Landslides limit mountain relief Despite variable forcing by tectonics, the height of mountain ranges seems to be limited. Satellite imagery suggests that landsliding rates adjust to large changes in uplift, acting to maintain hillslopes of similar steepness.

. The tectonic upheaval that gives birth to mountain ranges causes rock to barrel upwards at rates approaching one centimetre per year. The valleys between the peaks are continuously worn away by rivers and glaciers, but something else must prevent the intervening mountains from attaining stratospheric heights. An appealing explanation suggests that, as the bounding valleys experience downcutting from rivers or glaciers, slope failures limit the steepness of adjacent hillslopes and thus regulate the height of mountains