page_title: River terraces (tectonic–climatic interaction)
section_title: Climate and terraces
hierarchical_section_title: River terraces (tectonic–climatic interaction) / Climate and terraces
caption_attribution_description: Himalayas as pictured by NASA Landsat 7 Satellite. Other Versions: thumb|120px|left|Added Territorial Boundaries
context_page_description: Terraces can be formed in many ways and in several geologic and environmental settings. By studying the size, shape, and age of terraces, one can determine the geologic processes that formed them. When terraces have the same age and/or shape over a region, it is often indicative that a large-scale geologic or environmental mechanism is responsible. Tectonic uplift and climate change are viewed as dominant mechanisms that can shape the earth’s surface through erosion. River terraces can be influenced by one or both of these forcing mechanisms and therefore can be used to study variation in tectonics, climate, and erosion, and how these processes interact.
context_section_description: Rivers in continental interiors that have not experienced tectonic activity in the geological recent history likely record climatic changes through terracing.  Terraces record natural, periodic variations driven by cycles such as the Milankovitch cycle.  These cycles can describe how the Earth's orbit and rotational wobble vary over time. The Milankovitch cycles, along with solar forcing, have been determined to drive periodic environmental change on a global scale, namely between glacial and interglacial environments. Each river system will respond to these climate variations on a regional scale. In addition, the regional environment will determine how change in sediment and precipitation will drive river incision and aggradation.  Terraces along the river will record the cyclic changes, where glacial and interglacial time periods are associated with either incision or aggradation.
caption: A satellite image of the Himalayas and the rainshadow effect. Development of the Himalayan front and South Asian Monsoon is thought to be driven by tectonic-climatic interactions.
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