A mass balance and isostasy model: Exploring the interplay between magmatism, deformation and surface erosion in continental arcs using central Sierra Nevada as a case study

ABSTRACT A one‐dimensional mass balance and isostasy model is used to explore the feedbacks between magmatism, deformation and surface erosion and how they together affect crustal thickness, elevation, and exhumation in a continental arc. The model is applied to central Sierra Nevada in California by parameterizing magma volume and deformational strain. The simulations capture the first‐order Mesozoic‐Cenozoic histories of crustal thickness, elevation and erosion including moderate Triassic crustal thickening and Jurassic crustal thinning followed by a strong Cretaceous crustal thickening, the latter resulting in a 60–70 km‐thick crust plus a 20 km‐thick arc eclogitic root, and a ∼5 km elevation in the Late Cretaceous. The contribution of contractional deformation to the crustal thickening is twice that of the magmatism. The contribution to elevation from magmatism is dampened by the formation of an eclogitic root. Erosion rate increases with the magnitude of crustal thickening (by magmatism and deformation) but its peak rate always lags behind the peak rate of thickening. We propose that thickened crust initially promotes magma generation by downward transport of materials to the magma source region, which may eventually jam the mantle wedge affecting the retro‐arc underthrusting process and reducing arc magmatism.