Landslides linked to plate tectonics create the steepest mountain terrain

The work, presented online May 27 in Nature Geoscience, shows that once the angle of a slope exceeds 30 degrees – whether from uplift, a rushing stream carving away the bottom of the slope or a combination of the two – landslide erosion increases significantly until the hillside stabilizes.

“I think the formation of these landscapes could apply to any steep mountain terrain in the world,” said lead author Isaac Larsen, a University of Washington doctoral student in Earth and space sciences.

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