Articles | Volume 7, issue 1
https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-7-107-2019
https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-7-107-2019
Research article
 | Highlight paper
 | 
25 Jan 2019
Research article | Highlight paper |  | 25 Jan 2019

Long-term erosion of the Nepal Himalayas by bedrock landsliding: the role of monsoons, earthquakes and giant landslides

Odin Marc, Robert Behling, Christoff Andermann, Jens M. Turowski, Luc Illien, Sigrid Roessner, and Niels Hovius

Related authors

Decadal-scale decay of landslide-derived fluvial suspended sediment after Typhoon Morakot
Gregory A. Ruetenik, Ken L. Ferrier, and Odin Marc
Earth Surf. Dynam., 12, 863–881, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-12-863-2024,https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-12-863-2024, 2024
Short summary
Steady-state forms of channel profiles shaped by debris flow and fluvial processes
Luke A. McGuire, Scott W. McCoy, Odin Marc, William Struble, and Katherine R. Barnhart
Earth Surf. Dynam., 11, 1117–1143, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-11-1117-2023,https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-11-1117-2023, 2023
Short summary
Using Sentinel-1 radar amplitude time series to constrain the timings of individual landslides: a step towards understanding the controls on monsoon-triggered landsliding
Katy Burrows, Odin Marc, and Dominique Remy
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 22, 2637–2653, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-22-2637-2022,https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-22-2637-2022, 2022
Short summary
Insights from the topographic characteristics of a large global catalog of rainfall-induced landslide event inventories
Robert Emberson, Dalia B. Kirschbaum, Pukar Amatya, Hakan Tanyas, and Odin Marc
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 22, 1129–1149, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-22-1129-2022,https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-22-1129-2022, 2022
Short summary
Controls on the grain size distribution of landslides in Taiwan: the influence of drop height, scar depth and bedrock strength
Odin Marc, Jens M. Turowski, and Patrick Meunier
Earth Surf. Dynam., 9, 995–1011, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-9-995-2021,https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-9-995-2021, 2021
Short summary

Related subject area

Physical: Geomorphology (including all aspects of fluvial, coastal, aeolian, hillslope and glacial geomorphology)
Investigating the celerity of propagation for small perturbations and dispersive sediment aggradation under a supercritical flow
Hasan Eslami, Erfan Poursoleymanzadeh, Mojtaba Hiteh, Keivan Tavakoli, Melika Yavari Nia, Ehsan Zadehali, Reihaneh Zarrabi, and Alessio Radice
Earth Surf. Dynam., 13, 437–454, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-13-437-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-13-437-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short communication: Multiscale topographic complexity analysis with pyTopoComplexity
Larry Syu-Heng Lai, Adam M. Booth, Alison R. Duvall, and Erich Herzig
Earth Surf. Dynam., 13, 417–435, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-13-417-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-13-417-2025, 2025
Short summary
Sub-surface processes and heat fluxes at coarse blocky Murtèl rock glacier (Engadine, eastern Swiss Alps): seasonal ice and convective cooling render rock glaciers climate-robust
Dominik Amschwand, Jonas Wicky, Martin Scherler, Martin Hoelzle, Bernhard Krummenacher, Anna Haberkorn, Christian Kienholz, and Hansueli Gubler
Earth Surf. Dynam., 13, 365–401, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-13-365-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-13-365-2025, 2025
Short summary
Influence of alluvial slope on avulsion in river deltas
Octria A. Prasojo, Trevor B. Hoey, Amanda Owen, and Richard D. Williams
Earth Surf. Dynam., 13, 349–363, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-13-349-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-13-349-2025, 2025
Short summary
Surficial sediment remobilization by shear between sediment and water above tsunamigenic megathrust ruptures: experimental study
Chloé Seibert, Cecilia McHugh, Chris Paola, Leonardo Seeber, and James Tucker
Earth Surf. Dynam., 13, 341–348, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-13-341-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-13-341-2025, 2025
Short summary

Cited articles

Abrahami, R., van der Beek, P., Huyghe, P., Hardwick, E., and Carcaillet, J.: Decoupling of long-term exhumation and short-term erosion rates in the Sikkim Himalaya, Earth Planet. Sc. Lett., 433, 76–88, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2015.10.039, 2016. 
Ali, K. F. and De Boer, D. H.: Spatial patterns and variation of sus-pended sediment yield in the upper Indus River basin, northern Pakistan, J. Hydrol., 334, 368–387, 2007. 
Andermann, C., Crave, A., Gloaguen, R., Davy, P., and Bonnet, S.: Connecting source and transport: Suspended sediments in the Nepal Himalayas, Earth Planet. Sc. Lett., 351–352, 158–170, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2012.06.059, 2012. 
Avouac, J.-P.: From Geodetic Imaging of Seismic and Aseismic Fault Slip to Dynamic Modeling of the Seismic Cycle, Annu. Rev. Earth Pl. Sc., 43, 233–271, https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-earth-060614-105302, 2015. 
Avouac, J.-P., Meng, L., Wei, S., Wang, T., and Ampuero, J.-P.: Lower edge of locked Main Himalayan Thrust unzipped by the 2015 Gorkha earthquake, Nat. Geosci., 8, p. 708, https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo2518, 2015. 
Download
Short summary
We mapped eight monsoon-related (> 100 m2) and large (> 0.1 km2) landslides in the Nepal Himalayas since 1970. Adding inventories of Holocene landslides, giant landslides (> 1 km3), and landslides from the 2015 Gorkha earthquake, we constrain the size–frequency distribution of monsoon- and earthquake-induced landslides. Both contribute ~50 % to a long-term (> 10 kyr) total erosion of ~2 mm yr-1, matching the long-term exhumation rate. Large landslides rarer than 10Be sampling time drive erosion.
Share