Knickpoint Database for the Indian Subcontinent

Knickpoints, abrupt steepenings in river longitudinal profiles, record base-level change, differential rock uplift, lithological contrasts and valley blockage by landslides and glaciers, but no consistent, openly available inventory exists for the knickpoints at a regional scale or continental scale. Here we present a spatially continuous database of 70,420 knickpoints along 2.5 million km of channel in the Himalaya–Karakoram arc and Peninsular India, derived from the 90 m MERIT DEM with the TopoToolbox knickpointfinder algorithm (vertical tolerance 50 m; streams draining more than 0.81 km2). Each knickpoint carries coordinates, elevation, height, drainage area, channel slope, basin, lithology and distance to the nearest active fault. We compare the database with OpenStreetMap waterfalls (46 % lie within 500 m of a knickpoint, 4.9 times the random expectation) and test its sensitivity to the elevation model in two basins using SRTM, Copernicus, FABDEM and ALOS PALSAR. The data are archived on Zenodo and are intended as a ready-to-use variable for tectonic geomorphology, landslide susceptibility, hydropower and hazard studies.