Landscapes Live

Thursday, 12 June 2025 at 16:00 CEST

Joel Wilner (Dartmouth College, United States)

Erosion showdown: glacial vs. fluvial erosion rates and the limits to timescale-dependence

For centuries, geologists have debated the erosive power of glaciation. At one extreme, glaciers and ice sheets have been viewed as non-erosive protective blankets, while at the other extreme, they are considered among Earth’s most potent erosive forces. Consequently, the question of whether glaciers or rivers are, on average, more effective erosive agents remains contentious. This problem is further complicated by the “Sadler effect,” which describes how erosion and deposition rates appear to decrease as the timescale of observation increases, posing a considerable challenge for directly comparing glacial and fluvial erosion rates. The Sadlerian dilemma is particularly relevant to discussions of Cenozoic paleoclimate, where intensified erosion due to enhanced glaciation has been argued to be both a cause and consequence of Cenozoic cooling. 

In this presentation, we present a comprehensive global compilation of glacial and fluvial erosion rates supplemented by simple numerical experiments. Our analysis shows that globally averaged glacial erosion rates surpass fluvial erosion rates by an order of magnitude (0.51 mm/year vs. 0.067 mm/year), a difference that cannot be attributed to the Sadler effect. We further demonstrate that the Sadler effect arises from three distinct biases: a measurement thickness bias (primarily related to the average penetration depth of cosmic rays into rocks), an erosion-redeposition bias (reflecting the bidirectional nature of certain geological processes whereby previous progress may be undone), and a non-observation bias (resulting from unobserved erosionally or depositionally quiescent intervals). Collectively, these findings support the notion that erosion rates increased with Cenozoic cooling and glaciation, highlighting the global importance of glacial erosion across diverse timescales.

Zoom link: https://gfz-de.zoom-x.de/meeting/register/0ELr2ojrSOW3thSRgSm3bw 

Joel's Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=zfRosDIAAAAJ&hl=en

Thursday, 19 June 2025 at 16:00 CEST

Andrew Gunn (Monash University, Australia)

TBD

Zoom link:

Andrew's website: https://research.monash.edu/en/persons/andrew-gunn

Thursday, 26 June 2025 at 16:00 CEST

Zhiwei Xu (Nanjing University, China)

TBD

Zoom link:

Zhiwei's website: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=kZLbPDEAAAAJ&hl=en

Thursday, 5 June 2025 at 16:00 CEST

Dan Parsons (Loughborough University, United Kingdom)

The evolution of flood hazard and risk: the impact of morphological change

Now on LL's Youtube page: https://www.lboro.ac.uk/subjects/geography-environment/staff/dan-parsons/

Thursday, 22 May 2025 at 16:00 CEST

Jingtao Lai (University of Glasgow, United Kingdom)

Landscape transience and response times in glaciated mountain ranges

Now on LL's Youtube page: https://youtu.be/OTfcbym7WJ8 

Thursday, 15 May 2025 at 16:00 CEST

Audrey Margirier (University of Lausanne & University of Grenoble Alpes)

Constraining sediment transport and relief evolution with luminescence dating and low-temperature thermochronology

Now on LL's Youtube page: https://youtu.be/siHkjx2B9rk?feature=shared 

Thursday, 8 May 2025 at 16:00 CEST

Jaap Nienhuis (Utrecht University, Netherlands)

Global Delta Morphodynamics: why and how?

Now on LL's Youtube page: https://youtu.be/qpmlqcnkMrs 

Thursday, 24 April 2025 at 16:00 CEST

Sinéad Lyster (Pennsylvania State University)

The impact of vegetation on delta landscapes and stratigraphy: Insights from physical experiments

Presentation now on LL's Youtube page: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xGKVL-2HMc 

Thursday, 17 April 2025 at 16:00 CEST

Yaquan Chang (ETH Zurich, Switzerland)

Tectono-geomorphic controls on plant biodiversity of the Hengduan Mountains

Presentation now on LL's Youtube page: https://youtu.be/4-3VU0iVf6s 

Thursday, 10 April 2025 at 16:00 CEST

Julia Cisneros (Virginia Tech, USA)

 Shaped by Nature: Bedforms as Windows into Environmental Systems

Talk is now on LL's Youtube channel: https://youtu.be/6uOiu98vCjM

 Thursday, 3 April 2025 at 16:00 CEST

Victor Sacek (Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil)

Andean geodynamics and the landscape evolution in Amazonia

Talk is now on LL's Youtube channel: https://youtu.be/b44ScdIBVEg 

Thursday, 20 March 2025 at 16:00 CET

James Gearon (Indiana University Bloomington, USA)

How River Avulsion Works

Talk is now LL's Youtube channel: https://youtu.be/wNDyq7YB30c

Thursday, 13 March 2025 at 16:00 CET

Paul Bierman (University of Vermont, USA)

A landscape under the ice: Camp Century, Greenland

Talk is now on LL's Youtube channel: https://youtu.be/62_9NHPdC54

Thursday, 05 December 2024 at 16:00 CET

Edward Rhodes (University of Sheffield, U.K.)

Developing luminescence chronologies for active tectonic regions

Talk is now on LL's Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FI1YMtZ4W14

Thursday, 28 November 2024 at 16:00 CET

Lindsay Schoenbohm (University of Toronto, Canada)

Rocks Matter: why it is important to consider lithologic resistance to erosion in landscape evolution 

Talk is now on LL's Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OwU2C26c4Nc

Thursday, 7 November 2024 at 16:00 CET

Victoria Milanez Fernandes (GFZ, Germany)

Pleistocene landscape evolution above the Patagonian Slab window

Talk is now on LL's Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCzNCwaOdrI

Thursday, 31 October 2024 at 16:00 CEST

Tancrède Leger (University of Lausanne, Switzerland)

A data-consistent model of the last glaciation in the Alps achieved with physics-driven AI

Talk is now on LL's Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZpbp5doAIk

Thursday, 24 October 2024 at 16:00 CEST

Aurélie Davranche (University of Helsinki, Finland; University of Angers, France)

From field to space: multisource data to show how a nature based management can help to cope for sea level rise in the Mediterranean area 

Talk is now on LL's Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41Weju45g0w

Thursday, 17 October 2024 at 16:00 CEST

Gareth Roberts (Imperial College London, UK)

Embracing scale and erosional randomness to understand landscape evolution

Talk is now on LL's Youtube channel: https://youtu.be/duqckTHGtI4

Thursday, 10 October 2024 at 16:00 CEST

Jérôme Lavé (CNRS, CRPG Nancy, France)

Giant collapses of high Himalayan peaks and their implications on the Himalayan landscapes

Talk is now on LL's YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/1pE68ZXTJ1A

Thursday, 3 October 2024 at 16:00 CEST

Eric Barefoot (University of California Riverside, USA)

Experimental Constraints on the Morphology of Canyons Formed by Crater Overtopping

Talk is now on LL's YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/WPZamy_EyS8?feature=shared

Thursday, 6 June 2024 at 16:00 CEST

Nakul Deshpande (NC State University, USA)

The Perpetual Fragility of Creeping Hillslopes

Talk is now on LL's YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/JuRl9coHMIo

Thursday, 28 March 2024 at 16:00 CET

Katy Burrows (ESA)

Resolving the impacts of earthquakes, storms, and prolonged rainfall on shallow landsliding 

Talk is now on LL's YouTube  channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72yxOMXzfNs

Thursday, 4 April 2024 at 16:00 CEST

Albert Cabré (GET, Geoscience Environment Toulouse, France)

Geomorphic work of recent episodic rainstorm events in arid landscapes: examples from the Atacama Desert

Talk is now on LL's YouTube  channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKF473Pv1No

Thursday, 11 April 2024 at 16:00 CEST

Scott Jess (Washington State University, USA)

The ups and downs of extensional tectonics

Talk is now on LL's YouTube  channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQQFXh5aYIw

Thursday, 2 May 2024 at 16:00 CEST

Danica Roth (Colorado School of Mines, USA)

Unveiling nonlocal landscape dynamics: exploring hillslope processes beyond the diffusive paradigm 

Talk is now on LL's YouTube  channel: https://youtu.be/VJcZBe6thqQ

Thursday, 9 May 2024 at 16:00 CEST

Sam Woor (University of British Columbia & University of the Fraser Valley, Canada)

Illuminating landscape responses to Quaternary climate change with luminescence

Talk is now on LL's YouTube  channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDmnPb-FiLA

Thursday, 16 May 2024 at 16:00 CEST

Virginia Ruiz-Villanueva (University of Lausanne & University of Bern, Switzerland)

Quantifying and monitoring instream large wood supply and transfer in rivers 

Talk is now on LL's YouTube  channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38oT5MwHgX4 

Thursday, 23 May 2024 at 16:00 CEST

Claire Masteller (Washington University in St. Louis, USA)

Wiggles in width:  Insights into alluvial channel dynamics from variability in high-resolution downstream hydraulic geometry

Talk is now on LL's YouTube  channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BMizP1choAE