To understand landscape evolution in the mineral resource-rich Yukon River basin (Alaska and Canada), we mapped and cosmogenic isotope-dated river terraces along the Charley River. Results imply widespread Yukon River incision that drove increased Bering Sea sedimentation and carbon sequestration during global climate changes 2.6 and 1 million years ago. Such erosion may have fed back to late Cenozoic climate change by reducing atmospheric carbon as observed in many records worldwide.

Soil production, chemical weathering, and physical erosion rates from the large climate and vegetation gradient of the Chilean Coastal Cordillera (26 to 38° S) are investigated. Rates are generally lowest in the sparsely vegetated and arid north, increase southward toward the Mediterranean climate, and then decrease slightly, or possible stay the same, further south in the temperate humid zone. This trend is compared with global data from similar soil-mantled hillslopes in granitic lithologies.

In mountain ranges, earthquake-derived landslides mobilize large amounts of organic carbon (OC) by eroding soil from hillslopes. We propose a model to explore the role of different parameters in the post-seismic redistribution of soil OC controlled by fluvial export and heterotrophic respiration. Applied to the Southern Alps, our results suggest that efficient OC fluvial export during the first decade after an earthquake promotes carbon sequestration.

We used a numerical model to assess the effect of grain size and rock composition on chemical weathering and grain detachment. Our simulations showed that grain detachment represents more than a third of the overall weathering rate. We also found that as grain size increases, the weathering rate initially decreases; however, beyond a critical size, the rate became approximately constant. Our results could help predict the sometimes complex relationship between rock type and weathering rate.

Rapid dissolution of bedrock and regolith mobilised by landslides can be an important control on rates of overall chemical weathering in mountain ranges. In this study we analysed a number of landslides and rivers in Taiwan to better understand why this occurs. We find that sulfuric acid resulting from rapid oxidation of highly reactive sulfides in landslide deposits drives the intense weathering and can set catchment-scale solute budgets. This could be a CO₂ source in fast-eroding mountains.