Geomorphology articles within Nature Geoscience

Featured

  • Article |

    Wind tunnel experiments and numerical modelling reveal the existence of two distinct ripples on Earth: centimetre-scale impact ripples and decimetre-scale hydrodynamic ripples, akin to those in water and on Mars.

    • Hezi Yizhaq
    • , Katharina Tholen
    •  & Itzhak Katra

  • Comment |

    Human exploration of the Solar System began on the Moon during the space race of the mid-twentieth century. To facilitate documentation and study of the human influence on the Moon, we argue it is time to designate a ‘Lunar Anthropocene’.

    • Justin Allen Holcomb
    • , Rolfe David Mandel
    •  & Karl William Wegmann

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The widespread occurrence of young grabens associated with larger compressional structures on Mercury’s surface suggests contractional tectonism has continued on the planet into geologically recent times.

    • Benjamin Man
    • , David A. Rothery
    •  & Jack Wright

  • Research Briefing |

    Two contrasting sinuosity patterns were identified in lowland rivers on Earth and Mars. The channel sinuosity either substantially increases or remains constant towards the coast. These bimodal patterns reflect the age of the channels and their lateral migration rates, which are associated with sediment supply and discharge variability.

  • News & Views |

    Deciphering the contribution of mantle convection to Earth’s surface elevation remains challenging, but it may have a dominant influence on mountain-building at subduction zones, according to a new study reconstructing the topographic evolution of Calabria.

    • Gregory A. Ruetenik

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Mixing dynamics at river confluences where shallow flows merge in rivers consist of switching between wake and mixing-layer modes, as shown in theoretical and field-scale physical modelling.

    • A. N. Sukhodolov
    • , O. O. Shumilova
    •  & B. L. Rhoads

  • Article |

    A large, slow-moving landslide underlying the city of Bukavu in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has accelerated in recent decades due to hydrological modifications related to urbanization, according to an analysis of aerial photographs and remote-sensing data.

    • Antoine Dille
    • , Olivier Dewitte
    •  & François Kervyn

  • Article |

    Spatial variability in forest dieback during the severe drought in California between 2011 and 2017 can be explained by variations in bedrock composition and thus weatherability, according to analyses of the drought responses a series of geologically distinct sites.

    • Russell P. Callahan
    • , Clifford S. Riebe
    •  & W. Steven Holbrook

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The Thwaites Glacier grounding zone has experienced sustained pulses of rapid retreat over the past two centuries, according to sea floor observations obtained by an autonomous underwater vehicle.

    • Alastair G. C. Graham
    • , Anna Wåhlin
    •  & Robert D. Larter

  • News & Views |

    Sea level rise causes barrier islands to migrate landward. Coastal evolution modelling reveals a centennial-scale lag in island response time and suggests migration rates will increase by 50% within the next century, even if sea level were to stabilize.

    • Laura J. Moore
    •  & A. Brad Murray

  • Article |

    Coastal evolution simulations suggest that the modern retreat of coastal barrier islands is controlled by cumulative sea-level rise over the past several centuries and will accelerate by 50% within a century, even if sea-level rise remains at present rates.

    • Giulio Mariotti
    •  & Christopher J. Hein

  • Editorial |

    Recent missions to the rubble-pile asteroids Bennu and Ryugu have revealed asteroid surfaces that continue to be actively modified by a variety of processes while also recording the geologic history of these small bodies.

  • News & Views |

    The surface of the asteroid Bennu is so weakly bonded that rockslide avalanches are easily triggered by small body impacts, and boulders fractured due to diurnal heating and cooling are readily dislodged. The result is a surface under continuous renewal.

    • Masahiko Arakawa

  • Article |

    Drainage divides between coastal plain channel networks can be constructed through depositional, rather than erosional, processes according to a lidar-based topographic analysis of the Gulf of Mexico coastal plain.

    • John M. Swartz
    • , Benjamin T. Cardenas
    •  & Paola Passalacqua

  • Article |

    Frequent and dispersed small earthquakes may contribute substantially to uplift of subduction margins, according to an analysis of such seismicity in the Peru–Chile and Japan margins.

    • Andrea Madella
    •  & Todd A. Ehlers

  • News & Views |

    Near-surface stress patterns, influenced by topography, control the size and location of the largest landslides — but not necessarily smaller ones — according to a study of mountains at the eastern edge of the Tibetan Plateau.

    • Peter van der Beek

  • Article |

    Stress from tectonics and topography may be the primary control on the size of bedrock landslides, according to a comparison of a stress model with landslide inventories for a mountainous area in eastern Tibet.

    • Gen K. Li
    •  & Seulgi Moon

  • Editorial |

    Interacting geological processes can cause complex hazard cascades that threaten life and property. Past events are instructive, but physical understanding must be paired with effective communication to minimize the risks posed by these events.

  • Article |

    Constraints on the denudation of the Southern Alps over the last glacial cycle indicate a nonlinear influence of climate on landscape evolution in glaciated areas, according to a beryllium isotope record measured from quartz in a sequence of Mediterranean turbidites.

    • Apolline Mariotti
    • , Pierre-Henri Blard
    •  & Karim Keddadouche

  • Article |

    Some valleys in the southern highlands of Mars may have formed by subglacial erosion, consistent with a cold and icy early Mars, according to a statistical analysis of valley morphometry.

    • Anna Grau Galofre
    • , A. Mark Jellinek
    •  & Gordon R. Osinski

  • Perspective |

    Geophysical and meteorological measurements by NASA’s InSight lander on Mars reveal a planet that is seismically active and provide information about the interior, surface and atmospheric workings of Mars.

    • W. Bruce Banerdt
    • , Suzanne E. Smrekar
    •  & Mark Wieczorek

  • Article |

    River meanders migrate much faster in barren than in vegetated landscapes, according to global analyses of active meander migration of both unvegetated and vegetated rivers. The difference in migration rates suggests that the rise of land plants had a significant influence on landscapes.

    • Alessandro Ielpi
    •  & Mathieu G. A. Lapôtre

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