Articles | Volume 14, issue 3
https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-14-417-2026
https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-14-417-2026
Research article
 | 
02 Jun 2026
Research article |  | 02 Jun 2026

Parameter estimation of river incision models of soft sedimentary rocks – a case study on the Kamikita Coastal Plain, northeast Japan

Shizuka Takai, Tomoji Sanga, Taro Shimada, and Seiji Takeda

Cited articles

Adams, B. A., Whipple, K. X., Forte, A. M., Heimsath, M., and Hodges, K.V.: Climate controls on erosion in tectonically active landscapes, Sci. Adv., 6, eaaz3166, https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aaz3166, 2020. 
AIST (National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology): The 2016 fiscal year project report of expenses for commission of safety review for geological disposal of radioactive waste: Evaluation methods toward safety review – geological information section, https://www.nsr.go.jp/data/000192112.pdf (last access: 5 December 2025), 2015 (in Japanese). 
AIST (National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology): The 2017 fiscal year project report of expenses for commission of safety control for nuclear power plant facilities: Reconnaissance investigation for long-term prediction of natural disaster, https://www.nsr.go.jp/data/000186554.pdf (last access: 5 December 2025), 2016 (in Japanese). 
AIST (National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology): Seamless digital geological map of Japan V2 1 : 200 000, Original edition, https://gbank.gsj.jp/seamless/ (last access: 5 December 2025), 2025. 
Alcalde, J., Flude, S., Wilkinson, M., Johnson, G., Edlmann, K., Bond, C. E., Scott, V., Gilfillan, S. M. V., Ogaya, X., and Haszeldine, R. S.: Estimating geological CO2 storage security to deliver on climate mitigation, Nat. Commun., 9, 2201, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-04423-1, 2018. 
Download
Short summary
We estimated bedrock river incision parameters for soft sedimentary rock which were lacking in previous global compilations. In the Kamikita Coastal Plain, Japan, the slope exponent was greater than one (i.e., non-linearity of the incision process), which can be explained by past sea-level changes. The estimated erosion coefficient was almost agreed with the global relationship between unconfined compressive strength, supporting the significant influences of bedrock lithology on the coefficient.
Share