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Geochemistry

How rain affects rock and rivers

Nature volume 532, pages 186–187 (2016)Cite this article

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An analysis of the evolution of river channels on Hawaii's Big Island shows that a key factor is the effect of local rainfall on bedrock strength — rather than its effect on river discharge, as is often assumed. See Letter p.223

On page 223 of this issue, Murphy et al.1 report that rainfall has a marked tendency to weaken rock through chemical weathering, so that increases in rainfall raise local rates of river erosion. This finding is valuable because it helps to provide a basis for quantifying the relationship between chemical weathering, which consumes atmospheric carbon dioxide, and erosion by rivers, which sets the pace of landscape-wide erosion in unglaciated mountain ranges.

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Figure 1: The geological carbon cycle.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Alison M. Anders is in the Department of Geology, University of Illinois, Champaign, Illinois 61820, USA.,

    Alison M. Anders

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  1. Alison M. Anders
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Correspondence to Alison M. Anders.

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Anders, A. How rain affects rock and rivers. Nature 532, 186–187 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/532186a

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