International audienceEditor: A. Yin Keywords: river gorges incision CRE 10 Be and 36 Cl dating river polished surfaces 10 Be and 36 Cl Cosmic Ray Exposure (CRE) dating performed on river polished surfaces of river gorges in a mountain-to-sea river system in the French SW Alps highlights transient erosional events involving incision rates >10 mm a −1. These events took place during the last two major deglaciation phases following (1) the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) at 16–14 ka, (2) the Younger Dryas at 8–11 ka, and during the warm and humid Holocene climatic optimum at 4–5 ka. These periods of high incision rates (3–>30 mm a −1) alternated with periods of low incision rates (<1 mm a −1), which probably correspond to a long-term equilibrium b...