms, or tides last from a couple of minutes to weeks. “Slow” processes, like orogenic uplifts or continent break-ups on the contrary can take up to millions of years (Fig. 1). In this post we will look into these slow processes in the context of the source-to-sink approach, introducing some concepts that provide a useful framework to understand the dynamics of these long processes in sedimentary systems. Figure 1. Temporal scale showing the differences in terms of duration of several geological processes as well as the common tools used to measure them. Bear in mind that the scale is logarithmic. Modified from Romans et al ., 2016. To understand slow geological processes in the context of source-to-sink analysis, we first have to understand the concept of steady-state topography. There are two major processes that drive topography inside a catchment (Fig. 2), one that creates positive rel