The Role of Horizontal Advection of Topography in Landscape Evolution Models: Implications for Extensional Systems

Abstract:

The field of tectonic geomorphology has been brought to the forefront due to the interaction between tectonic, climatic, and surficial processes. Although it is well recognized that the rate of crustal deformation is affected by the redistribution of mass due to erosion and sedimentation on the Earth’s surface, the influence of horizontal advection of surface topography and associated processes remain poorly understood. Herein, we investigate this interaction between surface processes and tectonics in an extensional setting incorporating horizontal advection of topography using a landscape evolution model, Fastscape (Willet and Braun, 2013). We designed a numerical experiment to investigate the role of climate on landscape evolution models that include horizontal advection of topography. We systematically test the sensitivity of our model to climate and extension rates by simulating a large-scale rift basin under various climate scenarios and lithologies.