Glacial melting accelerates andean uplift: Insights from 2D viscoelastic-plastic subduction models

The growth of the Andes is attributed to Cenozoic subduction, in which climatic and tectonic processes are considered the primary driving forces. The formation and disappearance of ice ages are major determinants of climate change, which in turn affects mountain-building processes and landscape evolution. However, the extent to which ice age fluctuations influence orogenic and subduction processes remains unclear. In this study, we developed several two-dimensional visco-elastic–plastic subduction models with glacial loading to simulate contemporary changes in mountain uplift due to the melting of surface glaciers. We controlled for factors such as the glacier load height, deglaciation rate, and ice sheet loading location of the load. Our findings indicate that the glacier thickness and the deglaciation rate have the most significant impacts on mountain building processes, with greater loading rates and higher deglaciation rates accelerating the rapid uplift of mountain ranges. We propose that glacial isostatic adjustment is one of the critical factors influencing erosional and depositional processes during glacial periods, thus further controlling subduction and orogenic dynamics in the region. These results complement the understanding of climate contributions to the formation of the Andes and demonstrate the importance of climate‒tectonic interactions in mountain-building processes.