Successful inverse modeling of observed longitudinal river profiles suggests that fluvial
landscapes are responsive to continent‐wide tectonic forcing. However, inversion
algorithms make simplifying assumptions about landscape erodibility and drainage planform
stability that require careful justification. For example, precipitation rate and drainage
catchment area are usually assumed to be invariant. Here, we exploit a closed‐loop
modeling strategy by inverting drainage networks generated by dynamic landscape …

Inverse modeling of an inventory of 1500 longitudinal river profiles across Africa permits
recovery of a Neogene uplift rate history, which agrees closely with independent geological
constraints. Forward simulations using the Badlands model, benchmarked against the
Landlab model, are forced using this uplift history in order to test inherent limitations of
existing inverse models (eg static catchments and drainage divides, constant precipitation
rate). First, given the assumption of constant precipitation, naturalistic forward models …