Simon M. Mudd

The 2013 Arne Richter Award for Outstanding Young Scientists is awarded to Simon M. Mudd for his exceptionally innovative modelling studies that combine chemical weathering and physical erosion processes to shed new light on how climate change and tectonic forcing determine hill-slope morphology and soil thickness.

Simon M. Mudd has made outstanding and creative contributions to hill-slope geomorphology. His exceptionally innovative modelling sheds new light on how hill-slope morphology and soil-thickness patterns record factors such as climate change and tectonic forcing. His work is notable for a quantitative, process-based approach that is rooted in the mechanics of geomorphic processes. He has played a leading role in exploring frontier topics such as the role of vegetation in the evolution of diverse geomorphic systems. In particular, his work on the coupling of chemical weathering and physical transport processes on slopes opens up a new and very important area of research in landscape dynamics. He has been an exemplary member of the geomorphic community, engaging in fruitful collaboration with a wide range of colleagues and students.