Preprints
Filtering by Subject: Geomorphology
Dataset of DInSAR wrapped phase signals for AI-based automated detection and classification of mass movements
Published: 2026-03-26
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Environmental Monitoring, Environmental Sciences, Geology, Geomorphology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
With the growing use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in remote sensing of mass movements, available datasets for model training and validation are increasingly needed. Although Differential Synthetic Aperture Radar Interferometry (DInSAR) is a widely used technique for studying mass movements, wrapped interferograms remain less exploited, and the importance of geomorphological expertise in their [...]
Comprehensive Inventory of Coseismic Landslides Triggered by the 2023 Kahramanmaraş Earthquakes, Türkiye
Published: 2026-03-19
Subjects: Geology, Geomorphology, Geophysics and Seismology
We provide two geospatial inventories covering ~80,000 km² in southern Türkiye for the 6 February 2023 Kahramanmaraş earthquake sequence: (i) a coseismic landslide polygon inventory including 20,270 landslides and (ii) a pre-earthquake geomorphic inventory of pre-existing slope instability including 4,495 landslide polygons. Coseismic landslides were mapped by systematic expert visual [...]
Frictional weakening in the highly mobile 2025 Blatten (Switzerland) rock–ice avalanche
Published: 2026-03-17
Subjects: Artificial Intelligence and Robotics, Dynamics and Dynamical Systems, Geomorphology, Geophysics and Seismology, Geotechnical Engineering, Multivariate Analysis, Numerical Analysis and Computation, Numerical Analysis and Scientific Computing, Planetary Geomorphology, Planetary Geophysics and Seismology, Risk Analysis
Cascading slope failures in alpine environments are intensifying as glaciers retreat and slope stability adjusts to a warming climate. Yet, the mechanisms governing such large, rapidly evolving events remain poorly understood. The 28 May 2025 rock–ice avalanche from Birch Glacier, Switzerland ($\approx9.3\times10^{6}~\mathrm{m^3}$), which devastated part of the village of Blatten, provides a [...]
Slope-dependent riverbed strengthening and the evolution of the threshold for motion in gravel-bed rivers
Published: 2026-03-10
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geomorphology, Hydrology
The threshold for motion exerts a fundamental control on sediment transport, channel morphology, and fluvial erosion. While channel slope and flow history are known to influence entrainment thresholds in gravel-bed rivers, their interaction has not been explored. We investigate how channel slope modulates riverbed strengthening during low-flow periods. Flume experiments were conducted across [...]
Implications of impact-energy dependent erosional efficiency on bedrock river sediment dynamics and form: 1. Reach-scale dynamics and the effective flood
Published: 2026-03-09
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geomorphology
Bedrock river incision reflects the cumulative geomorphic work performed across a distribution of flood magnitudes and frequencies. Mechanistic models of bedrock incision by bedload impacts typically assume that bedrock resistance to erosion is constant with respect to particle impact energy. However, recent impact experiments demonstrate that rock resistance to erosion decreases systematically [...]
An analysis of landslides in Great Britain using soil texture, rainfall, and topography reveals contrasting failure conditions between organic and mineral soils
Published: 2026-03-06
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geomorphology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Soil Science
Rainfall-induced landslides cause millions of pounds in damage to infrastructure in Great Britain (GB) annually and occasionally result in human fatalities. However, there are limited guidelines or policies aimed at reducing landslide risk in GB and few studies have broadly characterized landslide incidence across the region. Furthermore, peat landslides, which are a phenomenon that occur almost [...]
The distribution of Earth’s wind-blown sand dunes
Published: 2026-03-05
Subjects: Climate, Geology, Geomorphology
Sand dunes develop when there is a source of sediment and wind capable of saltating that sediment. Dune morphology and occurrence can then be used to infer the distribution of sediment sources and climate conditions during their formation. This is particularly useful for inference of past climate from relict dunes or the sedimentary record, and for climate conditions where direct observation is [...]
Automated Levee Detection in Digital Elevation Models
Published: 2026-03-04
Subjects: Geomorphology
Current flood risk models applied at national and global scales do not---or only partially---take levees into account, resulting in inaccurate flood inundation maps. While levees are important assets in natural hazard risk assessments, accurate information in the public domain about the location and height of these embankments is often missing. Remote sensing data---such as global digital [...]
Rethinking grounding-zone basal drag for improved projections of Antarctic ice loss
Published: 2026-02-24
Subjects: Geology, Geomorphology, Glaciology
Ice-stream grounding zones are critical parts of the Antarctic Ice Sheet and we must be able to model how they retreat with confidence. This is because for most of Antarctica, the grounding-zone location determines the flux of ice to the ocean. As such, future grounding-zone locations (as the ice-sheet edge retreats inland) dictate the pattern and rate of ice loss and the associated sea-level [...]
Channel Change and Sediment Transport in the Puyallup River Watershed through 2022
Published: 2026-02-18
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geomorphology, Hydrology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Water Resource Management
The Puyallup River drains a 990 square mile watershed in western Washington, with headwaters on the glacier-covered flanks of Mount Rainier. Major tributaries include the White, Carbon, and Mowich Rivers. In the levee-confined reaches of the lower watershed, loss of flood conveyance due to sand and gravel deposition has been a chronic issue. Over much of the 20th century, flood conveyance was [...]
Global sediment transport intermittency is set by river planform
Published: 2026-01-14
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geomorphology, Hydrology, Sedimentology
Patterns of water and sediment flux in rivers are key to understanding landscape responses to environmental change. Quantifying water intermittency in rivers (from perennial to ephemeral) provides vital context for interpreting long-term hydrographs and flood frequency, yet controls on corresponding sediment intermittency are poorly understood due to measurement challenges. We present the first [...]
Assessing the Impact of Wind Erosion in Baringo County, Kenya
Published: 2026-01-13
Subjects: Environmental Indicators and Impact Assessment, Geomorphology, Soil Science
Wind erosion poses substantial threats to soil health and agricultural productivity in arid and semi-arid environments globally. In response to the escalating environmental challenge of wind erosion, this study, centered in Baringo County, employs a blend of remote sensing and GIS techniques alongside the Revised Wind Erosion Equation (RWEQ) model. The study spans a 25-year period, with a main [...]
Increasing temperatures controlled rockfall activity in the Rwenzori Mountains (Uganda) over the past 11,000 years
Published: 2026-01-10
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geomorphology
Rockfalls and other gravitational mass movements are expected to become more frequent under ongoing global warming in temperate and cold mountainous regions. In contrast, although high numbers of rockfalls are observed in humid tropical mountains, the processes controlling their occurrence remain poorly understood. These warmer regions offer valuable natural laboratories for anticipating the [...]
What are the drivers of riparian vegetation recruitment and establishment in an alpine embanked river?
Published: 2026-01-09
Subjects: Geomorphology, Physical and Environmental Geography, Remote Sensing, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
1 – Rejuvenation operations are often conducted in rivers to manage vegetation encroachment and balance biodiversity benefits and flood risks. Understanding the drivers of vegetation recruitment and establishment is necessary to implement these operations but requires monitoring at spatial and temporal scales that are suited to pioneer riparian environment. 2 – Bi-yearly drone surveys were used [...]
ShallowLandslider: a physics-based component for predicting regional distributions of coseismic landslides
Published: 2025-12-06
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geology, Geomorphology
Earthquakes can trigger thousands of shallow landslides across mountainous terrain, reshaping landscapes and posing severe hazards. Predicting their spatial distribution remains challenging because most existing models are empirical, event-specific, and lack physical interpretability. We introduce ShallowLandslider, a physics-based component within the open-source Landlab framework for regional [...]