Description:

Seismic methods allow the systematic investigation of the connections between process domains and to constrain causal links between surface processes operating in different parts of a landscape (e.g., hillslopes vs. river channels). In the project, data from seismic networks covering entire landscapes will be used to quantify the timing, location and magnitude of major geomorphic processes, to discover and constrain causal links between them, to estimate the efficiencies of these links, and to delineate the conditions under which links are active. The project will focus on the active Taiwan mountain belt, with additional data from existing partner-based instrument networks in Germany, Switzerland and Nepal.

The project will deliver comprehensive empirical data on geomorphic process events in mountain landscapes that are otherwise hard to collect, constraints on the strength of links between process domains, and the time lags and efficiency of transfers of mass and energy between domains. All of these are first order landscape manifestations of environmental change, and can inspire novel conceptual-theoretical models of landscape dynamics. These are essential to improve our understanding of transient landscape systems, as well as hazard processes that act in these landscapes.

Link to apply: https://www.gfz-potsdam.de/en/career/job-offers/details/6583

Keywords: landscape evolution, process-domain interactions, channel-hillslope coupling, connectivity.

Host institute: GFZ German Research Center for Geosciences Potsdam, Germany

Supervisors: Jens Turowski, Niels Hovius (GFZ Potsdam, Germany), Michael Dietze (University of Göttingen, Germany)

Co-supervisor: Anne Mangeney (IPGP, France)

Collaborations: The project may benefit from collaborations with many groups within the EnvSeis network.