Hypsometry (frequency distribution of elevations) is often used to characterize landscape morphology, traditionally in the context of the degree of fluvial dissection. Recently, the hypsometry of glaciated regions has been used to infer how rates of glacial erosion compare with tectonic uplift rates. However, many factors other than tectonics can also exert a major influence on the hypsometry o...

The change in oxygen isotopic composition of precipitation is modeled using equilibrium fractionation during Rayleigh distillation linked to the thermodynamics of atmospheric ascent and water vapor condensation. The primary controllers of the vertical variation in isotopic composition with elevation are the low elevation temperature and relative humidity as these control the vertical distributi...

The prediction of hydrologic conditions in watersheds has manifold applications, ranging from flood disaster preparedness to water supply and environmental flow management. In with scarce or no data, it is difficult make accurate predictions. Past work used similarity single-valued properties the terrain (for example, drainage area, mean slope) as basis relate gauged ungauged ones. resulting pr...

The interaction between tectonism and erosion produces rugged landscapes in actively deforming regions. In the northwestern Himalaya, the form of the landscape was found to be largely independent of exhumation rates, but regional trends in mean and modal elevations, hypsometry (frequency distribution of altitude), and slope distributions were correlated with the extent of glaciation. These obse...

Four experiments in alluvial drainage basin evolution were carried out in the Rainfall Erosion Facility (REF) at Colorado State University to investigate the dependence of basin evolution on initial topography. Basins were initially undissected. Each experiment began with a unique initial condition representing various end-members of relief and hypsometry. Drainage network development, hillslop...

Data obtained recently by the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA) were used to study the statistical properties of the topography and slopes on Mars. We find that the hemispheric dichotomy, manifested as an elevation difference, can be described by long baseline tilts but in places is expressed as steeper slopes. The bimodal hypsometry of elevations on Mars becomes unimodal when referenced to t...