Extreme events in the context of late Quaternary environmental change
The significance of extreme events in landform change is discussed in the context of the late Quaternary. Millennia-scale cycles of climate change are less than the relaxation times of most landform systems and have led to widespread disequilibrium
in natural landscapes. Slope failures and fluvial systems show parallel evolutionary trends in high and low latitudes, resulting from late Quaternary environmental changes. The transformation of geomorphic systems appears to require millennia of preparation