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Soil erosion is a complex geomorphological process with varying influences of different impacts at different spatio-temporal scales. To date, measurement of soil erosion is predominantly realisable at specific scales, thereby detecting separate processes, e.g. interrill erosion contrary to rill erosion. It is difficult to survey soil surface changes at larger areal coverage such as field scale with high spatial resolution. Either net changes at the system outlet or remaining traces after the erosional event are usually measured. Thus, either quasi-point measurements are extrapolated to the corresponding area without knowing the actual sediment source as well as sediment storage behaviour on the plot or erosion rates are estimated disrupting the area of investigation during the data acquisition impeding multi-temporal assessment. Furthermore, established methods of soil erosion detection and quantification are typically only reliable for large event magnitudes, very labour and time intense, or inflexible. To better observe soil erosion processes at field scale and under natural conditions, the development of a method is necessary, which identifies and quantifies sediment sources and sinks at the hillslope with high spatial resolution and captures single precipitation events as well as allows for longer observation periods. Therefore, an approach is introduced, which measures soil surface changes for multi-spatio-temporal scales without disturbing the area of interest. Recent advances regarding techniques to capture high resolution topography (HiRT) data led to several promising tools for soil erosion measurement with corresponding advantages but also disadvantages. The necessity exists to evaluate those methods because they have been rarely utilised in soil surface studies. On the one hand, there is terrestrial laser scanning (TLS), which comprises high error reliability and retrieves 3D information directly. And on the other hand, there is unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) technology in combination with structure from motion (SfM) algorithms resulting in UAV photogrammetry, which is very flexible in the field and depicts a beneficial perspective. Evaluation of the TLS feasibility reveals that this method implies a systematic error that is distance-related and temporal constant for the investigated device and can be corrected transferring calibration values retrieved from an estimated lookup table. However, TLS still reaches its application limits quickly due to an unfavourable (almost horizontal) scanning view at the soil surface resulting in a fast decrease of point density and increase of noise with increasing distance from the device. UAV photogrammetry allows for a better perspective (birds-eye view) onto the area of interest, but possesses more complex error behaviour, especially in regard to the systematic error of a DEM dome, which depends on the method for 3D reconstruction from 2D images (i.e. options for additional implementation of observations) and on the image network configuration (i.e. parallel-axes and control point configuration). Therefore, a procedure is developed that enables flexible usage of different cameras and software tools without the need of additional information or specific camera orientations and yet avoiding this dome error. Furthermore, the accuracy potential of UAV photogrammetry describing rough soil surfaces is assessed because so far corresponding data is missing. Both HiRT methods are used for multi-temporal measurement of soil erosion processes resulting in surface changes of low magnitudes, i.e. rill and especially interrill erosion. Thus, a reference with high accuracy and stability is a requirement. A local reference system with sub-cm and at its best 1 mm accuracy is setup and confirmed by control surveys. TLS and UAV photogrammetry data registration with these targets ensures that errors due to referencing are of minimal impact. Analysis of the multi-temporal performance of both HiRT methods affirms TLS to be suitable for the detection of erosion forms of larger magnitudes because of a level of detection (LoD) of 1.5 cm. UAV photogrammetry enables the quantification of even lower magnitude changes (LoD of 1 cm) and a reliable observation of the change of surface roughness, which is important for runoff processes, at field plots due to high spatial resolution (1 cm²). Synergetic data fusion as a subsequent post-processing step is necessary to exploit the advantages of both HiRT methods and potentially further increase the LoD. The unprecedented high level of information entails the need for automatic geomorphic feature extraction due to the large amount of novel content. Therefore, a method is developed, which allows for accurate rill extraction and rill parameter calculation with high resolution enabling new perspectives onto rill erosion that has not been possible before due to labour and area access limits. Erosion volume and cross sections are calculated for each rill revealing a dominant rill deepening. Furthermore, rill shifting in dependence of the rill orientation towards the dominant wind direction is revealed. Two field plots are installed at erosion prone positions in the Mediterranean (1,000 m²) and in the European loess belt (600 m²) to ensure the detection of surface changes, permitting the evaluation of the feasibility, potential and limits of TLS and UAV photogrammetry in soil erosion studies. Observations are made regarding sediment connectivity at the hillslope scale. Both HiRT methods enable the identification of local sediment sources and sinks, but still exhibiting some degree of uncertainty due to the comparable high LoD in regard to laminar accumulation and interrill erosion processes. At both field sites wheel tracks and erosion rills increase hydrological and sedimentological connectivity. However, at the Mediterranean field plot especially dis-connectivity is obvious. At the European loess belt case study a triggering event could be captured, which led to high erosion rates due to high soil moisture contents and yet further erosion increase due to rill amplification after rill incision. Estimated soil erosion rates range between 2.6 tha-1 and 121.5 tha-1 for single precipitation events and illustrate a large variability due to very different site specifications, although both case studies are located in fragile landscapes. However, the susceptibility to soil erosion has different primary causes, i.e. torrential precipitation at the Mediterranean site and high soil erodibility at the European loess belt site. The future capability of the HiRT methods is their potential to be applicable at yet larger scales. Hence, investigations of the importance of gullys for sediment connectivity between hillslopes and channels are possible as well as the possible explanation of different erosion rates observed at hillslope and at catchment scales because local sediment sink and sources can be quantified. In addition, HiRT data can be a great tool for calibrating, validating and enhancing soil erosion models due to the unprecedented level of detail and the flexible multi-spatio-temporal application.

L'étude de la dynamique de l'érosion des chaînes de montagnes ne prend en général pas en compte l'influence de la sédimentation de piedmont. Or le remplissage des bassins d'avant-pays est le plus souvent carractérisé par des séquences de comblement, entraînant une élévation du niveau de base des rivières qui draînent les chaînes. L'objectif de ce travail est de montrer dans quelle mesure la dynamique du relief est perturbée par la sédimentation de piedmont. La démonstration s'appuie sur l'analyse de l'évolution de la morphologie des Pyrénées, dont les stades précoces sontpréservés par d'épais dépôts détritiques sur le versant sud, et qui est carractérisée par une pénéplaination miocène dont les reliques aujourd'hui culminent à près de 3000 m. L'évolution proposée est testée à travers une modélisation expérimentale sur l'influence de la sédimentation de piedmont sur la dynamique d'un relief en surrection.

The seismically active Alborz mountains of northern Iran are an integral part of the Arabia-Eurasia collision. Linked strike-slip and thrust/reverse-fault systems in this mountain belt are characterized by slow loading rates, and large earthquakes are highly disparate in space and time. Similar to other intracontinental deformation zones such a pattern of tectonic activity is still insufficiently understood, because recurrence intervals between seismic events may be on the order of thousands of years, and are thus beyond the resolution of short term measurements based on GPS or instrumentally recorded seismicity. This study bridges the gap of deformation processes on different time scales. In particular, my investigation focuses on deformation on the Quaternary time scale, beyond present-day deformation rates, and it uses present-day and paleotectonic characteristics to model fault behavior. The study includes data based on structural and geomorphic mapping, faultkinematic analysis, DEM-based morphometry, and numerical fault-interaction modeling. In order to better understand the long- to short term behavior of such complex fault systems, I used geomorphic surfaces as strain markers and dated fluvial and alluvial surfaces using terrestrial cosmogenic nuclides (TCN, 10Be, 26Al, 36Cl) and optically stimulated luminescence (OSL). My investigation focuses on the seismically active Mosha-Fasham fault (MFF) and the seismically virtually inactive North Tehran Thrust (NTT), adjacent to the Tehran metropolitan area. Fault-kinematic data reveal an early mechanical linkage of the NTT and MFF during an earlier dextral transpressional stage, when the shortening direction was oriented northwest. This regime was superseded by Pliocene to Recent NE-oriented shortening, which caused thrusting and sinistral strike-slip faulting. In the course of this kinematic changeover, the NTT and MFF were reactivated and incorporated into a nascent transpressional duplex, which has significantly affected landscape evolution in this part of the range. Two of three distinctive features which characterize topography and relief in the study area can be directly related to their location inside the duplex array and are thus linked to interaction between eastern MFF and NTT, and between western MFF and Taleghan fault, respectively. To account for inferred inherited topography from the previous dextral-transpression regime, a new concept of tectonic landscape characterization has been used. Accordingly, I define simple landscapes as those environments, which have developed during the influence of a sustained tectonic regime. In contrast, composite landscapes contain topographic elements inherited from previous tectonic conditions that are inconsistent with the regional present-day stress field and kinematic style. Using numerical fault-interaction modeling with different tectonic boundary conditions, I calculated synoptic snapshots of artificial topography to compare it with the real topographic metrics. However, in the Alborz mountains, E-W faults are favorably oriented to accommodate the entire range of NW- to NE-directed compression. These faults show the highest total displacement which might indicate sustained faulting under changing boundary conditions. In contrast to the fault system within and at the flanks of the Alborz mountains, Quaternary deformation in the adjacent Tehran plain is characterized by oblique motion and thrust and strike-slip fault systems. In this morphotectonic province fault-propagation folding along major faults, limited strike-slip motion, and en-échelon arrays of second-order upper plate thrusts are typical. While the Tehran plain is characterized by young deformation phenomena, the majority of faulting took place in the early stages of the Quaternary and during late Pliocene time. TCN-dating, which was performed for the first time on geomorphic surfaces in the Tehran plain, revealed that the oldest two phases of alluviation (units A and B) must be older than late Pleistocene. While urban development in Tehran increasingly covers and obliterates the active fault traces, the present-day kinematic style, the vestiges of formerly undeformed Quaternary landforms, and paleo earthquake indicators from the last millennia attest to the threat that these faults and their related structures pose for the megacity. / Das seismisch aktive Elburs Gebirge im Nordiran ist Bestandteil der Arabisch-Eurasischen Kollisionszone. Gekoppelte Blattverschiebungs- und Überschiebungssysteme dieses Gebirges zeichnen sich durch geringe Spannungsaufbauraten aus. Dementsprechend treten große Erdbeben räumlich und zeitlich weit verteilt voneinander auf und Wiederkehrperioden solcher Erdbeben können tausende von Jahren dauern und wurden noch nicht von kurzzeitigen Messmethoden, wie GPS oder instrumenteller Seismologie erfasst. Diese Arbeit überbrückt verschiedene Zeitskalen. Diese Studie beinhaltet insbesondere Auswertungen struktureller und geomorphologischer Kartierungen, störungskinematische Analysen, auf digitalen Höhenmodellen basierende Morphometrie und numerische Modellierung von Störungsinteraktion. Um das lang- und kurzfristige Verhalten solcher komplexen Schwächezonen besser zu verstehen, benutze ich geomorphologische Oberflächen als Deformationsmarker und datiere alluviale und fluviatile Oberflächen mittels kosmogener Nuklide (TCN, 10Be, 26Al, 36Cl) und optisch stimulierter Lumineszenz (OSL). Mein Untersuchungsgebiet umfasst die seismisch aktive Mosha-Fasham Störung (MFF) und die als seismisch quasi inaktiv geltende Nordteheranstörung (NTT), die sich in unmittelbarer Nähe zum Teheraner Ballungsgebiet befinden. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass sich das Deformationfeld mit der Zeit verändert hat. Die störungskinematischen Daten haben ergeben, dass NTT und MFF bereits seit einer früheren dextral-transpressionalen Phase unter NW-gerichteter Einengung mechanisch gekoppelt sind. Dieses System wurde von pliozäner und bis heute andauernder NE-gerichteter Einengung ersetzt, woraufhin sich Überschiebungen und linkslaterale Blattverschiebungen herausbildeten. Während dieses kinematischen Wechsels wurden NTT und MFF reaktiviert und in ein beginnendes transpressionales Duplexsystem eingebunden, welches die Landschaftentwicklung in diesem Teil des Gebirges signifikant beeinflusst hat. Zwei von drei ausgeprägten topographischen Besonderheiten des Untersuchungsgebietes können direkt mit deren Lage in der Duplexanordnung in Verbindung gebracht werden und spiegeln Interaktion zwischen den östlichen Segmenten von NTT und MFF, bzw., zwischen dem westlichen Segment der MFF und der parallelen Taleghan Schwächezone wider. Um diejenige Topographie auszuweisen, die möglicherweise aus der vorhergehenden Phase vererbt wurde, wurde ein neues Konzept tektonischer Landschaftscharakterisierung benutzt. Einfache Landschaften sind unter dem Einfluß gleichbleibender tektonischer Randbedingungen entstanden. Dagegen enthalten zusammengesetzte Landschaften vererbte Elemente vergangener tektonischer Randbedingungen, die mit dem heutigen Spannungsfeld und kinematischen Stil unvereinbar sind. Mittels numerischer Störungsinteraktionsmodellierungen teste ich verschiedene Randbedingungen und berechne synoptische Momentaufnahmen künstlicher Topographie um sie mit reellen topographischen Maßen zu vergleichen. Im Elburs Gebirge treten allerdings auch E-W streichende Schwächezonen auf, die so günstig orientiert sind, dass sie Verformung unter der gesamten Einengungsspanne von Nordwest nach Nordost zeigen. Diese weisen den höchsten totalen Versatz auf. Hier tritt das Grundgebirge zutage und wird versetzt, was, wie die Modellierungen vermuten lassen, auf langanhaltende Verformung unter sich ändernden Randbedingungen hinweisen kann. Quartäre Deformation in der benachbarten Teheran Ebene ist durch Schrägbewegungen, Überschiebungen und Blattverschiebungssyteme gekennzeichnet, die typischerweise in Auffaltungen entlang von Hauptstörungen, vereinzelten Blattverschiebungen und en-échelon Anordnungen untergeordneter oberflächlicher Überschiebungen resultieren. Junge Deformation tritt auf, die Hauptbewegungen fanden allerdings im frühen Quartär und wahrscheinlich späten Pliozän statt. TCN-Datierungen, die erstmalig an geomorphologischen Oberflächen in der Teheran Ebene durchgeführt wurden, ergeben dass die beiden älteren Sedimentationsphasen (Einheiten A und B) älter sind als spätes Pleistozän. Obwohl die urbane Entwicklung im Teheraner Ballungsraum die aktiven Störungslinien zunehmend verdeckt und ausradiert, zeugen der heutige kinematische Stil, die Überreste ehemals unverstellter Quartärer Landschaftsformen und Hinweise auf Paläoerdbeben während der letzten Jahrtausende von der Gefahr, die diese Schwächezonen für die Megastadt bedeuten.