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Why do plateaus made by crustal shortening often survive best in dry climates?

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continental landform Davis's proposed landscape-development states. The morphology shown is not actually time-indicative. For example, A could be a gully system in soft sediment or a canyon such as the Royal Gorge in Colorado, which is millions of years old. The ridge-ravine topography of B would normally develop under humid conditions, but the river meandering on alluvium indicates a prior or extraneous non-humid aggrading mechanism. The riverine plain of C implies a complex history of planation and aggradation in a current fluvial mode.

Plateaus formed by crustal shortening are essentially mountain ranges that have become buried in their own debris. These landforms consist of broad, flat valleys situated between mountains, where internal drainage leads to the deposition of sediment within the basins.1

Such plateaus survive best in dry climates because the rate of erosion is significantly slower in these environments. In more humid regions, the presence of water and active river systems would facilitate the transport of debris away from the valleys, leading to the degradation of the plateau's flat structure. In arid conditions, however, the lack of significant fluvial activity allows the sediment to remain in place, preserving the characteristic flat, broad valleys that define these plateaus. In many instances, these basins are occupied by flat, dry lake beds known as playas.1