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How does thermal expansion of the lithosphere produce plateaus?

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continental landform Davis's proposed landscape-development states. The morphology shown is not actually time-indicative. For example, A could be a gully system in soft sediment or a canyon such as the Royal Gorge in Colorado, which is millions of years old. The ridge-ravine topography of B would normally develop under humid conditions, but the river meandering on alluvium indicates a prior or extraneous non-humid aggrading mechanism. The riverine plain of C implies a complex history of planation and aggradation in a current fluvial mode.

Thermal expansion of the lithosphere is a primary tectonic process that creates plateaus by causing the surface to rise. This occurs when the lithosphere underlying a broad area is heated rapidly, often due to the upwelling of hot material from the underlying asthenosphere.1

As rocks are heated, they expand, leading to the warming and thermal expansion of the uppermost mantle. This process generates an uplift of the overlying surface. If the region was previously low-lying and lacked prominent relief, the resulting uplift typically maintains a relatively flat, uniform elevation, forming a plateau.21

Notable examples of plateaus formed through this process include the Ethiopian Plateau and parts of the high plateau in East Africa. While this thermal mechanism can be associated with volcanism and rift valleys, these features are not required for the formation of such plateaus.21