Correlating contributors to glacial morphometric signatures in the DEM topography of the European Alps’ crystalline massifs

Repeated extensive Pleistocene glaciations of the European Alps have imposed a spatially heterogeneous imprint on Alpine topography. Physics-based frameworks of glacial erosion at the catchment scale explain prominent overdeepened topography in some areas, but mixed or subdued topographic signatures in others, with differences in coupled climatic, surface, and lithospheric factors that enhance or modulate glacial erosion potential. Yet, systematic orogen-scale connections between input glacial forcings and resultant observable morphometric features remain limited, and the spatial heterogeneity of glacial topographic reshaping remains poorly understood.

We target the prominently glaciated crystalline massifs of the Eastern (Hohe Tauern) and Central (Aar) and Western (Mont Blanc) Alps, which share rapid Neogene exhumation, resistant lithologies, and high local relief, yet exhibit intra-massif morphometric contrasts: steep, glacially overdeepened valleys adjacent to less glacially modified catchments. Our comparison addresses two key questions: Why do certain areas display more pronounced glacial reshaping than others despite widespread Last Glacial Maximum ice coverage? Which forcings (climatic, geodynamic etc.) dominate the development of end-member glacial morphometries, and do these inputs vary between and within the studied massifs?

We derive classical topographic and valley specific metrics from the ESA Copernicus 30-m resolution DEM using established geospatial tools, treating them as measurable landscape metrics. We use random forest regression analysis, drawing on model-derived glacial indicators, landscape-derived variables, modern uplift rates and time-integrated measurements such as exhumation and catchment-wide denudation rates, to identify the strongest predictors of glacial signatures.

Preliminary results underscore the interplay of geodynamic preconditioning and climatic modulation in generating distinct glacial fingerprints. This aligns with the findings of a suite of Alpine site-specific works using thermochronology, cosmogenic nuclides, and numerical modeling to investigate similar questions at a local scale, where these factors are spatially more uniform. Our ongoing work refines the statistical framework outlined and tests for possible process feedbacks. Advancing an orogen-scale understanding of climate-tectonic interactions in mountain landscape evolution can aid our understanding of the implications for sediment fluxes, geohazards, and ecological responses in mountain enviroments.