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The shaping of erosional landscapes by internal dynamics

An Author Correction to this article was published on 28 April 2021

This article has been updated

Abstract

Erosional landscapes transport sediment downstream, host natural hazards and are geologically active. While perturbations in external forcing, particularly climate and tectonics, sculpt erosional landscapes, similar landforms can be created by internal dynamics, that is, feedbacks between topography, erosion and sediment transport that occur independent of external perturbations. Internal system responses, termed autogenic dynamics, can remain active as landscapes adjust to perturbations in forcing, allowing for complex responses to external perturbations that potentially obscure links between external forcing, topographic form and sedimentary archives. Autogenic dynamics are being increasingly recognized in depositional systems, yet understanding of autogenic dynamics in erosional landscapes is nascent. In this Review, we discuss the mechanisms that contribute to internal dynamics in erosional landscapes. We use examples of autogenic terrace formation, knickpoint formation and river-basin reorganization to show how autogenic dynamics that occur over spatial scales of metres and temporal scales of hours can influence the evolution of mountain ranges over Myr periods. Unravelling the mechanics of autogenic processes allows the interplay of internal dynamics and external forcing to be explored and provides a framework to assess the influence of erosional processes in the geologic record.

Key points

  • Erosional landscapes reflect both internal dynamics and external forcing.

  • River terraces can form autogenically by a meandering river undergoing constant, vertical incision.

  • Autogenic knickpoints may form from the generation of bedrock bedforms, bedrock meander cut-offs and long-lived landslide deposits.

  • Imbalances in the rate of surface-elevation change across drainage divides causes divide migration and can produce complete landscape reorganization.

  • Autogenic dynamics in erosional landscapes can occur over spatial scales of metres to hundreds of kilometres and temporal scales of days to millions of years.

  • Increased understanding of autogenic dynamics will benefit from explicitly accounting for feedbacks between autogenic dynamics and external forcing in physical and numerical models.

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Fig. 1: Internal feedbacks in erosional landscapes.
Fig. 2: Formation of river terraces by autogenic dynamics.
Fig. 3: Autogenic knickpoint development.
Fig. 4: Autogenic knickpoint development under steady and uniform forcing.
Fig. 5: The cascading, non-local feedbacks of stream capture.
Fig. 6: Wholesale reorganization of drainage basins.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank Helen Beeson and Sophie Rothman for sharing data and discussion and the Earth-surface processes and sedimentology community that has inspired this work and improved our understanding of autogenic dynamics and landscape evolution.

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Correspondence to Joel S. Scheingross.

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Glossary

Erosional landscapes

Landscapes in which the morphology and rate of evolution are set by bedrock erosion.

Knickpoints

Sections of a river channel that are locally steeper than the sections above and below.

Autogenic dynamics

Internal feedbacks between topography, erosion and sediment transport that result in non-steady-state behaviour, even under constant external forcing.

Supercritical flow

Flow in which the downstream water velocity is greater than the wave speed.

Complex, non-linear feedbacks

System responses that are not in direct proportion to external forcing, owing largely to internal system feedbacks.

Dynamic equilibrium

For river profiles, the case when rivers maintain constant profile form averaged over long timescales but can deviate from equilibrium form over short timescales, owing to ongoing geomorphic change.

Drainage divides

Ridges or hillslopes that create a boundary between two separate drainage basins.

River-basin reorganization

Changes in the geometry and topology of a network of drainage basins induced by gradual drainage divide migration or discrete capture of drainage area.

Expanding basin

A river basin that gains area owing to divide migration into an adjacent contracting basin.

Contracting basin

A river basin that loses area owing to divide migration from an adjacent expanding basin.

Avulsion

The natural process of river-channel abandonment as flow is diverted from an existing channel to a new channel.

Surface roughness height

A characteristic scale of topographic variation.

Geometric equilibrium

For drainage divides, a state in which divides are stationary because the topology and distribution of drainage areas have adjusted such that erosion rates in all rivers balance the rate of rock uplift.

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Scheingross, J.S., Limaye, A.B., McCoy, S.W. et al. The shaping of erosional landscapes by internal dynamics. Nat Rev Earth Environ 1, 661–676 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43017-020-0096-0

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