Feedbacks between surface and deep Earth processes play a key role in the plate tectonics—modulating mountain building, rifting, magmatism, intraplate deformation and the interactions between landscapes and climate. These feedbacks occur over both geologic and human time-scales. They have direct societal relevance through their influence on geohazards—for example in the triggering of landslides by large earthquakes—and on Earth’s habitability, through the role of erosion and basin evolution on the global carbon cycle.

Further, understanding these feedbacks is important in evaluating surface responses to changing sea level. While many of the basic feedbacks between deep Earth and surface processes are well established, the details of these interactions remain poorly constrained—which in turn hinders our ability to predict the evolution and future state of these systems. To do so, we must investigate the linkages between deformation and rheology in the Earth’s lithosphere with erosion and erodibility in the near surface across a range of spatio-temporal scales. Study regions are east Asia, western Pacific Ocean basin, and western Aleutian margin.