Session Details

This session will bring together researchers focusing on the interaction of geomorphic and tectonic processes in the past and in the present. In particular, we seek tectonicists, geochronologists, quantitative geomorphologists and modelers who are interested in quantifying or qualifying feedbacks between climate variability, glacial and non-glacial denudation rates, and neotectonics in mountain systems, at various spatio-temporal scales relevant to the Quaternary.

Denudation is an integral component of landscape evolution and has been studied on all scales from a single slope up to entire mountain ranges. However, geomorphic histories suggest denudation rates are not evenly distributed in time and space, and are subject to strong fluctuations during periods of variable climate or tectonic activity. Glaciers are especially efficient denudational agents at high altitudes and they can even exceed rock uplift rates in tectonically active orogens, implying that climatic controls on erosion rates may be as important as the tectonic environment in the development of orogens. In particular, the emphasis in this session will be on understanding to what degree contemporary denudation rates reflect landscape evolution throughout the Quaternary era.