Quantifying the feedbacks between tectonic processes in the lithosphere and climatic processes in the atmosphere is an overarching goal in Earth-Systems research. Long-term cooling during the Cenozoic has been linked to the growth of mountain belts, which enhanced erosion, chemical weathering, organic-carbon burial and drawdown of atmospheric CO2. Conversely, it has been proposed that the cooler and more variable climate of the late Cenozoic led to increased topographic relief and erosion. However, the topographic and erosional response of mountainous topography to late-Cenozoic climatic cooling culminating in Quaternary glaciations, and the potential couplings between these processes, remain poorly constrained. Advancing our understanding requires the development of tools that record erosion rates and topographic relief changes with higher spatial and temporal resolution than the current state-of-the-art, and the integration of newly obtained data into next-generation numerical models that link observed erosion-rate and relief histories to potential driving mechanisms. Within the ERC-funded COOLER project, we are building a new 4He/3He thermochronology lab in Potsdam, developing numerical modelling tools that incorporate the latest insights in kinetics of thermochronological systems to make sample-specific predictions, coupling these tools to glacial landscape-evolution models to enable modelling of real landscapes with real thermochronology data as constraints and, finally, studying potential couplings between glacial erosion, relief development, and tectonics in selected field areas.
Prof. van der Beek è il presidente in carica dell’EGU. Si è laureato ed ha ottenuto il suo Dottorato di Ricerca presso la Vrije Universiteit di Amsterdam. Nel 2006, è diventato Professore Ordinario a Grenoble (Francia). Nel 2020, si è trasferito a Potsdam dove ha instaurato il primo laboratorio di analisi isotopiche 4He/3He in Europa per studiare gli effetti dell’erosione glaciale sulla topografia montuosa. Peter si interessa dell’interazione tra tettonica, clima ed erosione e allo sviluppo della topografia nelle catene orogeniche (Alpi, Himalaya e altrove).