@article{KirbyHarkins2013, author = {Kirby, Eric and Harkins, Nathan}, title = {Distributed deformation around the eastern tip of the Kunlun fault}, series = {INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF EARTH SCIENCES}, volume = {102}, journal = {INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF EARTH SCIENCES}, number = {7}, publisher = {SPRINGER}, address = {NEW YORK}, issn = {1437-3254}, doi = {10.1007/s00531-013-0872-x}, pages = {1759 -- 1772}, year = {2013}, abstract = {Whether active strain within the Indo-Asian collision zone is primarily localized along major strike-slip fault systems or is distributed throughout the intervening crust between faults remains uncertain. Despite refined estimates of slip rates along many of the major fault zones, relatively little is known about how displacement along these structures is accommodated at fault terminations. Here, we show that a systematic decrease in left-lateral slip rates along the eastern similar to 200 km of the Kunlun fault, from > 10 mm/year to < 1 mm/year, is coincident with high topography in the Anyemaqen Shan and with a broad zone of distributed shear and clockwise vorticity within the Tibetan Plateau. Geomorphic analysis of river longitudinal profiles, coupled with inventories of cosmogenic radionuclides in fluvial sediment, reveal correlated variations in fluvial relief and erosion rate across the Anyemaqen Shan that reflect ongoing differential rock uplift across the range. Our results imply that the termination of the Kunlun fault system is accommodated by a combination of distributed crustal thickening and by clockwise rotation of the eastern fault segments.}, language = {en} } @article{MengesHoviusAndermannetal.2019, author = {Menges, Johanna and Hovius, Niels and Andermann, Christoff and Dietze, Michael and Swoboda, Charlie and Cook, Kristen L. and Adhikari, Basanta R. and Vieth-Hillebrand, Andrea and Bonnet, Stephane and Reimann, Tony and Koutsodendris, Andreas and Sachse, Dirk}, title = {Late holocene landscape collapse of a trans-himalayan dryland}, series = {Geophysical research letters}, volume = {46}, journal = {Geophysical research letters}, number = {23}, publisher = {American Geophysical Union}, address = {Washington}, issn = {0094-8276}, doi = {10.1029/2019GL084192}, pages = {13814 -- 13824}, year = {2019}, abstract = {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.}, language = {en} }