I am very interested in Topographic Analysis, i.e. extracting and quantifying the shape of the landscape from satellite data (Digital Elevation Model or Digital Terrain Model), and relate the geomorphology to surface and deep processes at different timescales. I am applying these tools to geological timescales to constrain mountain building processes, but also to their impact on present day topography (e.g. Location of earthquake related landslides, location of active faulting, flooding).
I am very interested in Topographic Analysis, i.e. extracting and quantifying the shape of the landscape from satellite data (Digital Elevation Model or Digital Terrain Model), and relate the geomorphology to surface and deep processes at different timescales. I am applying these tools to geological timescales to constrain mountain building processes, but also to their impact on present day topography (e.g. Location of earthquake related landslides, location of active faulting, flooding).
Tectonic vs lithologic effect on fluvial geomorphology in the Romanian Carpathians
Fluvial morphology is affected by external forcings such as faulting and changes in climate, and internal forcings caused by variations in rock hardness or degree of fracturing. When both types of forcing occur coevally, or in the same location, it presents a challenge to isolate for one of them. Failure to account for both factors lead to misinterpretation, such as where steepening of a channel network due to lithologic contrast could be misinterpreted as a function of increased tectonic displacements. I am currently investigating the relative channel steepness over the Romanian and Ukrainian Carpathians where it has been proposed that ongoing, syn-orogenic rock uplift in Romania gives way northwards to ca. 8 Myrs of post-orogenic quiescence. We are developing a technique to quantify relative channel steepness based on a wide range of concavities, and use the diachronism in tectonics along the Carpathians Mountain range and the tectonics forcing from the lithologic forcing.
02/2019: Gailleton, B., Mudd, S. M., Clubb, F. J., Peifer, D. and Hurst, M. D.: A segmentation approach for the reproducible extraction and quantification of knickpoints from river long profiles, Earth Surface Dynamics, 7(1), 211-230, doi:10.5194/esurf-7-211-2019, 2019.
07/2019: Bernard, T., Sinclair, H. D., Gailleton, B., Mudd, S. M. and Ford, M.: Lithological control on the postorogenic topography and erosion history of the Pyrenees, Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 518, 53-66, doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2019.04.034, 2019.
05/2018: Mudd, S. M., Clubb, F. J., Gailleton, B. and Hurst, M. D.: How concave are river channels?, Earth Surface Dynamics, 6(2), 505-523, doi:10.5194/esurf-6-505-2018, 2018.
