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Journal: |
Nature & Nature Geoscience 2012 No.5
clicks:2124 |
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Title:
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Author:
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Alexander L. Densmore,Robert N. Parker, |
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Abstract:
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We thank Peter Molnar for his interest in our work1, and for graciously (and quite correctly) pointing out the potential role of isostasy in the long-term volume balance of the Longmen Shan orogen. However, his point does not affect the primary message of our paper, which was to assess the instantaneous competition between erosional and tectonic processes associated with the earthquake. Instead, isostasy is yet another reason, in addition to those we previously presented, why this instantaneous imbalance we describe might not hold over long timescales — that is, over multiple earthquake cycles and viscoelastic response times (>103 years). Indeed, we suggested in our paper that long-term rock uplift is unlikely to be a simple function of the 2008 coseismic displacements; it is produced by a combination of tectonic activity and flexural-isostatic deformation, but the relative importance of each component was not the focus of our study. |
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Comment: |
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