TY  - JOUR
A1  - Menges, Johanna
A1  - Hovius, Niels
A1  - Andermann, Christoff
A1  - Dietze, Michael
A1  - Swoboda, Charlie
A1  - Cook, Kristen L.
A1  - Adhikari, Basanta R.
A1  - Vieth-Hillebrand, Andrea
A1  - Bonnet, Stephane
A1  - Reimann, Tony
A1  - Koutsodendris, Andreas
A1  - Sachse, Dirk
T1  - Late holocene landscape collapse of a trans-himalayan dryland
T2  - Geophysical research letters
N2  - Soil degradation is a severe and growing threat to ecosystem services globally. Soil loss is often nonlinear, involving a rapid deterioration from a stable eco-geomorphic state once a tipping point is reached. Soil loss thresholds have been studied at plot scale, but for landscapes, quantitative constraints on the necessary and sufficient conditions for tipping points are rare. Here, we document a landscape-wide eco-geomorphic tipping point at the edge of the Tibetan Plateau and quantify its drivers and erosional consequences. We show that in the upper Kali Gandaki valley, Nepal, soil formation prevailed under wetter conditions during much of the Holocene. Our data suggest that after a period of human pressure and declining vegetation cover, a 20% reduction of relative humidity and precipitation below 200 mm/year halted soil formation after 1.6 ka and promoted widespread gullying and rapid soil loss, with irreversible consequences for ecosystem services.
KW  - geomorphology
KW  - paleoclimate
KW  - human activity
KW  - Tibetan plateau
KW  - late Holocene
Y1  - 2019
UR  - https://publishup.uni-potsdam.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/47631
SN  - 0094-8276
SN  - 1944-8007
VL  - 46
IS  - 23
SP  - 13814
EP  - 13824
PB  - American Geophysical Union
CY  - Washington
ER  -