Solid-Earth and climate dynamics interact by jointly setting topography and ice cover. These interactions control orographic effects on temperature and precipitation; set the pace and focus of erosion and the interplay among climate, ice extent, orogenic exhumation, and glacial isostatic adjustment; and are recorded by sediments in the surrounding terrestrial, lacustrine, and ocean basins. In this Union session, we seek to bring together processes and paleorecords associated with these changing landscapes and the above and below ground processes driving their evolution.

The study of the interaction between solid Earth and climate processes is a highly interdisciplinary one, where the data constraints on surface load timing and amplitude are as important as understanding how the crust, and mantle respond. Relevant geomorphological information includes lacustrine and marine sediment transport and deposition, glacial erosion, river routing, glacial and ice sheet change. Relevant geophysical datasets include regional seismic tomography and those that constrain crust and lithospheric structure, including magnetic, gravimetric and heat flow data. Building models for assessing the interaction between climate and solid Earth processes involves understanding changes in climatology, sediment production, transport and deposition, as well as glacial isostatic adjustment, crustal and mantle deformation.

In this session we encourage both theoretical and empirical contributions on the relationships between mantle dynamics, surface processes and glaciations in shaping topography at a range of temporal and spatial scales. We welcome contributions that address topics including: relationships between climate parameters and erosional efficiency; relationships between surface load redistribution and deformation patterns and rates; feedbacks among rock strength, lithospheric stress, climate, and erosion; and estimates of timing and rates of surface uplift, subsidence, and erosion/deposition that directly correlate topographic change with rheology and dynamics of Earth’s interior. Model predictions and field observations from regions where tectonic processes are coupled with changing cryospheric masses (e.g., Alaska, Antarctica, Himalayas, Iceland, Patagonia) are particularly welcome.

Proposed presenters for the session:

Kelin Whipple, Arizona State University

Sean Willet, ETH, Zurich

David Montgomery, University of Washington

Michelle Koppes, University of British Columbia

Jane Winnenbring, Stanford University

Taylor Schildgen, GFZ Potsdam

Peter van der Beek, Universitaat Potsdam

Todd Ehlers, University of Tubingen

Gaia Stucky de Quay, University of Texas at Austin

• EGU: European Geosciences Union -
• GSA: Geological Society of America -