Published In
Earth Surface Processes and Landforms
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
11-1-2025
Abstract
Predicting physical and chemical erosion rate responses to climate change are an ongoing challenge in geomorphology. A promising approach for investigating this is by measuring transient variations in physical and chemical erosion rates during climatically variable time periods, which can be accomplished by measuring cosmogenic nuclide concentrations and chemical depletion in sedimentary deposits. Interpreting such measurements warrants applying landscape evolution models that track variations in topography, cosmogenic nuclide concentrations and chemical depletion in soils. We applied a recently developed model that tracks these quantities at Little Lake, Oregon. Previous studies documented variations in cosmogenic nuclide concentrations and chemical depletion in paleo-lake sediments from 50 ka BP to the present, a time interval that includes cooling before the Last Glacial Maximum and warming after it. We extended the model by adding climate-sensitive parameterizations for mineral dissolution, soil transport by frost heave and soil production by frost cracking. We conducted simulations driven by a paleo-temperature time series applicable to Little Lake. Simulations showed that a shift to frost heave, frost cracking and temperature-controlled mineral weathering and alteration elevated 10Be-inferred denudation rates and lowered chemical depletion fraction (CDF) values comparable to those observed in cores from paleo-Little Lake. In contrast, introducing a lake with no changes to process operation led to a decline in denudation rates. No single climate-sensitive process could reproduce both high inferred denudation rates and low CDF, indicating that all of the climate-sensitive processes modelled in our simulations are needed to explain observed values. Modelled denudation rates increased when the connection between frost cracking intensity and maximum soil production rate was strengthened. The integration of climate-sensitive processes showed that
Rights
Copyright (c) 2025 The Authors
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
DOI
10.1002/esp.70197
Persistent Identifier
https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/44275
Citation Details
Reed, M. M., Ferrier, K. L., Marshall, J. A., Roering, J. J., & Perron, J. T. (2025). Climatic controls on soil production, transport and chemical erosion: Insights from modelling topography, soils and cosmogenic nuclides at Little Lake, Oregon. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms, 50(14). Portico.