Geomorphology articles from across Nature Portfolio

Mapping of the distances of secondary craters from their primary crater on the Moon, Mars, and Mercury indicates a unified power law relationship, regardless of gravity and target properties and suggests the minimum impact velocity is lower than expected.

The sediment delivery product of climate-change-driven deglaciation has passed its maximum for most of the subtropical Andes, according to the analysis of suspended sediment concentration from 11 rivers at subtropical latitudes.

Reconstruction of debris flows in a supply-limited system shows that process activity is controlled by sediment supply over multi-decadal to centennial timescales. Debris flows recur less frequently here and are, unlike transport-limited systems, not affected by climate change.

Geophysical and geomorphological investigations that take into account the unevenness and deformation of alluvial terraces in central Bhutan indicate greater than expected slip on the Himalayan Frontal Thrust in recent centuries, suggesting a lower seismic hazard.

Austin Routt explains how capacitively coupled resistivity can probe near-surface structures in highly resistive frozen ground.

Modelling of the evolution of the Kosi drainage basin near Chomolungma suggests that a river capture event occurred approximately 89 ka ago. Isostatic rebound due to this capture event could contribute 10–50% of the total rock uplift rate in the Chomolungma region and might partly explain Chomolungma’s renewed uplift rate and anomalous elevation.

Ceres’s surface is ice-rich and warm, so we expect craters to viscously flow. Yet most of Ceres’s craters are not shallow. A new model that includes a stronger, progressively dirtier icy crust, frozen from an ancient ocean, may reconcile this discrepancy.

The Holocene flooding and sedimentation history of the Nile illustrates how fluvial geomorphology has long influenced human society.

Although ongoing volcanic activity on Venus has been hypothesized, directly detecting active lava flows is challenging. Now, an analysis of Magellan radar images of Venus acquired at different times provides indications of ongoing volcanic activity in two distinct areas. This evidence also suggests a planet more volcanically active than previously thought.

Human exploration of the Solar System began on the Moon during the space race of the mid-twentieth century. To facilitate documentation and study of the human influence on the Moon, we argue it is time to designate a ‘Lunar Anthropocene’.