Martin Gibling on Rivers in the Geological Record - part 1

Glossary

anastomosis – branching and rejoining of river branches

Aravalli Hills – range of hills in northwestern India

running 670 km in a southwesterly direction

Brahmaputra River – 3,900-km river flowing fromTibet through northeast India and Bangladesh, known as the Yarlung Tsangpo in Tibet

dino-evulsion - process whereby rivers break out to flow along paths trampled by dinosaurs

dynamic topography - surface topography elevations and gradients linked to underlying mantle flows

gymnosperms – plants with “naked” seeds not enclosed in an ovary, such as cycads, gingkos, and yews

Karoo plume – mantle plume associated with the breakup of Gondwana located in southeastern Africa

Moodies Group – Paleoarchean sedimentary rock formations found in South Africa and Eswatini (formerly Swaziland)

orogenic belt - mountain ranges formed at convergent plate margins

Parana plume – mantle plume associated with flood basalts following the rifting of South America from southwest Africa about 130 million years ago

Tethys Ocean – ocean separating the Gondwana and Laurasia supercontinents during the Mesozoic

ungulates – group of large mammals with hooves

Variscan mountains - 3,000-km-long orogenic belt running through western Europe