Accelerated Miocene incision along the Yangtze River driven by headward drainage basin expansion.

Along the southeastern margin of the Tibetan Plateau, the onset of rapid fluvial incision during the Miocene is commonly attributed to growth of high topography. Recent recognition of lacustrine strata preserved atop interfluves, however, suggest that headward expansion of river networks drove migration of the topographic divide. Here, we explore the impact of this process on fluvial incision along the Yangtze River.

A massive rock and ice avalanche caused the 2021 disaster at Chamoli, Indian Himalaya.

On 7 February 2021, a catastrophic mass flow descended the Ronti Gad, Rishiganga, and Dhauliganga valleys in Chamoli, Uttarakhand, India, causing widespread devastation and severely damaging two hydropower projects. More than 200 people were killed or are missing. Our analysis of satellite imagery, seismic records, numerical model results, and eyewitness videos reveals that ~27 × 10 cubic meters of rock and glacier ice collapsed from the steep north face of Ronti Peak.

Repeated catastrophic valley infill following medieval earthquakes in the Nepal Himalaya.

Geomorphic footprints of past large Himalayan earthquakes are elusive, although they are urgently needed for gauging and predicting recovery times of seismically perturbed mountain landscapes. We present evidence of catastrophic valley infill following at least three medieval earthquakes in the Nepal Himalaya. Radiocarbon dates from peat beds, plant macrofossils, and humic silts in fine-grained tributary sediments near Pokhara, Nepal's second-largest city, match the timing of nearby M > 8 earthquakes in ~1100, 1255, and 1344 C.