Landscape evolution model

A landscape evolution model is a physically based numerical model that simulates changing terrain over the course of time. This can be due to glacial erosion and deposition; erosion, sediment transport, and deposition in fluvial systems such as rivers; regolith production; the movement of material on hillslopes; more intermittent events such as rockfalls, debris flows, landslides, and other surface processes. This can also be due to surface uplift and/or subsidence. A typical landscape evolution model takes many of these factors into account.

Landscape evolution models are used primarily in the field of geomorphology. As they improve, they are beginning to be consulted by land managers to aid in decision making, most recently in the area of degraded landscapes.

The earliest of these models were developed in the 1970s. In these models, water was run across a mesh, and cell elevations were changed in response to calculated erosion.[1] Modern landscape evolution models can leverage GPUs and other acceleration hardware to run quickly.[2]