Reconstruction of Rock Uplift in South‐Central Germany Since Late Mesozoic Times

Abstract Rock uplift and denudation act as first‐order controls on geological processes that influence atmospheric and ocean composition, and landscape‐forming processes. However, estimating rock uplift rates remains challenging due to the temporal averaging of rates calculated from individual thermo‐ or geochronologic systems. Here we extract uplift rates in a unified modeling framework by combining landscape evolution with inverse modeling of river profiles and thermo‐geochronologic data. We reconstruct Late Mesozoic to present‐day rock uplift of south‐central Germany, using a data set comprising 17 detrital cosmogenic radionuclide samples and 30 thermochronologic bedrock samples. Inversions reveal high uplift rates from 160 to 80 Ma, followed by a decline from 80 to 20 Ma and renewal of uplift until present‐day. This current uplift event is characterized by increasing uplift toward the west across southern Germany. Our results provide a framework to resolve continuous uplift histories and quantify landscape evolution processes and geodynamic controls on Earth's surface.