ScienceDaily: If you've ever stood on a hill during a rainstorm, you've probably witnessed landscape evolution, at least on a small scale: rivulets of water streaming down a slope, cutting deeper trenches in Earth when the rain turns heavier.
It's a simple phenomenon that scientists have long believed applies to large-scale landforms as well -- that is, rivers cut faster into mountains that receive heavier precipitation. It's thought that if rainfall patterns influence how rivers cut into rock, over time, the...