LandFlux · Quantifying landslide activity and contribution to sediment fluxes with cosmogenic radionuclides and grain-size distributions
Horizon 2020 — Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
- Duration
- 2018-06-01 → 2020-05-31
- EU contribution
- €159,461
- Participants
- 1
- Scheme
- MSCA-IF-EF-ST
Lines connect the coordinator with its partners.
Results in brief
Quantifying landslide activity and contribution to sediment fluxes with cosmogenic radionuclides and grain-size distributions
Landslides are a primary erosion process in steep landscapes, one of the most sensitive surface process to tectonic and climatic perturbations, and are among our most deadly and damaging geohazards. However, it is extremely difficult to constrain long-term or past rates of landslide activity, and hence landslide-derived sediment generation, because the physical records of landsliding are often removed in <10^2 yrs. This limited record prevents accurate predictions of their activity in the face of climate change, and hinders landscape evolution studies. The LandFlux project aim was to develop and apply a new methodology to quantify long term landslide activity and its contribution to sediment fluxes. The main scientific objectives of the project were to test if Cosmogenic Radionuclide (CRN) concentrations from landslide deposits and fluvial sediment could be used to reconstruct landslide frequencies on >10^2 yr timescales, and whether these concentrations were representative of the erosional depths (i.e. landslide depths) and the intensity of landslide activity. We focused on measuring the concentrations of two in-situ produced CRNs in quartz: 10Be, a very well-established CRN; and 14C, a CRN whose applications are still under development due to the challenges of its extraction from non-organic materials, and the scarce availability of production-rate estimates. The combination of these two nuclides was ideal for addressing our project objectives because these nuclides have different production mechanisms, which means that 14C/10Be ratios are expected to be sensitive to depth.
Data: CORDIS, © European Union
Project objective
Landslides are a primary erosion process in steep landscapes and are among our most deadly and damaging geohazards. However, it is extremely difficult to constrain long-term or past rates of landslide activity, which prevents accurate predictions of their activity in the face of climate change. This project aims to develop and apply a new methodology to quantify long-term landslide activity and contribution to sediment fluxes. To achieve this goal, I will integrate two growing research lines that have identified signatures of landslide activity: grain-size distributions and cosmogenic radionuclide (CRN) concentrations, which I will integrate in a numerical model. We will exploit, for the first time to our knowledge, the differences in depth production profiles between CRNs (14C and 10Be), using the 14C/10Be ratio to infer erosional depth-provenance and track erosional processes. We will sample grain-size distributions, and 14C and 10Be concentrations across different grain sizes, in landslide deposits and river sediments within catchments with excellent published constraints on landslide activity in Italy and New Zealand. We will develop a new Matlab numerical model, which will be calibrated using our new data, to determine landslide rates and fluxes using CRN and grain-size data, hence creating a tool that can be used to predict long-term or past landslide activity in other areas where good constraints are not available. This project has the potential to expand the uses of CRNs to include erosional depth-provenance. Furthermore, being able to infer long-term and past landslide rates would be a major step forward in how we tackle landscape evolution and landslide hazards. This project will be developed at the GFZ Potsdam (host) and ETH Zurich (secondment), bringing together outstanding infrastructures and researchers, and offering the best possible environment for my training and networking, which will in turn enhance my future career opportunities.
Original text from CORDIS.
Participants
- GFZ HELMHOLTZ-ZENTRUM FUR GEOFORSCHUNG · POTSDAMCoordinatorGermany
Links
- View on CORDIS
- DOI: 10.3030/794698
- https://www.gfz-potsdam.de/en/section/geomorphology/projects/other-projects/landflux/
Data: CORDIS, © European Union