The complex interactions between tectonic, geodynamic, climate, and earth surface processes that occur above subduction zones drive changes in mountain building, ocean and atmospheric circulation, the flux and dispersal of sediment, water, and nutrients, and biological evolution. Understanding these processes, their feedbacks, and their effects on the Earth system requires studying ideal experiments playing out on our planet. For example, the Italian Peninsula is a geodynamic menagerie with active and inactive subduction segments, slab windows, and portions of the crust with variable states of stress and expressions of strain, and it is also a biodiversity hotspot. Such interesting regions offer unique opportunities to improve understanding of mountain-building processes and their influence on geomorphic and biological systems. For example, faulting and uplift influence not only mountain relief, river channel steepness, and drainage reorganization, but also the connectivity of ecological domains. Understanding how these processes are linked can create a deeper understanding of the past and present geodynamics and how solid earth processes facilitate landscape and biological evolution.
We particularly welcome studies of process connections between biological evolution and landscape evolution in the Italian Peninsula and other interesting regions. These areas are veritable playgrounds for researchers interested in the interrelationships among tectonics, climate, geomorphology, and biodiversity. We invite contributions linking quantitative techniques (e.g., cosmogenic nuclides and thermochronometry, environmental DNA metabarcoding, topographic analysis, landscape evolution modeling) to field interpretations to test geological and biogeographical hypotheses.