Journal
TERRA NOVA
Volume 15, Issue 2, Pages 88-95Publisher
WILEY
DOI: 10.1046/j.1365-3121.2003.00469.x
Keywords
-
Categories
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Data are presented about modern sediment discharge of the Swiss rivers and related to the size of catchments. The information reveals that the Central Alps have experienced denudation rates of approximate to0.15 mm yr(-1) in the foreland, and approximate to0.5 mm yr(-1) in the Alpine core. Mapping, however, indicates that modern erosion only affects 30-50% of the Alpine surface, and that fluvial and associated hillslope processes have focused erosion in 50-200-m-deep valleys. These valleys are incised into the glacial surface. If this limited spatial extent of erosion is considered, then effective erosion rates are significantly higher than average denudation rates. These effective rates equal or locally exceed modern rates of rock uplift. This implies that the modification of erosional processes related to the Pleistocene/Holocene climate change has resulted in an increase in the relief at a local scale. At a drainage basin scale, however, the relief appears not to change at present.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available