@article{ScherlerBookhagenWulfetal.2015,
  author    = {Scherler, Dirk and Bookhagen, Bodo and Wulf, Hendrik and Preusser, Frank and Strecker, Manfred},
  title     = {Increased late Pleistocene erosion rates during fluvial aggradation in the Garhwal Himalaya, northern India},
  series = {Earth \& planetary science letters},
  volume    = {428},
  journal   = {Earth \& planetary science letters},
  publisher = {Elsevier},
  address   = {Amsterdam},
  issn      = {0012-821X},
  doi       = {10.1016/j.epsl.2015.06.034},
  pages     = {255 -- 266},
  year      = {2015},
  abstract  = {The response of surface processes to climatic forcing is fundamental for understanding the impacts of climate change on landscape evolution. In the Himalaya, most large rivers feature prominent fill terraces that record an imbalance between sediment supply and transport capacity, presumably due to past fluctuations in monsoon precipitation and/or effects of glaciation at high elevation. Here, we present volume estimates, chronological constraints, and Be-10-derived paleo-erosion rates from a prominent valley fill in the Yamuna catchment, Garhwal Himalaya, to elucidate the coupled response of rivers and hillslopes to Pleistocene climate change. Although precise age control is complicated due to methodological problems, the new data support formation of the valley fill during the late Pleistocene and its incision during the Holocene. We interpret this timing to indicate that changes in discharge and river-transport capacity were major controls. Compared to the present day, late Pleistocene hillslope erosion rates were higher by a factor of similar to 2-4, but appear to have decreased during valley aggradation. The higher late Pleistocene erosion rates are largely unrelated to glacial erosion and could be explained by enhanced sediment production on steep hillslopes due to increased periglacial activity that declined as temperatures increased. Alternatively, erosion rates that decrease during valley aggradation are also consistent with reduced landsliding from threshold hillslopes as a result of rising base levels. In that case, the similarity of paleo-erosion rates near the end of the aggradation period with modern erosion rates might imply that channels and hillslopes are not yet fully coupled everywhere and that present-day hillslope erosion rates may underrepresent long-term incision rates. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{LandgrafZielkeArrowsmithetal.2013,
  author    = {Landgraf, Angela and Zielke, Olaf and Arrowsmith, J. Ram{\´o}n and Ballato, Paolo and Strecker, Manfred and Schildgen, Taylor F. and Friedrich, Anke M. and Tabatabaei, Sayyed-Hassan},
  title     = {Differentiating simple and composite tectonic landscapes using numerical fault slip modeling with an example from the south central Alborz Mountains, Iran},
  series = {Journal of geophysical research : Earth surface},
  volume    = {118},
  journal   = {Journal of geophysical research : Earth surface},
  number    = {3},
  publisher = {American Geophysical Union},
  address   = {Washington},
  issn      = {2169-9003},
  doi       = {10.1002/jgrf.20109},
  pages     = {1792 -- 1805},
  year      = {2013},
  abstract  = {The tectonically driven growth of mountains reflects the characteristics of the underlying fault systems and the applied tectonic forces. Over time, fault networks might be relatively static, but stress conditions could change and result in variations in fault slip orientation. Such a tectonic landscape would transition from a simple to a composite state: the topography of simple landscapes is correlated with a single set of tectonic boundary conditions, while composite landscapes contain inherited topography due to earlier deformation under different boundary conditions. We use fault interaction modeling to compare vertical displacement fields with topographic metrics to differentiate the two types of landscapes. By successively rotating the axis of maximum horizontal stress, we produce a suite of vertical displacement fields for comparison with real landscapes. We apply this model to a transpressional duplex in the south central Alborz Mountains of Iran, where NW oriented compression was superseded by neotectonic NE compression. The consistency between the modeled displacement field and real landforms indicates that the duplex topography is mostly compatible with the modern boundary conditions, but might include a small remnant from the earlier deformation phase. Our approach is applicable for various tectonic settings and represents an approach to identify the changing boundary conditions that produce composite landscapes. It may be particularly useful for identifying changes that occurred in regions where river profiles may no longer record a signal of the change or where the spatial pattern of uplift is complex.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{BookhagenStrecker2012,
  author    = {Bookhagen, Bodo and Strecker, Manfred},
  title     = {Spatiotemporal trends in erosion rates across a pronounced rainfall gradient: Examples from the southern Central Andes},
  series = {Earth \& planetary science letters},
  volume    = {327},
  journal   = {Earth \& planetary science letters},
  number    = {8},
  publisher = {Elsevier},
  address   = {Amsterdam},
  issn      = {0012-821X},
  doi       = {10.1016/j.epsl.2012.02.005},
  pages     = {97 -- 110},
  year      = {2012},
  abstract  = {The tectonic and climatic boundary conditions of the broken foreland and the orogen interior of the southern Central Andes of northwestern Argentina cause strong contrasts in elevation, rainfall, and surface-process regimes. The climatic gradient in this region ranges from the wet, windward eastern flanks (similar to 2 m/yr rainfall) to progressively drier western basins and ranges (similar to 0.1 m/yr) bordering the arid Altiplano-Puna Plateau. In this study, we analyze the impact of spatiotemporal climatic gradients on surface erosion: First, we present 41 new catchment-mean erosion rates derived from cosmogenic nuclide inventories to document spatial erosion patterns. Second, we re-evaluate paleoclimatic records from the Calchaquies basin (66 W, 26 S), a large intermontane basin bordered by high (> 4.5 km) mountain ranges, to demonstrate temporal variations in erosion rates associated with changing climatic boundary conditions during the late Pleistocene and Holocene. Three key observations in this region emphasize the importance of climatic parameters on the efficiency of surface processes in space and time: (1) First-order spatial patterns of erosion rates can be explained by a simple specific stream power (SSP) approach. We explicitly account for discharge by routing high-resolution, satellite derived rainfall. This is important as the steep climatic gradient results in a highly non-linear relation between drainage area and discharge. This relation indicates that erosion rates (ER) scale with ER similar to SSP1.4 on cosmogenic-nuclide time scales. (2) We identify an intrinsic channel-slope behavior in different climatic compartments. Channel slopes in dry areas (< 0.25 m/yr rainfall) are slightly steeper than in wet areas (> 0.75 m/yr) with equal drainage areas, thus compensating lower amounts of discharge with steeper slopes. (3) Erosion rates can vary by an order of magnitude between presently dry (similar to 0.05 mm/yr) and well-defined late Pleistocene humid (similar to 0.5 mm/yr) conditions within an intemontane basin. Overall, we document a strong climatic impact on erosion rates and channel slopes. We suggest that rainfall reaching areas with steeper channel slopes in the orogen interior during wetter climate periods results in intensified sediment mass transport, which is primarily responsible for maintaining the balance between surface uplift, erosion, sediment routing and transient storage in the orogen.},
  language  = {en}
}