IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcom/v11y2020i1d10.1038_s41467-020-19744-3.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The human impact on North American erosion, sediment transfer, and storage in a geologic context

Author

Listed:
  • David B. Kemp

    (China University of Geosciences)

  • Peter M. Sadler

    (University of California)

  • Veerle Vanacker

    (Université catholique de Louvain)

Abstract

Humans are primary agents of geomorphic change, and rates of anthropogenic landscape change likely far exceed the pace of change expected from natural geologic processes. Nevertheless, our understanding of the impact of humans on the natural landscape is limited by difficulties in accurately comparing past and present rates of change across wide spatial and temporal scales. Here, we present a compilation of >4000 rates of alluvial sediment accumulation that provide an indirect record of North American erosion, mass transfer and sediment storage from the late Pleistocene to the present day. Continent-wide rates of alluvium accumulation were broadly stable for ~40,000 years, but increased 10-fold during the rapid expansion of agriculture and river system modification associated with European colonization. Interpreted in terms of mass transfer, humans have moved as much sediment in North America in the past century as natural processes can transfer in 700–3000 years.

Suggested Citation

  • David B. Kemp & Peter M. Sadler & Veerle Vanacker, 2020. "The human impact on North American erosion, sediment transfer, and storage in a geologic context," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 11(1), pages 1-9, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:11:y:2020:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-020-19744-3
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-19744-3
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-19744-3
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/s41467-020-19744-3?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. William Rapuc & Charline Giguet-Covex & Julien Bouchez & Pierre Sabatier & Jérôme Gaillardet & Kévin Jacq & Kim Genuite & Jérôme Poulenard & Erwan Messager & Fabien Arnaud, 2024. "Human-triggered magnification of erosion rates in European Alps since the Bronze Age," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-10, December.
    2. Xuejiao Hou & Danghan Xie & Lian Feng & Fang Shen & Jaap H. Nienhuis, 2024. "Sustained increase in suspended sediments near global river deltas over the past two decades," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-12, December.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:11:y:2020:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-020-19744-3. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.