Abstract The interplay between tectonics and erosion has a predominant control on the evolution of the morphology of mountain belts. Here we investigate the modalities of deformation in Central Nepal on a c . 100 ka time scale in response to tectonic and externai forcings, through the use of a finite-element thermomechanical model coupled with an integrative denudation formulation that accounts for fluvial incision and hillslope land-sliding. We study the complex coupling existing between tectonics and erosion, with special emphasis on the influences of rock strength and rainfall distributions. Our results underline the key role played by lithologie variations in the elevation of both rivers and mean topogra-phy. We show that the location of the Main Frontal Thrust is mainly controlied by the low erodability of the unconsolidated sandstone in the Siwaliks Hills. As previously suspected ( Burbank et al. 2003 ), our simulations demonstrate that the pattern of uplift in Nepal is mainly dependent on both erodability and fault geometry, rather than on rainfall distribution.

The stratal architecture of the upper Ely Limestone and Mormon Gap Formation (Pennsylvanian–Lower Permian) in west-central Utah reflects the interaction of icehouse sea-level change and tectonic activity in the distal Antler–Sonoma foreland basin. Nineteen stratigraphic sections correlated by physical and biostratigraphic means provide a basis for tracing Carboniferous–Permian boundary strata over a north–south distance of 60 km. These formations can be subdivided into 14 unconformity-bounded, third-order depositional sequences of differing internal architecture and regional extent. Conodonts and fusulinids provide ages for selected sequences and parasequences, permitting correlation with tectonostratigraphic units in the proximal foreland in north-central Nevada and with selected Midcontinent cyclothems. The 14 third-order sequences stack into three second-order supersequences characterized by distinctive differences in facies and facies stacking patterns, regional continuity of cycles, relative abundance of dolomite and limestone, calculated rock accumulation rates, and the frequency and inferred duration of sequence-bounding hiatuses. These reflect the effect of high-frequency sea-level change on an intermittently subsiding distal foreland shelf. Sediment accommodation was relatively high during the Bashkirian through middle Moscovian (upper part of Lower Absaroka I supersequence) and again during the late Sakmarian and Artinskian (lower part of Lower Absaroka III supersequence) as a function of continuous subsidence and high-amplitude sea-level change. During the late Moscovian through upper Sakmarian (Lower Absaroka II supersequence), however, subsidence slowed or ceased in response to tectonic activity in north-central Nevada, with concomitant development of the West-Central Utah Highlands (forebulge). During this episode of reduced subsidence, intermittent sedimentation was driven by second- and third-order eustatic fluctuations in sea level. Constituent strata form a wedge of onlapping, northward-thinning sequences and parasequences deposited during selected third-order highstands of the Lower Absaroka II second-order sea-level event. Depositional sequences in the distal foreland are bounded by low-relief disconformities of variable duration, in contrast to the angular unconformities and intensely deformed tectonostratigraphic domains that characterize the proximal foreland basin in north-central Nevada.