Research Article| November 01, 2013 Shaping post-orogenic landscapes by climate and chemical weathering Oliver A. Chadwick; Oliver A. Chadwick * 1Department of Geography, University of California–Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, California 93106, USA *E-mail: oac@geog.ucsb.edu. Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Josh J. Roering; Josh J. Roering 2Department of Geological Sciences, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon 97403, USA Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Arjun M. Heimsath; Arjun M. Heimsath 3School of Earth and Space Exploration, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona 85287, USA Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Shaun R. Levick; Shaun R. Levick 4Max Plank Institute for Biogeochemistry, Hans-Knöll-Strasse 10, 07745 Jena, Germany Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Gregory P. Asner; Gregory P. Asner 5Department of Global Ecology, Carnegie Institution for Science, Stanford, California 94305, USA Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Lesego Khomo Lesego Khomo 6Department of Biological Sciences, University of Cape Town, Rondebusch 7701, South Africa Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Author and Article Information Oliver A. Chadwick * 1Department of Geography, University of California–Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, California 93106, USA Josh J. Roering 2Department of Geological Sciences, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon 97403, USA Arjun M. Heimsath 3School of Earth and Space Exploration, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona 85287, USA Shaun R. Levick 4Max Plank Institute for Biogeochemistry, Hans-Knöll-Strasse 10, 07745 Jena, Germany Gregory P. Asner 5Department of Global Ecology, Carnegie Institution for Science, Stanford, California 94305, USA Lesego Khomo 6Department of Biological Sciences, University of Cape Town, Rondebusch 7701, South Africa *E-mail: oac@geog.ucsb.edu. Publisher: Geological Society of America Received: 08 May 2013 Revision Received: 28 Jul 2013 Accepted: 29 Jul 2013 First Online: 09 Mar 2017 Online ISSN: 1943-2682 Print ISSN: 0091-7613 © 2013 Geological Society of America Geology (2013) 41 (11): 1171–1174. https://doi.org/10.1130/G34721.1 Article history Received: 08 May 2013 Revision Received: 28 Jul 2013 Accepted: 29 Jul 2013 First Online: 09 Mar 2017 Cite View This Citation Add to Citation Manager Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn MailTo Tools Icon Tools Get Permissions Search Site Citation Oliver A. Chadwick, Josh J. Roering, Arjun M. Heimsath, Shaun R. Levick, Gregory P. Asner, Lesego Khomo; Shaping post-orogenic landscapes by climate and chemical weathering. Geology 2013;; 41 (11): 1171–1174. doi: https://doi.org/10.1130/G34721.1 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Refmanager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentBy SocietyGeology Search Advanced Search Abstract The spacing of hills and valleys reflects the competition between disturbance-driven (or diffusive) transport on hillslopes and concentrative (or advective) transport in valleys, although the underlying lithologic, tectonic, and climatic controls have not been untangled. Here, we measure geochemical and geomorphic properties of catchments in Kruger National Park, South Africa, where granitic lithology and erosion rates are invariant, enabling us to evaluate how varying mean annual precipitation (MAP = 470 mm, 550 mm, and 730 mm) impacts hill-valley spacing or landscape dissection. Catchment-averaged erosion rates, based on 10Be concentrations in river sands, are low (3–6 m/m.y.) and vary minimally across the three sites. Our lidar-derived slope-area analyses reveal that hillslopes in the dry site are gentle (3%) and short, such that the terrain is low relief and appears highly dissected. With increasing rainfall, hillslopes lengthen and increase in gradient (6%–8%), resulting in less-dissected, higher-relief catchments. The chemical depletion fraction of hilltop regoliths increases with rainfall, from 0.3 to 0.7, reflecting a climate-driven increase in chemical relative to physical erosion. Soil catenas also vary systematically with climate as we observe relatively uniform soil properties in the dry site that contrast with leached sandy crests and upper slopes coupled with downslope clay accumulation zones in the intermediate and wet sites. The geomorphic texture of this slow-eroding, granitic landscape appears to be set by climate-driven feedbacks among chemical weathering, regolith fabric differentiation, hydrological routing, and sediment transport that enhance the vigor of hillslope sediment transport relative to valley-forming processes for wetter climates. You do not have access to this content, please speak to your institutional administrator if you feel you should have access.