Queenie Chang, a former PhD student of the Department of Earth Sciences, led a recent study alongside faculty Michael Hren and Tim Byrne on the uplift history of Taiwan. Published in Science Advances, Chang and others measured the hydrogen isotope composition of leaf waxes preserved in sediments to reconstruct changes in elevation of the southern Central Range through time. Based on the isotopic signatures, they inferred rapid uplift of over 2 km in the southern Central Range since 1.3–1.5 million years ago. This new topographic history of Taiwan has important implications for weather rates and the global carbon cycle. Furthermore, the novel methods can be used to reconstruct the topographic histories of tropical mountain belts around the world.