Haag Mauricio B, Schoenbohm Lindsay M, Wolpert Joshua, Jess Scott, Bierman Paul, Corbett Lee, Sommer Carlos A, Endrizzi Gabriel
Department of Earth Sciences, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
Department of Chemical and Physical Sciences, University of Toronto Mississauga, Mississauga, ON, Canada.
Sci Adv. 2025 Jan 24;11(4):eadr2610. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.adr2610. Epub 2025 Jan 22.
Interactions among tectonics, climate, and lithology shape the Earth's surface. In regions dominated by tectonic quiescence and climate stability, the role of rock strength related to lithology, and its role in landscape evolution, can be most clearly perceived. We leverage these qualities in a unique field site by integrating topographic data, erosion rates, and a large suite of rock strength measurements to quantify the relationship between bedrock strength and erosion rates along a 200-km section of the southeast coast of Brazil where climatic and tectonic variability are minimal. Our findings reveal a 20-fold erosion rate variation best explained by differences in rock strength. We also demonstrate that incorporating lithological strength variability into the analysis of landscape incision substantially improves accuracy, with outcomes that better reproduce natural settings. Our results underscore the crucial role of rock strength in landscape evolution and emphasize the need for field studies to account for lithological variability and thus accurately interpret landscape dynamics.
构造、气候和岩性之间的相互作用塑造了地球表面。在以构造静止和气候稳定为主的地区，与岩性相关的岩石强度的作用及其在地貌演化中的作用能够得到最清晰的认识。我们通过整合地形数据、侵蚀速率以及大量岩石强度测量数据，利用巴西东南沿海200公里长的一段区域（该区域气候和构造变化极小）这一独特的实地考察地点的这些特性，来量化基岩强度与侵蚀速率之间的关系。我们的研究结果表明，侵蚀速率有20倍的变化，这最好由岩石强度的差异来解释。我们还证明，将岩性强度变化纳入地貌切割分析中可显著提高准确性，其结果能更好地再现自然环境。我们的结果强调了岩石强度在地貌演化中的关键作用，并强调实地研究需要考虑岩性变化，从而准确解释地貌动态。
