Assessing the impact of glaciation at the Earth's surface requires simultaneous quantification of the impact of climate variability on past glacier fluctuations and on bedrock erosion. Here we present a new approach for evaluating post-glacial bedrock surface erosion in mountainous environments by combining two different surface exposure dating methods. This approach can be used to estimate how bedrock erosion rates vary spatially and temporally since glacier retreat in an alpine environment.

We performed seven physical experiments to explore terrace formation and sediment export from a braided alluvial river system that is perturbed by changes in water discharge, sediment supply, or base level. Each perturbation differently affects (1) the geometry of terraces and channels, (2) the timing of terrace formation, and (3) the transient response of sediment discharge. Our findings provide guidelines for interpreting fill terraces and sediment export from fluvial systems.

The paper describes a model that simultaneously evolves both the soil profile and the landform, creating a coupled soilscape–landscape evolution model. The physics in the model is presented and justified from physical processes. The behaviour of the model is then explored for a variety of process formulations for a one-dimensional hillslope consisting of a flat upslope, steep midslope, and flat lowlands, exploring the erosion and deposition behaviour, and soil profile evolution over time.