Terrestrial vertebrates show striking changes in species richness across topographic gradients. For mammals, nearly twice as many species per unit area occur in topographically complex regions as in adjacent lowlands. The geological context of this pervasive biogeographic pattern suggests that tectonic processes have a first-order impact on regional diversity. I evaluate ecological, evolutionar...

We examine the tectonic geomorphology of La Sila, Calabria, southern Italy, a high-standing (1500 m) plateau surrounded by crustal extension, with map, DEM, and field data. These data are used to constrain a simple geodynamic model that describes short-wavelength deformation of the plateau rim. Topographic metrics including drainage patterns, river longitudinal profiles, and swath profiles are ...

Metamorphic and various intrusive rocks in the Urmia area are located in a transpressed active continental margin. These complexes in the Zagros orogen were deformed during an oblique convergence scenario between the Arabian and Sanandaj–Sirjan blocks in NW Iran. The Urmia area contains both NW-SE striking dextral strike-slip and SW verging NE dipping ductile reverse shear fabrics. Ductile shea...

Based on 43 Harvard CMT solutions in Yunnan region, GPS observations from 1999 to 2004 by China Crustal Movement Observatory Network, and results from SKS splitting and Pn fast wave anisotropy, we obtained the average directions of principle stress fields at different depths by average angle method. Then we further analyzed the coupling difference between geodynamic parameters in different tect...

Northeast India and its adjoining region constitutes an important geotectonic element of Southeast Asia and is connected to India via a narrow corridor squeezed between Nepal and Bangladesh. Geomorphologically, the entire NE India is located in an earthquake prone zone ( Zone – V ) of the Indian subcontinent. The strain energy release has been studied by dividing the region into in the six geo ...

driven erosion could govern tectonic deformation has instigated a decade of geodynamic models and geological studies 5 that explore potential climate–tectonic feedbacks. According to this idea, erosion of mass from Earth’s surface may determine where tectonic deformation is most rapid. Consequently, heavy precipitation, rapid erosion and active faulting are predicted to be spatially correlated ...