Erosion during extreme flood events dominates Holocene canyon evolution in northeast Iceland

The importance of high-magnitude, short-lived events in controlling the evolution of landscapes is not well understood. This matters because during such events, erosion processes can surpass thresholds and cause abrupt landscape changes that have a long-lasting legacy for landscape morphology. We sh...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Main Authors: Baynes, Edwin R. C., Attal, Mikaël, Niedermann, Samuel, Kirstein, Linda A., Dugmore, Andrew J., Naylor, Mark
Format: Text
Language:English
Published: National Academy of Sciences 2015
Subjects:
Physical Sciences
Iceland
Online Access:http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4345614
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25675484
https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1415443112
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Summary:The importance of high-magnitude, short-lived events in controlling the evolution of landscapes is not well understood. This matters because during such events, erosion processes can surpass thresholds and cause abrupt landscape changes that have a long-lasting legacy for landscape morphology. We show that extreme flood events, during which the flow depth exceeds the threshold for erosion through plucking rather than abrasion, are the dominant control on the evolution of a large bedrock canyon in Iceland. The erosive signature of these events is maintained within a dynamic landscape over millennial timescales, emphasizing the importance of episodic extreme events in shaping landscapes.

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