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Erosion rates on different timescales derived from cosmogenic 10Be and river loads: implications for landscape evolution in the Rhenish Massif, Germany

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Abstract

We determined erosion rates on timescales of 101–104 years for two catchments in the northeastern Rhenish Massif, in order to unravel the Quaternary landscape evolution in a Variscan mountain range typical of central Europe. Spatially averaged erosion rates derived from in situ produced 10Be concentrations in stream sediment of the Aabach and Möhne watersheds range from 47 ± 6 to 65 ± 14 mm/ka and integrate over the last 9–13 ka. These erosion rates are similar to local rates of river incision and rock uplift in the Quaternary and to average denudation rates since the Mesozoic derived from fission track data. This suggests that rock uplift is balanced by denudation, i.e., the landscape is in a steady state. Short-term erosion rates were derived from suspended and dissolved river loads subsequent to (1) correcting for atmospheric and anthropogenic inputs, (2) establishing calibration curves that relate the amount of suspended load to discharge, and (3) estimating the amount of bedload. The resulting solid mass fluxes (suspended and bedload) agree with those derived from the sediment volume trapped in three reservoirs. However, resulting geogenic short-term erosion rates range from 9 to 25 mm/ka and are only about one-third of the rates derived from 10Be. Model simulations in combination with published sediment yield data suggest that this discrepancy is caused by at least three factors: (1) phases with higher precipitation and/or lower evapotranspiration, (2) rare flood events not captured in the short-term records, and (3) prolonged periods of climatic deterioration with increased erosion and sediment transport on hillslopes.

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Acknowledgments

This research was funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG; grant HE-1704/5-1). We thank the staff of the Aabach-Talsperre, the Ruhrverband, and the Umweltamt Lippstadt for providing the discharge data, and A. Fugmann, L. Hooymann, and B. Romberg for help with the preparation of samples. Constructive reviews by F. Kober and S. Carretier improved the quality of the text and are gratefully acknowledged.

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  1. Geologisch-Paläontologisches Institut, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, Corrensstr. 24, 48149, Münster, Germany

    H. Meyer, R. Hetzel & H. Strauss

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Meyer, H., Hetzel, R. & Strauss, H. Erosion rates on different timescales derived from cosmogenic 10Be and river loads: implications for landscape evolution in the Rhenish Massif, Germany. Int J Earth Sci (Geol Rundsch) 99, 395–412 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00531-008-0388-y

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