Geomorphic constraints on the development of a blind-thrust induced landform, south-central Mongolia: insights into foreberg growth

Abstract Forebergs are landforms characterized by low, elongated ridges or hills rising above the surrounding alluvial fans or floodplains, and are typically formed by folding associated with thrust faulting. Forebergs in the Gobi-Altay range, south-central Mongolia, have developed in the forelands of mountains transpressionally uplifted in restraining bends along the E–W-trending sinistral strike-slip Bogd fault. Along the easternmost part of the Bogd fault, six forebergs have formed in the foreland of the Artz Bogd restraining-bend. We surveyed one of these forebergs to ascertain the fault geometry associated with its formation and understand how it has developed over time. This foreberg is ~6 km long and ~1 km wide and rises about 40 m above the low-lying floodplain. We also constrained its evolution using cosmogenic 10Be denudation rates measured from individual catchments along the foreberg, and morphometric analyses using a high-resolution DEM generated from images captured by an unmanned aerial vehicle. We suggest that the foreberg evolved via fault-propagation folding, developing an asymmetric across-foreberg topographic profile. This asymmetry results in differences in 10Be catchment-wide denudation rates and geomorphic metrics between its northern and southern slopes, causing migration of the drainage divide of the growing foreberg to adjust to the tectonic regime. By analyzing the along-foreberg variation in denudation rates and geomorphic metrics, we infer that the foreberg formed via lateral growth and linking of four discrete segments. Our study illuminates the formation of a unique landform and sheds light on how a structure enlarges both vertically and laterally during the early stage of thrust-related fold developments.