TopoToolbox is a software package that enables users to analyze maps of the Earth's surface. The newest version of TopoToolbox makes it accessible to more users, makes it easier to integrate TopoToolbox with other software used to study the Earth's surface and establishes a new development process to ensure that TopoToolbox continues to meet the needs of its community of users. We present a series of examples to demonstrate how users can incorporate the new TopoToolbox version into their work.

We studied sediments along the Chandipur coast to understand the signatures left by tropical storms. By combining grain-size analysis (granulometry), quartz grain morphoscopy (grain shape analysis), and SEM-based microtextural analysis, we distinguished storm overwash deposits from sediments transported by normal coastal processes. The findings support better reconstruction of past storms and coastal change.

Himalayan rivers respond to climatic forcing across multiple timescales. We investigate fluvial terraces along the Ravi and Suil rivers in the western Higher Himalaya using field work and various dating methods. Results show that past sediment accumulation and incision cycles can be linked to climatic oscillations. All terrace surfaces were affected by reworking, ~2–10 times more recent than deposition, and we propose that mass wasting and glacial lake outburst floods shaped these surfaces.

By combining innovative dating techniques and glacier modelling, we studied how sediment is produced, transported, and stored within the Mer de Glace catchment in the French Alps. We show that whilst sediment is transported through the glacier in less than a millennium, some sediment can be stored for many thousands of years before being re-entrained into glacial transport. This long-term storage affects how landscapes evolve and how climate signals are preserved during deglaciation.

We have developed an efficient way of considering how large braided rivers move and store sediment over large areas by combining detailed riverbed maps with simplified flow models. We found that the common moderate flows, and how they are changed by water use, are important in controlling where sand accumulates. This helps explain patterns of deposition in braided rivers, and provides a practical prediction of depositional areas under altered flows for river management.

Drylands are often shaped by scattered plants that create small "islands" with better conditions for growth. We combined drone imagery with field data to study the surface patterns linked to such islands in heavily browsed argan forests. We found that trees influence their surroundings beyond their crowns, especially toward the north-east, which is likely due to wind and shade rather than water flow. However, as trees degrade, their protective effect declines rapidly.

Coupled models of geodynamics and landform evolution are receiving growing  interest. Such coupled models, however, typically involve strong horizontal movement and deformation of the crust, which likely cause problems if landform evolution is simulated on a fixed grid. These problems are discussed in this note and potential solutions are presented.

The expected spacing of step-pool sequences has long been mired in debate, hampering stream restoration efforts. We define a continuum to evaluate the degree of regularity and randomness across step-pools from field observations, flume experiments, and numerical simulations and show that the full range is occupied without one formation mechanism dominating. Bounds related to channel hydraulics provide a way to track dynamic step spacing without assuming a mechanism.

Sediments move through mountain landscapes during heavy rainfall. Climate change will alter the occurrence of heavy rainfall, potentially changing sediment transport. To understand how, we investigate how mountain sediment transport responded to past climate changes. We show that sediments in small, steep catchments are moved by less extreme precipitation compared to larger, gentler catchments. This means that catchment form and area control future sediment transport in a changing climate.

Plants help protect drylands from wind erosion, but wind can accelerate along plant sides, increasing erosion risk. We measured ground-level wind forces around a shrub over two years and found stronger spatial variability than previously reported, with substantial changes over time. Wind effects along plant sides did not depend on wind speed but varied with plant growth stage. Including these patterns can improve predictions of erosion and dust emission.

Badlands are heavily eroded landscapes where plants play a major role in controlling erosion. Using 40 years of aerial and satellite images of a badland site in the French Alps, we found that vegetation increased from 39 %–46 %, mainly due to young pines spreading onto bare ground. Vegetation colonization and retreat are linked to erosion and slope stability, seed dispersal, and climate. Understanding these relationships is needed to better predict how these landscapes may change in the future.

Landslides triggered by recent earthquakes are well known, but how far shaking spread during prehistoric earthquakes is unclear. We studied thousands of landslides in western Washington to test whether they record past earthquakes. We inferred landslide ages from their roughness and compared them with known ancient earthquakes. Our results show that large prehistoric earthquakes caused widespread landsliding over the past 4000 years, improving understanding of earthquake hazards and future risk.

When groundwater emerges at the surface with sufficient force, it erodes the landscape and forms river networks. We reproduce this process in laboratory experiments to investigate the interplay between network growth and the resulting modification of surrounding groundwater flow. We present a numerical method which reconstructs the groundwater flow in the experimental aquifer. We find that groundwater converges toward channel tips, explaining why network growth occurs preferentially at the tips.

Sediment cover in bedrock rivers can protect or expose bedrock to incision, yet little is known about sediment storage dynamics in deep canyons since it is difficult to observe the bed. We use repeat bed surveys to identify changes in storage, observing vertical changes up to 15 m. Local flow and channel shape determine where storage occurs, yet storage can vary plenty over a single footprint. The location and timing of sediment inputs to the river influence whether storage is gained or lost.

This study shows dune mobility can be predicted using a simple statistical method based only on meteorological data from nearby weather stations and freely available climate indices. The model provides an accessible, low-cost way to anticipate future dune behavior. This information is highly valuable for local communities and decision-makers, as it supports better land-use planning and helps reduce potential damage caused by dune migration, contributing to the management of coastal environments.

This study focusses on the Gamburtsev Subglacial Mountains, a 600 km-long mountain range that is completely hidden beneath the Antarctic Ice Sheet. We look at the valley networks within the Gamburtsevs and use these to understand how the mountains formed. Our main findings are that the valleys were first cut by rivers that existed before Antarctica was glaciated, the shape of the valleys is affected by the bedrock geology, and the mountains are probably younger than previously thought.

The impact of sediment grains on the riverbed is a key driver of bedrock erosion yet is rarely included in studies of landscape evolution. We propose an equation to address this issue by considering the distinction between grain lift and grain impact. We solved and analysed these equations for simple cases, such as the downstream evolution of a riverbed, and implemented them in a numerical code that simulated the retreat of a knickpoint.

We studied how river channels on an alluvial fan shift and reorganize over time. Using a physical experiment and high-resolution images, we tracked how the main channel moved and when it suddenly jumped to new paths. We found that small changes in how sediment moves across the fan can delay or prevent major shifts, showing that fans often regulate themselves in ways that help explain their unpredictable behavior.

This study presents a year-round automated electrical resistivity tomography monitoring of a steep permafrost rockwall combined with borehole temperature, anchor load and piezometer observations. The joint analysis revealed seasonal phases with enhanced mechanical forcing of rockwalls related to high hydrostatic and cryostatic pressures, which are of particular interest for understanding preconditioning of rock instabilities.

The Congo River Basin, a region of global significance, is undergoing a strong increase in population, which will in turn increase soil erosion, impacting soil fertility and the carbon cycle. We examined river sediment (eroded soil) transport, whereby we provided information on the main contributors of sediment to the Congo River. We also highlighted the role of a swampy region which removes large amounts of sediment from the water, acting as a regulator sediment transport to the Congo River.

Climate change increases landslide risk in cold regions. We analyzed 12 years of GPS, borehole, water, and seismic data from two landslides in Arctic Norway, one with permafrost and one without. Both accelerate in spring and autumn due to water infiltration. One slip zone shows increasing snowmelt sensitivity while seismic data reveal seasonal stiffness changes. Results advance understanding of water-driven landslide dynamics in Arctic climates.

This study analyzes how the seasonal variability of groundwater input to river controls suspended sediment dynamics in a Mediterranean mountain catchment. Groundwater inputs play a crucial role in controlling conditions for riverbed sediment remobilization. This highlights the importance of separating groundwater and surface runoff before analyzing sediment export dynamics, and of integrating these seasonal hydrological controls into hydrosedimentary models.

This study introduces an image analysis framework for automatically identifying and measuring sediment grains in various types of images and scans. We employ a high-performing segmentation approach for a wide range of geoscience data, using carefully curated ground truth data. The method achieves higher accuracy and more consistent measurements than existing approaches. The data and algorithm are openly available and provided in a user-friendly way.

Frequent coastal monitoring is often prohibitively expensive. This study demonstrates that affordable drones combined with smartphone GPS can effectively track beach changes over short time periods. Analysis revealed that complex, short-term physical changes are often missed by standard surveys. These findings confirm that affordable technology can reliably identify erosion risks, offering a viable, cost-effective framework for sustainable coastal management in developing regions.

Slow-moving landslides respond to seasonal climate variations, but displacement time series from optical satellite imagery often contain illumination-related biases that obscure true signals. This study assesses methods to mitigate seasonal errors and reveals kinematic changes and controlling factors of a large slow-moving landslide in the Argentinean Andes.

Studying peatlands dynamics over long timescales requires a proxy for past peat cover. In this paper, we explore the use of cosmogenic nuclides to infer peat thicknesses averaged over 100 kyr timescales. We find that long-term peat thicknesses inferred from cosmogenic nuclides at an upland peatland site in the Belgian Ardennes are consistent with independent constraints, but exceed modern peat thicknesses. We attribute this discrepancy to peat degradation associated with historical land use.

In the Lower Ems estuary, ships and ecosystems face challenges from dense layers of sediment known as fluid mud. Using long-term, high-resolution observations, we found that spring tides promote stable fluid mud layers, while during neap tides they are less stable and are more likely to disperse. These dynamics shape sediment movement, affect navigation, and influence the ecosystem, highlighting why understanding fluid mud is essential for managing hyper-turbid estuaries.

The 2024 Platteikogel rock slide (Tyrol, Austria) highlights how cryospheric changes promote rock slope failure. We demonstrate how the system feedback of ice apron loss, affecting permafrost warming, groundwater conditions, and rockfall activity, accelerates mechanical destabilization, and as a consequence likely peaked in the observed rock slide. Today, rapidly vanishing ice aprons potentially mark source zones for future rock slides.

We investigated geomorphological activity and stability of surfaces and soils along a climatic transect in the Atacama Desert. Single grain luminescence data and sediment analyses reveal recent deposition and shallow post-depositional mixing. Two distinct phases of enhanced activity align with previously reported wetter intervals, demonstrating the sensitivity of arid landscape dynamics to climatic variability.

We studied how streams and sediment systems along Namibia’s Skeleton Coast link inland sources with coastal plains where sediments are deposited. Using statistical tools, we identified distinct groups of systems with varying connection strengths. Fan gradient proved more important than climate or rock type, helping to assess how desert landscapes record past environmental change over time.

We used drone imagery and machine learning to track how floods reshape gravel bars in a Swiss river. By analysing over a million grains, we found that even moderate floods can move large areas of sediment and reshape riverbeds. The study shows how detailed mapping helps explain how frequent floods influence river change under future climate scenarios.

It is hard to measure sediment transport in rivers, even in small laboratory channels. More information on this key process would help us better understand how bedforms like bars and pools develop and how they can be restored in damaged rivers. In this paper we paint tracers in fluorescent colors and then shine ultraviolet lights on them to make them highly visible. A code to track the movements of three different classes of particles is tested and validated, with good success.

Sediments carried by rivers can damage infrastructure, affect ecosystems, and alter landscapes, yet it is often unclear where these sediments come from, especially in regions hidden beneath ice. We developed a simple way to trace their origins by shining X-rays on crushed rocks and sediments. The resulting X-ray signals act like fingerprints that can be matched to source rocks, revealing where sediments come from and allowing us to map erosion across landscapes.

Investigation of geomorphic indices in a region of dramatic increase in seismicity since 2009 in the central U.S. reveals slow landscape deformation. Hypsometric integral, sinuosity index and transverse drainage basin asymmetry were used to define domains of possible neotectonism. Abundant published research interprets this increase in seismicity as induced earthquakes due to underground fluid injection, and these results suggest that natural seismicity is accelerated by fluid injection.

Mountain rivers create fast-flowing water that behaves differently around obstacles compared to slower flows. We used computer simulations and digital bed representation to study how rough riverbeds affect water flow. Our research shows individual grains completely change water movement, creating chaotic patterns instead of organized flows. This makes forces on riverbeds much more variable than previously thought, important for understanding how mountain rivers shape landscapes.

Geomorphology is built on process models that take topographic geometry as inputs. However, many studies calculate these metrics on 2-d projections of topography rather than on true surfaces in 3-d space. In this work we apply classical surface theory to fluvial topography of the Oregon Coast Range, USA. This formal approach improves the accuracy of geometry calculations, extracts more information than standard methods, and sheds light on the organizational structure of landscapes.

The Karnali River in Himalayan Terai of Nepal has shifted from double to single branch since 2009. Likely triggered by a double-peaked monsoon and coarse sediment deposition, this shift has gradually reduced flow into the eastern Geruwa branch. While the Koshi River in Terai is largely shaped by human activity, the Karnali’s shift appears driven by natural, monsoon-driven, sediment dynamics, affecting water distribution and habitats in Bardiya National Park, home to the Bengal tiger.

The shape of a river influences flow and therefore how much sediment is transported. Directly measuring sediment transport is challenging at the catchment-scale but numerical modelling can enable the prediction of sediment erosion and transport. We use flow model to map patterns of bedload transport rates to reveal patterns associated with different river patterns (i.e. meandering, wandering, braided and deltaic). We show spatial variability in bedload transport is a function of channel pattern.