Discerning Between Tectonic and Climatic Forcing in Landscape Evolution

Dear Colleagues,

The Earth's surface configuration is the product of the interaction between tectonic forcing and climate processes. Tectonic processes raise the surface by isostatic uplift, faulting, and folding. The increase in regional base level causes an increase in the steepness of the river channel and of the hillslope and, therefore, in erosion rates. Topography influences orographically localized precipitation, increasing river discharge and incision. This, in turn, leads to the occurrence of more gravitational events which bring a large volume of sediments to channels. On the other hand, climate influences surface uplift by controlling the erosion rates. Climate change through time has important environmental implications, affecting the nature–human being interaction. Indeed, all these natural processes, often exacerbated by human activity, can result in catastrophic events which cause not only life loss, but also social and economic damages. As the repository of the tectonic and climatic signal, topography can be seen as an archive of information on the role of these two factors in its evolution. However, the dynamic and non-linear nature of the interaction between tectonics, climate, and landscape evolution makes it difficult to discern between tectonic and climatic contribution to topography, despite the large number of tools available (e.g., high-resolution DEMs, analog and numerical models of landscape evolution, dating methods). From this perspective, investigating the influence of tectonic and climate forces on landscape evolution is crucial to better understand the present Earth's surface configuration and to predict its future evolution, as well as the relation of this to global warming and geohazards mitigation.

Potential topics include, but are not limited to:

• numerical and analog models of landscape evolution;
• surface uplift and climate change;
• landslides and climate changes;
• drainage system analysis;
• reconstruction of exumation history;
• active tetonics landscapes;
• stable isotopes analysis; and
• geohazards.

Dr. Andrea Sembroni
Guest Editor

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• climate change
• landscape evolution
• topography
• landslides
• geohazards
• surface uplift
• active tectonics
• fluvial morphometry
• erosion processes