In geology, exhumation is the process by which a parcel of buried rock approaches Earth's surface.[1]
It differs from the related ideas of rock uplift and surface uplift in that it is explicitly measured relative to the surface of the Earth, rather than with reference to some absolute reference frame, such as the Earth's geoid.[1]
Exhumation of buried rocks should be considered as two different categories namely, exhumation by denudation/erosion or exhumation by tectonic processes followed by erosion. In the latter case, rocks (or rock packages) from deeper crustal levels (meter to kilometer depths below the Earth's surface) are brought towards the Earth's surface (i.e.shallower crustal levels) by crustal thickening (see compared also tectonic uplift) and/or extensional tectonics and are subsequently exposed by erosion. Often exhumation involves a complex interaction between crustal thickening, extensional tectonics and erosion.
Notably, there are overlapping characteristics between the different modes of burial and exhumation and distinction and between them relies on a series of parameters such as:[2]
Detailed and integrated geologic modelling, structural geology, geochronology and metamorphic geological disciplines are key to understanding these processes.