Articles | Volume 9, issue 4
https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-9-823-2021
https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-9-823-2021
Research article
 | 
02 Aug 2021
Research article |  | 02 Aug 2021

Pulsed carbon export from mountains by earthquake-triggered landslides explored in a reduced-complexity model

Thomas Croissant, Robert G. Hilton, Gen K. Li, Jamie Howarth, Jin Wang, Erin L. Harvey, Philippe Steer, and Alexander L. Densmore

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Cited articles

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Arndt, S., Jørgensen, B. B., Larowe, D. E., Middelburg, J. J., Pancost, R. D., and Regnier, P.: Quantifying the degradation of organic matter in marine sediments: A review and synthesis, Earth-Sci. Rev., 123, 53–86, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.earscirev.2013.02.008, 2013. 
Berhe, A. A., Harte, J., Harden, J. W., and Torn, M. S.: The Significance of the Erosion-induced Terrestrial Carbon Sink, Bioscience, 57, 337–346, https://doi.org/10.1641/B570408, 2007. 
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Short summary
In mountain ranges, earthquake-derived landslides mobilize large amounts of organic carbon (OC) by eroding soil from hillslopes. We propose a model to explore the role of different parameters in the post-seismic redistribution of soil OC controlled by fluvial export and heterotrophic respiration. Applied to the Southern Alps, our results suggest that efficient OC fluvial export during the first decade after an earthquake promotes carbon sequestration.