2.4.1. 4-D Integrated Approaches

One of the primary and most innovative objectives of TOPO-EUROPE is to promote 4-D approaches that will lead to integrated interpretations of existing and newly acquired geomorphologic, geologic, geophysical, geodetic, remote sensing and geotechnologic datasets. A major challenge is the incorporation of different temporal and spatial scales in the analyses of Solid-Earth and surface processes. Examination of the role played by climate, erosion and tectonics on landscape evolution should provide key constraints for quantifying feedback mechanisms and teleconnections that link the Solid Earth, active tectonics and surface processes. Monitoring horizontal and vertical motions of the surface and mapping the subsurface, using modern geophysical, geodetic, remote sensing and geotechnical techniques, will provide new constraints on present-day deformation patterns and related topographic changes. Analogue and numerical modelling, based on these new constraints as input parameters, can be used to test integrated interpretations and to provide information on dynamic processes controlling topography development in intraplate settings and adjacent orogens.