I am an Earth Scientist whose research aims to better understand the interactions and feedbacks between the tectonic, climatic, anthropogenic, and biological processes that shape topography. My research focuses on the evolution of erosional landscapes and how geomorphic archives can be used to reconstruct and predict past and future landscape dynamics. In addition to being fundamental to address the sustainability challenges of the 21^st century, quantifying Earth surface processes is important because they influence the flux and routing of surface water, sediment, nutrients, and organic matter; affect feedbacks between the solid earth and atmosphere; and drive the evolution and diversification of species. My research interests lie at the crossroads between process‐based geomorphology, physical geography, active tectonics, geochemistry, and natural hazards. My work brings together field observations, isotope-proxies, remote sensing, and numerical modelling. In particular, I am an expert in the application of cosmogenic nuclide geochemistry for the quantification of erosion rates on centennial and millennial time scales. Below I list several projects that I am currently working on. Feel free to get in contact, if you have any questions :)

Why is Colombia one of the most biodiverse places on this planet by area? When did the Northern Andes form and how are the Andes connected to the deep dynamics of the Nazca subduction zone?

I am interested in how investigating how recent changes in geometry of the tectonic plate subducting below South America changed topography, and drove the evolution of animal and plant species in Colombia. I also investigate how subduction processes changed the drainage patterns and sediment routing systems.

Loss of fertile land due to soil erosion is a major global environmental and agricultural threat, as highlighted by the latest United Nations report. Every year, arable land equivalent to the size of Cuba is lost due to human-induced erosion, threatening food supplies and accelerating climate change due to additional CO₂ release. I use geochemical techniques to quantify changes in modern soil erosion rates across landscapes with different land use histories and compare them against rates from ancient civilizations that are thought to have collapsed due to self-induced soil erosion. More recently, I also employ remote sensing and suspended sediment load measurements to compare modern and natural background erosion rates and identify the main drivers of erosional change.

The topography of the Earth is a rich archive that can be used to reconstruct past landscapes. Changes in forcing (tectonics, climate,  vegetation, etc.) can be recorded over million year time-scales. My research aims to use topography together with information from other Earth surface process proxies (erosion rates, sediment accumulation rates, etc.) to recover information about paleo-landscapes and the drivers behind landscape change.