[1] Comparison of the results of a thin viscous sheet model with the velocity field determined by GPS stations in the Alpine-Pannonian realm shows that the Adriatic plate is only slightly stronger than the Eastern Alps. The observed velocity field is best approximated with a Newtonian fluid. However, this scenario must be fairly recent, as the overall geometry of the orogen can only be reproduced if the rheology contrast was about 1:10 before the late Miocene. The boundary conditions for this model are tested against the orientation of the intraplate stress field and are robust for Argand numbers between 1 and 5. We conclude that the convergence rate between the Adriatic and European plates must have slowed since the Miocene and that the present-day eastward extrusion of the Eastern Alps is largely due to lateral escape and only to a minor degree due to gravitational collapse. Scaled viscosities of the Eastern Alps are on the order of 10 23 Pa s. Citation: Robl, J., and K. Stüwe
Abstract. Quantitative tectonic geomorphology hinges on the analysis of longitudinal river profiles. The model behind almost all approaches in this field originates from an empirical relationship between channel slope and catchment size, often substantiated in the form of the stream-power model for fluvial incision. Significant methodological progress was recently achieved by introducing the χ transform. It defines a nonlinear length coordinate in such a way that the inherent curvature of river profiles due to the increase of catchment sizes in the downstream direction is removed from the analysis. However, the limitation to large catchment sizes inherited from the stream-power approach for fluvial incision persists. As a consequence, only a small fraction of all nodes of a digital elevation model (DEM) can be used for the analysis. In this study we present and discuss some empirically derived extensions of the stream power law towards small catchment sizes in order to overcome this limitation. Beyond this, we introduce a simple method for estimating the adjustable parameters in the original χ method as well as in our extended approaches. As a main result, an approach originally suggested for debris flow channels seems to be the best approximation if both large and small catchment sizes are included in the same analysis.
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