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Geomorphology

Nature, nurture and landscape

Nature volume 426, pages 612–613 (2003)Cite this article

Those studying erosion in mountain regions wrestle with factors such as what builds mountains, and how climate affects erosive forces. Yet perhaps a physically based theory is what is most needed.

The endless debate over the relative importance of nature and nurture in child development has its equivalent in geomorphology. In this case, the argument is about the roles of tectonics and climate in mountain erosion. Tectonics (nature) sets the initial conditions by raising Earth's surface and, where active, renewing topography. Climate (nurture) shapes the surface into its various forms through its effect on glaciers and rivers. Three papers in this issue1,2,3 and another in Geology4 take the argument forward by isolating and evaluating the importance of certain climatic and tectonic factors in erosion.

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Figure 1: Peak erosion — one of the areas of Taiwan studied by Dadson et al.3.

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  1. Department of Geological Sciences, and the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Science (CIRES), University of Colorado at Boulder, Boulder, 80309-0399, Colorado, USA

    Peter Molnar

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  1. Peter Molnar
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Molnar, P. Nature, nurture and landscape. Nature 426, 612–613 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1038/426612a

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/426612a

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