School of Earth Sciences
Birkbeck College
University of London
Malet St
London WC1E 7HX
Tel 020 7679 2418
Fax 020 7679 2867
email: a.carter@ucl.ac.uk
Tectonic Geomorphology
Global Tectonics
I use thermochronometry to understand how the Earth’s crust has evolved over the long-term and how climate and tectonics interact at different spatial and temporal scales.
Regional tectonic and climate evolution linked to India-Asia collision
• Exhumation history of the Himalaya-Tibet
• Controls on sediment supply to the South China Sea
• Erosion history of the northern margin of the South China Sea and East Tibet
• Reorganisation of river systems and climate change as controls on the Harrappan civilisation.
• Sediment provenance and uplift history of the Andaman Islands.
• Dating earliest mountain building in eastern Taiwan.
2008
Najman, Y. Bickle, M, BouDagher-Fadel, M., Carter, A., Garzanti, E., Paul, M., Wijbrans, J., Willett, E. Oliver, G. Parrish, R., Akhter, H. Allen, R.,. Ando, S., Chisty, E., Reisberg, L., Vezzoli, G. The Paleogene record of Himalayan erosion: Bengal Basin, Bangladesh, Earth and Planetary Science Letters (2008), doi: 10.1016/j.epsl.2008.04.028
Spikings, R. Dungan, M., Foeken, J., Carter, A., Page, L., & Stuart, F. 2008. Tectonic response of the central Chilean margin (35°–38°S) to the collision and subduction of heterogeneous oceanic crust: a thermochronological study Journal of the Geological Society, London, Vol. 165, 2008, pp. 1–13.
Rabone, J.A.L., Carter, A., Hurford, A.J., and de Leeuw, N.H. 2008. Modelling the formation of fission tracks in apatite minerals using molecular dynamics simulations. Physics and Chemistry of Minerals 10.1007/s00269-008-0250-6
Clift, P., Lin, A.T.S., Carter, A., Wu, F., Draut, A.E., Lai, T.-H., Fei, L.-Y., Schouten, H., and Teng, L., 2008, Post-collisional collapse in the wake of migrating arccontinent collision in the Ilan Basin, Taiwan, in Draut, A., Clift, P.D., and Scholl, D.W., eds., Formation and Applications of the Sedimentary Record in Arc Collision Zones: Geological Society of America Special Paper 436, p.257-278, doi: 0. 30/2007.2436(2).
Allen, R., Carter, A., Najman, Y., Bandopadhyay, P.C., Chapman, H.J., Bickle, M.J., Garzanti, E., Vezzoli, G., Andò, S., Foster, G.L., and Gerring, C., 2008, New constraints on the sedimentation and uplift history of the Andaman-Nicobar accretionary prism, South Andaman Island, in Draut, A., Clift, P.D., and Scholl, D.W., eds., Formation and Applications of the Sedimentary Record in Arc Collision Zones: Geological Society of America Special Paper 436, p.223-256, doi: 0. 30/2007.2436.
Carter, A and Clift, P.D. 2008. Was the Indosinian orogeny a Triassic mountain building or thermotectonic reactivation event? Comptes Rendu Geoscience, 340, 83-93.
Clift, P.D. Giosan, L., Blusztajn, J., Campbell, I.H., Allen, C., Pringle, M.,Tabrez, A.R., Danish, M.Rabbani . M.M., Alizai, A., Carter, A., Lückge, A. 2008. Holocene Erosion of the Lesser Himalaya Triggered by Intensified Summer Monsoon; Geology, 36; no. 1; p. 79–82; doi: 10.1130/G24315A.1
Brichau, S., Ring, U., Carter, A., Bohlar, R., Monie, P., Stockli, D. & Brunel, M. 2008 Timing, slip rate, displacement and cooling history of the Mykonos detachment footwall, Cyclades, Greece, and implications for the opening of the Aegean Sea basin. Journal of the Geological Society, London, Vol. 165, 2008, p263-277.
2007
Brichau, S., Ring, U, Carter, A., Stockli, D., and Brunel, M.2007. Extensional faulting on Tinos Island, Aegean Sea, Greece: How many detachments? Tectonics, V26, No. 4, TC4009. DOI: 10.1029/2006TC001969
Brix, M.R., V. Faundez, F. Hervé, M. Solari, J. Fernandez, A. Carter, and B. Stöckhert. 2007, Thermochronologic constraints on the tectonic evolution of the western Antarctic Peninsula in late Mesozoic and Cenozoic times: in Antarctica: A Keystone in a Changing World – Online Proceedings of the 10th ISAES, edited by A.K. Cooper and C.R. Raymond et al., USGS Open-File Report 2007-1047, Short Research Paper 101, 5 p.; doi:10.3133/of2007-1047.srp101
Morely, C.K., Smith, M., Carter, A., Charusiri, P., and Chantraprasert, S., 2007. Evolution of deformation styles at a major restraining bend: constraints from cooling histories, Mae Ping Fault zone, Western Thailand. From: Cunningham, W. D. & Mann, P. (eds) Tectonics of Strike-Slip Restraining and Releasing Bends. Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 290, 325–349.
Gunnell, Y. Carter, A. Petit, C. Fournier, M. 2007. New constraints on rift-shoulder evolution using apatite fission-track analysis, (U–Th)/He dating, and stratigraphy. An example from southern Oman. Geology, v35, p.647-650.
Ketcham, R.A., Carter, A., Donelick, R.A., Barbarand,J., Hurford, A.J. 2007. improved measurement and of fission-track annealing American Mineralogist, 92, p799-810.
Ketcham, R.A., Carter, A., Donelick, R.A., Barbarand,J., Hurford, A.J. 2007. Improved modelling of fission-track annealing in apatite American Mineralogist, 92, p789-798.
Blythe, A.E., Burbank, D.W., Carter, A., Schmidt, K., and Putkonen, J. 2007. Exhumational history of the Annapurna region in the central Nepalese Himalaya from apatite and zircon fission track and apatite (U-Th)/He analyses. Tectonics, 26, TC3002, doi:10.1029/2006TC001990.
Foster, G.L. Carter, A. 2007. Insights into the patterns and locations of erosion in the Himalaya—A combined fission-track and in situ Sm–Nd isotopic study of detrital apatite. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett., 257, p407-418 doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2007.02.044
Vincent, S.J., Morton, A.C., Carter, A., Gibbs, S., Teimuraz, S., Barabadze, G. 2007. Oligocene uplift of the Western Caucasus; implications for the timing of the Arabia-Eurasia collision. Terra Nova, 19, 160-166. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-3121.2007.00731.x
Zattin, M., Bersani, D. & Carter, A. 2007.Raman microspectroscopy: a new tool for calibration of apatite fission-track analysis Chemical Geology 240, p197-204. doi: 10.1016/j.chemgeo.2007.02.007
Carter, A. 2007. Heavy minerals and detrital fission-track thermochronology. Heavy minerals and detrital fission-track thermochronology. In Developments in Sedimentology, v58, p851-868. doi:10.1016/S0070-4571(07)58033-7
Yan, Y., Xia, B., Lin, G., Carter, A., Hu, X., Liu, B., Cui, X., Yan, P., Song, Z. 2007. Geochemical and Nd isotope compositions of detrital sediments on the north margin of the South China Sea: provenance and tectonic implications. Sedimentology. v54, p1-17. doi:10.1111/j.1365-3091.2006.00816.
2006
Clift, P. D., A. Carter, I. H. Campbell, M. S. Pringle, N. Van Lap, C. M. Allen, K. V. Hodges, and M. T. Tan . 2006. Thermochronology of mineral grains in the Red and Mekong Rivers, Vietnam: Provenance and exhumation implications for Southeast Asia, Geochemical, Geophysical Geosystems, 7, Q10005, doi:10.1029/2006GC001336
Yuan, W., Dong, J., Shicheng, W. & Carter, A. 2006. Apatite fission track evidence for Neogene uplift in the eastern Kunlun Mountains, northern Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, China. Journal of Asian Earth Sciences 27, 847-856.
Yuan, W., Carter, A., Dong, J., Bao, Z., An, Y. & Guo. 2006. Mesozoic-Tertiary exhumation history of the Altai Mountains, northern Xinjiang, China: New constraints from apatite fission track data. Tectonophysics 412, 183-193.
Brichau, S., Ring, U., Ketcham, R.A., Carter, A., Stockli, D. & Brunel, M. 2006. Spatial and temporal variation of the slip rate for a major extensional fault system on Naxos and Paros Islands, Aegean Sea, Greece. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 241, 293-306.
2005
Peyaud, J.B., Barbarand, J., Carter, A. & Pagel, M. 2005. Mid-Cretaceous uplift and erosion on the northern margin of the Ligurian Tethys deduced from thermal history reconstruction. International Journal of Earth Sciences 94, 462-474.
Karg, H., Carter, A., Brix, M. & Littke, R. 2005. Late- and post-Variscan cooling and exhumation history of the northern Rhenish massif and the southern Ruhr basin: new constraints from fission-track analysis. International Journal of Earth Sciences 94, 180-192.
Pérez-Arlucea, M., Carter, A., Clemente, F., González, D. & Nombela, M. 2005. Multi-approach, long and short-term denudation rate calculations for the Galician Coast (Ri de Virgo, Spain): AFTD, DEM analysis, river loads and sediment budgets. Journal of Coastal Research 49, 9-14.
Platt, J.P., Kelley, S.P., Carter, A. & Orozco M. 2005. Timing of tectonic events in the Alpujárride Complex, Betic Cordillera, S. Spain. Journal Geological Society of London 162, 451-462.
Najman, Y., Carter, A., Oliver, G. & Garzanti, E. 2005. Provenance of early foreland basin sediments, Nepal: constraints to the timing and diachroneity of early Himalayan orogenesis. Geology 33, 309-312.
2004
Clift, P.D., Campbell, I.H., Zhang, X., Carter, A., Hodges, K.V., Khan, A.A., & Allen, C.M. 2004. Thermochronology of the modern Indus River bedload: New insight into the controls on the marine stratigraphic record. Tectonics 23, TC5013.
DeCelles, P.G., Gehrels, G.E., Najman, Y., Martin, A.J., Carter, A. & Garzanti, E. 2004. Detrital geochronology and geochemistry of Cretaceous—Early Miocene strata of Nepal: Implications for timing and diachroneity of initial Himalayan orogenesis. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 227, 313-330.
Carter, A. & Gallagher, K. 2004. Characterising the significance of provenance on the inference of thermal history models from apatite fission track data – A synthetic data study. In: Detrital thermochronology – Provenance analysis, exhumation, and landscape evolution of mountain belts. (Editors: Bernet, M. & Spiegel, C.). GSA Special Paper 378, 7-23.
Hasebe, N., Barbarand, J., Jarvis, K., Carter, A., & Hurford, A.J. 2004. Apatite fission-track chronometry using laser ablation ICP-MS. Chemical Geology 207, 135-145.
Vannay, J.C., Grasemann, B., Rahn, M., Carter, A., Baudraz, V. & Cosca, M. 2004. Miocene to Holocene exhumation of metamorphic crustal wedges in the NW Himalaya: Evidence for tectonic extrusion coupled to fluvial erosion. Tectonics 23, 1014-1029.
2003
Gunnell, Y., Gallagher K., Carter, A., Widdowson, M. & Hurford, A.J. 2003. Denudation history of the continental margin of western peninsular India since the early Mesozoic: reconciling apatite fission-track data with geomorphology. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 215, 187-201.
Platt, J.P., Argles, T.W., Carter, A., Kelley, S.P., Whitehouse, M.J. & Lonergan, L. 2003. Exhumation of the Ronda Peridotite and its crustal envelope: constraints from thermal modelling of a P-T-time array. Journal Geological Society of London 160, 655-676.
Carter, A. & Bristow, C. 2003. Linking hinterland evolution and continental basin sedimentation using detrital zircon thermochronology: A study of the Khorat Plateau Basin, Eastern Thailand. Basin Research 15, 271-285.
Schlup, M., Carter, A., Cosca, M. & Steck, A. 2003. Exhumation history of eastern Ladakh revealed by 40Ar/39Ar and fission-track ages: the Indus River–Tso Morari transect, NW Himalaya. Journal Geological Society of London 160, 385-399.
Barbarand, J., Carter, A., Hurford, T. & Wood, I. 2003. Compositional and structural control of fission-track annealing in apatite. Chemical Geology 198, 107-137.
Barbarand, J., Hurford, T. & Carter, A. 2003. Variation in apatite fission-track length measurement: implications for thermal history modelling. Chemical Geology 198, 77-106.
Platt, J.P., Whitehouse, M.J., Kelley, S.P., Carter, A. & Hollick, L. 2003. Simultaneous extensional exhumation across the Alboran Basin: Implications for the causes of late orogenic extension. Geology 31, 251-254.
Cunningham, M.J.M., Densmore, A.L., Allen, P.A., Phillips, W.E.A., Bennett, S. D., Gallagher, K. & Carter, A. 2003. Evidence for Cenozoic tectonic activity in southeastern Ireland. Geological Magazine 140, 1-18.
Other publications
Allen P., Bennet, S.D. Cunningham, M., Carter, A., Gallagher, K., Lazzaretti, E., Galewsky, J., Densmore, A.L., Phillips, W.E.A., Naylor, D., and Hach, C.S. 2002. The Post-Variscan Thermal and Denudational History Of Ireland. From T. Doray et al., (eds) . Atlantic Margin: Timing, Mechanism and Implications for Petroleum Exploration. Geological Society Special Publication, 196, p371-399
Ghebreab, W., Carter, A., Hurford, A.J., and Talbot, C.J. 2002. Constraints for timing of extensional tectonics in the western margin of the Red Sea in Eritrea. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 200, p107-119
Raab, M., Brown, R.W., Gallagher, K., Carter, A., amd Weber, K. 2002. Late Cretaceous reactivation of major crustal shear zones in northern Namibia: constraints from apatite fission track analysis. Tectonophysics, 349, p75-92
Carter, A, Roques, D, Kinny, P, and Bristow, C. S. 2001. Understanding Mesozoic Accretion in S.E. Asia: Significance of Triassic thermotectonism in Vietnam. Geology, 28, 211-214
Maluski, H. Lepvrier, C., Jolivet, L, Carter, A, Roques, D, Beyssac, O, Ta Trong Tang, Nguyen Duc Thang, Avigad, D. 2001. Ar-Ar and fission-track ages in the Song Chay massif. Early Triassic and Cenozoic tectonics in northern Vietnam. J. Asian Earth Sciences, 19, p233-248
Carter, A., Roques, D., and Bristow, C. S. 2000. Denudation history of onshore Central Vietnam: Constraints on the Cenozoic evolution of the western margin of the South China Sea. Tectonophysics 322, p265-277
Köppen, A. & Carter, A. 2000. Constraints on provenance of the central European Triassic using detrital zircon fission track data. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology and Palaeoecology. 161, p. 193-204
Carter, A, and Bristow, C.S. 2000. Detrital zircon geochronology: enhancing the quality of sedimentary source information through improved methodology and combined U-Pb and fission track techniques. Basin Research, 12, 47-57
Harris, R., Kaiser, J., Hurford, A, and Carter, A. 2000. Thermal history of Australian passive margin cover sequences accreted to Timor during Late Neogene arc-continent collision, Indonesia. J. Asian Earth Sciences, 18, 47-69
Treloar, P.J., Rex, D.C, Guise, P.G., Wheeler, J, Hurford, A.J., Carter, A. 2000. Geochronological constraints on the evolution of the Nanga Parbat syntaxis, Pakistan Himalaya. In: Khan, M.A, Treloar, P.J., Searle, M.P., and Jan, M.Q. (Eds). Tectonics of the Nanga Parbat Syntaxis and the Western Himalaya. Geological Society of London Special Publication, 170, p137-162
Other Publications (pre- 2000)
Carter, A. 1999. Present Status and future avenues of source region discrimination and characterisation using fission-track analysis. Sedimentary Geology , 124 p31-45
Carter, A. & Moss, S.J. 1999. Combined detrital-zircon fission-track and U-Pb dating: A new approach to understanding hinterland evolution. Geology. 27, p235-238
Hurford, A.J, Platt, J.P. & Carter, A. 1999. Fission-track analysis of samples from the Alboran Sea basement, in Proc. ODP, Scientific Results, edited by Zahn, R., M.C. Comas, and A. Klaus, 161, pp295-300. College Station, TX (Ocean Drilling Program)
Moss, S., J., Carter, A., Baker, S., & Hurford, A.J. 1998. A Late Oligocene tectono-volcanic event in East Kalimantan and the implications for tectonics and sedimentation in Borneo. Journal of the Geolgical Society of London. 155, p177-192
Clift, P. D., Carter, A. & Hurford, A.J. 1998. The erosional history of north-east Atlantic passive margins and constraints on the influence of a passing plume. Journal of the Geological Society, London. 155, p787-800
Pereira, A.J.S.C., Carter, A., Hurford, A.J., Neves, L.J.P.F. & Godinho, M. 1998. Evidence for the unroofing history of Hercynian granitoids in central Portugal derived from Mesozoic sedimentary zircons. In Advances in Fission-Track Geochronology (eds. P. Van den haute and F. De Corte), Kluwer Academic Publishers, pp173-186
Moss, S. J., Chambers, J., Cloke, I., Dharma Satria, Ali, J.R., Baker, S., Milsom, J & Carter, A. 1997. New Observations on the sedimentary and tectonic evolution of the Tertiary Kutai Basin, East Kalimantan. In: Petroleum Geology of SE Asia. A. Fraser S. Mathews, Eds., Geological Society Special Publication . 126, pp395-416
Clift, P. D., Lorenzo, J., Carter, A., & Hurford, A. J. 1997. Transform tectonics and thermal rejuvenation on the Côte d’Ivoire-Ghana margin, west Africa. Journal of the Geological Society of London.. 154, p483-489
Lovatt-Smith, P.F., Stokes, R.B., Bristow, C.S. & Carter, A. 1996. A. Mid-Cretaceous inversion in the Northern Khorat Plateau of Laos PDR and Thailand. From Hall, R. & Blundell, D.. (eds) 1996 In Tectonic Evolution of Southeast Asia, Geological Society Special Publication . 106, pp233-247
Storey, B.C., Brown, R., Carter, A., Doubleday, P. Hurford, A.J., Macdonald, D.I.M., & Nell, P.A.R. 1996. Fission-track evidence for the thermotectonic evolution of a Mesozoic-Cenozoic forearc region, Antarctica. Journal of the Geological Society of London.. 153, p65-82
Tagami, T., Carter, A. & Hurford, A.J. 1996. Natural long-term annealing of the zircon fission-track system in Vienna Basin deep borehole samples: constraints upon the partial annealing zone and closure temperature. Chemical Geology 130, p147-157
Clift, P. D., Carter, A. & Hurford, A.J. 1996. Constraints on the evolution of the East Greenland Margin: Evidence from detrital apatite in offshore sediments. Geology. 24, p1013-1016
Moss S., J. & Carter A. 1996. Thermal histories of Tertiary sediments in western Central Sumatra, Indonesia. Journal Southeast Asian Earth Sciences 14. p351-371
Carter, A., Bristow, C. & Hurford, A.J. 1995. The application of FT analysis to the dating of barren sequences: examples from red beds in Scotland and Thailand. From Dunay, R.E. & Hailwood, E. A. (eds) In Non-biostratigraphical Methods of Dating and Correlation Geological Society Special Publication . 89, pp57-68
Carter, A. Yelland, A., Bristow, C. S. & Hurford, A.J. 1995. Thermal histories of Permian and Triassic rocks in Britain using Fission tracks. From From Bold, S.A.R. (ed.), In Permian and Triassic rifting in North west Europe. Geological Society Special Publication . 91, pp41-56
Lihou, J. Hurford, A.J. & Carter, A., 1995. Preliminary fission-track ages on zircons and apatites from the Sardona unit, Glarus Alps, eastern Switzerland: Late Miocene-Pliocene palaeo-uplift rates. Schweizer. Mineralogische Petrogologishce Mitt. 75, p177-186
Carter, A., Bristow, C. & Hurford, A., 1995. Constraints on the thermal history and provenance of the Khorat Group in Thailand using fission track analysis. Proceedings of IGCP symposium on Geology of SE Asia, Hanoi XI/1995. In Journal of Geology (Vietnam), Series B, p341-353
Lewis, C. L. E., Carter, A & Hurford, A.J 1992. From Parnell, J (eds) Basins on the Atlantic Seaboard: Petroleum Geology, Sedimentology and Basin evolution. Geological Society Special Publication No. 62, pp175-188
Lewis, C. L. E., Green, P. F., Carter, A., & Hurford, A.J 1992. Elevated K/T palaeotemperatures throughout Northwest England: three kilometres of Tertiary erosion? Earth & Planetary Science Letters, 112, p131-145
Hurford A. J. & Carter, A. 1991. The role of fission track dating in discrimination of provenance. From Morton, A.C., S.P. & Haughton, P.D.W. (eds), 1991. Developments in Sedimentary Provenance studies. Geological Society Special Publication No. 57, pp67-78
Carter, A. 1989. The thermal history and annealing effects in zircons from the Ordovician of North Wales. Nuclear Tracks & Radiation Measurement, V. 17, N0 3, p309-313
Clarke A, & Carter A. 1987. Handling of counting data for fission track counting. Nuclear Tracks & Radiation Measurement, V 13, p105-110