From process to centuries: Upscaling field‐calibrated models of fluvial bedrock 
erosion

Beer, Alexander R.; Turowski, J.

doi:10.1029/2021GL093415

Item

ITEM ACTIONSEXPORT

Add to Basket

Local TagsRelease HistoryDetailsSummary

Released

Journal Article

From process to centuries: Upscaling field‐calibrated models of fluvial bedrock erosion

Authors

Beer, Alexander R.
External Organizations;

/persons/resource/turowski

Turowski, J.
4.6 Geomorphology, 4.0 Geosystems, Departments, GFZ Publication Database, Deutsches GeoForschungsZentrum;

External Ressource

No external resources are shared

Fulltext (public)

5007638.pdf
(Publisher version), 2MB

Supplementary Material (public)

There is no public supplementary material available

Citation

Beer, A. R., Turowski, J. (2021): From process to centuries: Upscaling field‐calibrated models of fluvial bedrock erosion. - Geophysical Research Letters, 48, 18, e2021GL093415.
https://doi.org/10.1029/2021GL093415

Cite as: https://gfzpublic.gfz-potsdam.de/pubman/item/item_5007638

Abstract

Fluvial bedrock erosion formulas lack validation over space and time. We explore the performance of field-calibrated models at the patch-scale (urn:x-wiley:00948276:media:grl63000:grl63000-math-0001) and from minutes to centuries. At the hour to annual scales (in urn:x-wiley:00948276:media:grl63000:grl63000-math-0002 resolution), we verify predictions using linked discharge, bedload transport and at-a-point erosion, together with spatial erosion from a mountain streambed. Local and spatial erosion linearly scale with bedload mass. The unit stream power model (USP) fails to describe erosion dynamics without a threshold for its onset. Extrapolating over the decadal scale (urn:x-wiley:00948276:media:grl63000:grl63000-math-0003 of discharge and bedload data), scaled models predict up to urn:x-wiley:00948276:media:grl63000:grl63000-math-0004 of erosion for two exceptional floods. Erosion predictions for a bi-centennial discharge varied over four orders of magnitude (extrapolated from urn:x-wiley:00948276:media:grl63000:grl63000-math-0005 discharge and urn:x-wiley:00948276:media:grl63000:grl63000-math-0006 bedload data at urn:x-wiley:00948276:media:grl63000:grl63000-math-0007 resolution). Bi-centennial erosion predictions summing up to urn:x-wiley:00948276:media:grl63000:grl63000-math-0008 for bedload models versus urn:x-wiley:00948276:media:grl63000:grl63000-math-0009 for USP highlight the likely dominance of large events in setting long-term erosion under sediment-starved conditions.