Base-level is no stranger to the list of factors that influence the erosion of mountains, but its role may actually be more fundamental than previously realized. In regions that are actively deforming, the first-order profile shape of mountains is largely controlled by the competition between active faulting and base-level. The image to the right is a shaded-relief 30 m DEM of the Inyo Mountains , in southern California . The Inyos are bound to their east by the active Saline Valley fault, which separates a (probably) rapidly rising Inyos hanging-wall block from the (probably) rapidly sinking Saline Valley . Despite the active fault, the profile shape of the range (marked by the relative position of its main divide) appears to be fundamentally controlled by the relative elevations of base-levels that flank the range. Inextricably wrapped up in the topography of the Inyos are the influences of faulting, surface processes, and climate. This project is trying to unravel this puzzle, and we're tackling this with field, experimental, and computational points of view.

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Mountainous Topography and Base-Levels | Active Tectonics - Landscape Evolution | CERI & DES | University of Memphis