New models of eastern Tibetan hillsides show that steep slopes with “excess” rock last longer on average than their shallower counterparts.
landscape & topography
Posted inEditors' Highlights
The Lost Topography Around Continental Rifts
Numerical models provide quantitative constraints on topography lost to erosion, showing how the sediment influx in a sedimentary basin reflects its tectonic and topographic evolution.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Running Water on Topographic Data to Better Delineate Channels
Two-dimensional hydraulic simulations are a powerful tool to identify process domains such as channels, hillslopes, and floodplains in high-resolution topographic data.
Posted inScience Updates
A Sharper Look at the World’s Rivers and Catchments
Digital hydrographic maps have transformed global environmental studies and resource management. A major database update will provide even clearer and more complete views of Earth’s waterways.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Debris Flows Keep the Landscape on the Straight and Narrow
New methods for identifying debris flow-shaped channels improve hazard quantification and highlight how high uplift rates and fractured bedrock facilitate debris flow-dominated landscape evolution.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Moving Earthquake-Generated Sediment Through a Landscape
Ten years after the Wenchuan earthquake, most of the new sediment it produced remained on the landscape, indicating a long recovery time.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Fresh Approaches to Processing GRACE Data
Two studies showcase new methods for analyzing GRACE data that better match the land surface, producing clearer estimates of mass variations.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
What Caused the Open Habitat Transition in the West-Central U.S.?
Between 26-15 My ago, forests covering west-central North America gave way to open, grassy habitats. Now, oxygen isotope records suggest this shift is owed to drier winters and increased aridity.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Western U.S. “Megafloods” Might Not Have Been So Mega
The flooding that carved eastern Washington State 20,000 to 12,000 years ago could have been 80% smaller than the canyons’ volume today.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
High Mountain Rain Has Scientists Rethinking River Basics
Rainfall varies with elevation, and such precipitation gradients can have profound and often counterintuitive effects on topography.