The goal of this study was to determine whether minimum bed elevation and flow-dependent channel top width are organized in a partially confined, incising gravel-cobbled bed river across a range of discharges. A key result is that the test river exhibited covarying oscillations of minimum bed elevation and channel top width across all flows analyzed. These covarying oscillations were found to be quasiperiodic at channel-forming flows, scaling with the length scales of bars, pools, and riffles.

Many geoscientists use computer models to understand changes in the Earth's system. However, typically each scientist will build their own model from scratch. This paper describes Landlab, a new piece of open-source software designed to simplify creation and use of models of the Earth's surface. It provides off-the-shelf tools to work with models more efficiently, with less duplication of effort. The paper explains and justifies how Landlab works, and describes some models built with it.

Despite a growing interest in landscape evolution models, accuracy assessment of the numerical methods they are based on has received little attention. We test a higher-order flux-limiting finite-volume method to simulate river incision and tectonic displacement. We show that this scheme significantly influences the evolution of simulated landscapes and the spatial and temporal variability of erosion rates. Moreover, it allows for the simulation of lateral tectonic displacement on a fixed grid.

Beryllium-10 is a rare isotope that only forms near to the Earth surface, allowing rock surfaces to be dated. In this paper we develop a numerical model for the evolution of shore platforms and associated ¹⁰Be concentrations to explore the potential for this method to reveal long-term rates of sea cliff retreat. Tides, sea level, cliffs and beaches all modify how rapidly ¹⁰Be accumulates on the shore platform, but there is great potential to measure rates of cliff retreat and platform erosion.

Concepts of landscape equilibrium often enable the interpretation of landscape response to various forces. However, we demonstrate that standard conceptions of landscape equilibrium do not apply in layered rocks. We develop a more general mathematical description of steady state based on a constraint of land surface continuity. In the case of rock layers that are nearly horizontal, this continuity steady state makes substantially different predictions about the nature of equilibrium landscapes.

Soil-depleted hillslopes across the Mediterranean and Europe are thought to be the result of human activity in the last 2–5 millennia. We study a site on the margin between Mediterranean and desert climates which was subject to intense wind-borne soil accumulation for tens of thousands of years but is now mostly bare. Using a numerical simulator we investigated the processes that may have led to this landscape and identified the specific signatures of different processes and drivers.

This study presents a model that accounts for preferential erosion and transport of sediment and soil organic carbon in agricultural landscapes. We applied the model to a small catchment in Belgium for a period of 100 years. After a thorough model evaluation, these simulations shows that sediment and carbon export are highly episodic and that the temporal variability is largely influenced by selective erosion and deposition.

The Lannemezan megafan (northern Pyrenean foreland) was abandoned during the Quaternary and subsequently incised. We use numerical models to explore possible scenarios for the evolution of this megafan. We show that autogenic processes are sufficient to explain its evolution. Climate may have played a second-order role; in contrast base-level change, tectonic activity and flexural isostatic rebound do not appear to have influenced its evolution.

We analyze steady-state bedrock river profiles via a coupled approach. First, we identify channel types from slope–area data. Then, we get concavity and steepness indices of bedrock channels by the chi analysis. We run bivariant linear regression statistic tests for the two methods to examine and eliminate autocorrelation of residuals. We apply the coupled approach to rivers in the Mendocino Triple Junction region of northern California and get reliable results consistent with previous work.

We present results from a natural experiment where bedrock rivers are adjusting to a step change in rock uplift rate and where constraints on the recent pattern of rock uplift exist. We show that while rivers record the relative rock uplift history, quantitative information on timing is masked by complexities in incision processes, changes in river network configuration, and possibly other factors. Our results emphasize caution when interpreting tectonic signals from some bedrock river systems.

More than a century of experiments have demonstrated that many features of natural rivers can be reproduced in the laboratory. Here, we revisit some of these experiments to show that, regardless of the river's planform (single-thread or braiding), laboratory rivers behave like their natural counterparts. We further suggest that sediment transport could be responsible for the transition into a braided river, which could, in turn, explain the scarcity of laboratory single-thread channels.

This study focuses on the creation of a novel CT scan methodology at the crossroads between medical imagery and earth sciences. Using specific density signatures, pebbles and/or organic matter characterizing wet avalanche deposits can be quantified in lake sediments. Starting from AD 1880, we were able to identify eight periods of higher avalanche activity from sediment cores. The use of CT scans, alongside existing approaches, opens up new possibilities in a wide variety of geoscience studies.