Parameterization of river incision models requires accounting for environmental heterogeneity: insights from the tropical Andes Benjamin Campfortsa,b,c, Veerle Vanackerd, Frédéric Hermane, Matthias Vanmaerckef, Wolfgang Schwanghartg, Gustavo E. 5 Tenorioh,i, Patrick Willemsj, Gerard Goversi a Helmholtz Centre Potsdam, GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, Potsdam, Germany b Institute for Arctic and Alpine Research, University of Colorado at Boulder, Boulder, CO, USA c Research Foundation Flanders (FWO), Egmontstraat 5, 1000 Brussels, BelGium 10 d Earth and Life Institute, GeorGes Lemaître Centre for Earth and Climate Research, University of Louvain, Place Louis Pasteur 3, 1348 Louvain-la-Neuve, BelGium e Institute of Earth Surface Dynamics, University of Lausanne, CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland f University of LieGe, UR SPHERES, Departement of GeoGraphy, Clos Mercator 3, 4000 Liège, Belgium g Institute of Environmental Science and GeoGraphy, University of Potsdam, Germany 15 h Facultad de Ciencias Agropecuarias, Universidad de Cuenca, Campus Yanuncay, Cuenca, Ecuador i Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, KU Leuven, Celestijnenlaan 200E, 3001 Leuven, BelGium j Department of Civil EnGineerinG – Hydraulics Section, KU Leuven, Kasteelpark 40 box 2448, 3001 Leuven, BelGium Correspondence to: Benjamin Campforts (
[email protected]) 20 Abstract. Landscape evolution models can be used to assess the impact of rainfall variability on bedrock river incision over millennial timescales. However, isolating the role of rainfall variability remains difficult in natural environments, in part because environmental controls on river incision such as lithological heterogeneity are poorly constrained. In this study, we explore spatial differences in the rate of bedrock river incision in the Ecuadorian Andes using three different stream power 25 models.