In-channel geomorphic complexity: The key to the dynamics of organic matter in large dryland rivers?

Large rivers are often considered to retain less organic material than smaller streams primarily because of a decrease in retentive structures. From our observations on the Barwon–Darling River, a semi-arid river in southeastern Australia, we suggest that geomorphic complexity plays a fundamental role in the retention of organic matter. The Barwon–Darling River has a ‘complex’ river channel cross-section with large inset benches being a prominent morphological feature within the channel. The importance of geomorphic complexity for retaining organic material is likely to be significant in dryland rivers. These rivers spend extended periods at low flow with infrequent large floods that inundate the floodplain. They do, however, experience more frequent within channel floods that inundate in-channel ‘bench’ features. In-channel geomorphic complexity and its ability to retain organic material, therefore, means that although the dominant lateral movements of organic material will still occur during large overbank flows, smaller ‘pulse’ inputs will occur with each in-channel rise and fall in water level. In dryland rivers, where large overbank flows may only occur every seven or more years, these small ‘pulse’ inputs of organic material may well be vital for the integrity of the system.This paper describes the contemporary complexity of a channel in a regulated and an unregulated reach of the Barwon–Darling and compares this with cross-sections surveyed in 1886. We show that flow regulation has greatly reduced channel complexity. We estimate the potential organic matter input to each bench level within the channel (using data collected under near natural riparian conditions) and measure the contemporary organic loads within the channel of the regulated and unregulated reach. This modelling suggests that the development of water resources has reduced the complexity of the channel in the regulated reach, resulting in a potential decrease in the retention of organic matter in this region of the river. The importance of this organic matter to the aquatic food web of the Barwon–Darling River is also demonstrated.     

Pedodiversity and pedogenesis in Zayandeh-rud Valley, Central Iran

A geomorphic hierarchical downscaling method was used to decompose the forms and processes forming the landscapes and their subdivisions in the main region of Zayandeh-rud Valley. The purpose of this study was to determine the degree of soil heterogeneity and to check if K-entropy would be a good measure of soil evolution. Soil diversity analyses were performed considering soil families as individuals of soil entities in each geomorphic or taxonomic category level. Pedodiversity indices were used to follow the trend of soil and landscape evolution. The relationships between K-entropy (Shannon diversity index) and pedo-richness versus increasing area were analyzed to find out the effects of soil–landscape evolution on complexity of soil patterns in different geomorphic surfaces. Entropy–age relationship was studied to check the pedogenetic pathways responsible for soil landscape evolution. The soil diversity increases as geomorphic and taxonomic hierarchy levels decrease. The diversity indices were high when the sequence of soil horizons in a homogeneous family was also investigated. An increase in K-entropy of soil and landscape during time confirms the hypothesis of soil divergence evolution, whereby differences in initial conditions or local perturbations, and dynamic instability appear to have produced more variable soils and landscapes in the study area.     

Hillslope gullying in the Solway Firth — Morecambe Bay region, Great Britain: Responses to human impact and/or climatic deterioration?

In the Solway Firth — Morecambe Bay region of Great Britain there is evidence for heightened hillslope instability during the late Holocene (after 3000 cal. BP). Little or no hillslope geomorphic activity has been identified occurring during the early Holocene, but there is abundant evidence for late Holocene hillslope erosion (gullying) and associated alluvial fan and valley floor deposition. Interpretation of the regional radiocarbon chronology available from organic matter buried beneath alluvial fan units suggests much of this geomorphic activity can be attributed to four phases of more extensive gullying identified after 2500–2200, 1300–1000, 1000–800 and 500 cal. BP. Both climate and human impact models can be evoked to explain the crossing of geomorphic thresholds: and palaeoecological data on climatic change (bog surface wetness) and human impact (pollen), together with archaeological and documentary evidence of landscape history, provide a context for addressing the causes of late Holocene geomorphic instability. High magnitude storm events are the primary agent responsible for gully incision, but neither such events nor cooler/wetter climatic episodes appear to have produced gully systems in the region before 3000 cal. BP. Increased gullying after 2500–2200 cal. BP coincides with population expansion during Iron Age and Romano-British times. The widespread and extensive gullying after 1300–1000 cal. BP and after 1000–800 cal. BP coincides with periods of population expansion and a growing rural economy identified during Norse times, 9–10th centuries AD, and during the Medieval Period, 12–13th centuries AD. These periods were separated by a downturn associated with the ‘harrying of the north’ AD 1069 to 1070. The gullying episode after 500 cal. BP also coincides with increased anthropogenic pressure on the uplands, with population growth and agricultural expansion after AD 1500 following 150 years of malaise caused by livestock and human (the Black Death) plagues, poor harvests and conflicts on the Scottish/English border. The increased susceptibility to erosion of gullies is a response to increased anthropogenic pressure on upland hillslopes during the late Holocene, and the role of this pressure appears crucial in priming hillslopes before subsequent major storm events. In particular, the cycles of expansion and contraction in both population and agriculture appear to have affected the susceptibility of the upland landscape to erosion, and the hillslope gullying record in the region, therefore, contributes to understanding of the timing and spatial pattern of human exploitation of the upland landscape.     

Reducing model complexity for explanation and prediction

Numerical models can be useful for explaining poorly understood phenomena or for reliable quantitative predictions. When modeling a multi-scale system, a ‘top-down’ approach—basing models on emergent variables and interactions, rather than explicitly on the much faster and smaller scale processes that give rise to them—facilitates both goals. Parameterizations representing emergent interactions range from highly simplified and abstracted to more quantitatively accurate. Empirically based large-scale parameterizations lead more reliably to accurate large-scale behavior than do parameterizations of much smaller scale processes. Conversely, purposefully simplified representations of model interactions can enhance a model's utility for explanation, clarifying the key feedbacks leading to an enigmatic behavior. For such potential insights to be relevant, the interactions in the model need to correspond to those in the ‘real’ system in some straightforward way. Such a correspondence usually holds for models constructed for predictive purposes, although this is not a requirement. The goals motivating a modeling endeavor help determine the most appropriate modeling strategies, as well as the most appropriate criteria for judging model usefulness.     

The fluvial cycle at cold–warm–cold transitions in lowland regions: A refinement of theory

A previously established non-linear theory of river cyclicity as a response to climate change states that short phases of fluvial instability occur both at the transition from relatively warm (temperate) to cold (periglacial) and from relatively cold to warm periods. Such instability typically starts with vertical erosion, successively followed by sedimentary fill of the erosive scar. In spite of frequent confirmation of this theory by geomorphological reconstructions, a few problems arise. First, there are fewer incision phases than climatic transitions. Secondly, remnants of erosion at ‘cold–warm’ transitions are scarce, in contrast to obvious erosion relics at ‘warm–cold’ transitions. Furthermore, it appears that the incision style is strikingly different at both kinds of climatic transitions. Similarly, the long stable phases are also expressed in terms of different floodplain development in cold and warm periods. These arguments require a modification of the general non-linear theory.At the transition from relatively temperate to colder conditions, rivers transformed gradually from a regular, low-energy, single-channel course to a periodically high-energy, multi-channel type. The latter (braided) type is characterized by intense lateral movement, rather than by deep vertical erosion. This results in a well-expressed morphology of wide, extensive floodplains and terraces. In contrast, the linear and constrained, meandering channels incise with small width–depth ratio and build floodplains of limited lateral extent. Consequences are twofold: 1) the spatial limitation of the deeply incised, meandering valleys at the beginning of warm periods counts against their recognition; 2) relatively strong, lateral migration of the braided rivers removes most traces of previous (meandering) systems, which contrasts with the limited lateral activity of confined meandering channels. It means that in a ‘warm–cold–warm’ alternation generally only one phase of vertical erosion is preserved, the one that is caused by the high-energy, braided river at the start of the cold period.     

Use of Thermal Infrared Multispectral Scanner (TIMS) imagery to investigate upslope particle size controls on arid piedmont morphology

Geomorphic differences between slopes backing two distinct desert piedmont types provide a proxy indicator for the kind of landform developed at the corresponding mountain base. Here, the term ‘bedrock pediment’ describes subaerial bedrock platforms that emanate from a mountain base while ‘alluvial slope’ describes suballuvial bedrock platforms that extend from the mountain. Mountain slopes backing bedrock pediments have been demonstrated to be mantled by larger clast sizes than corresponding slopes backing alluvial slopes in the Phoenix region, Arizona, USA. The present research focuses on using the disparate particle sizes between slopes backing bedrock pediments and alluvial slopes as an indicator for the piedmont form developed at the mountain base, and uses high-resolution remotely sensed digital data as a medium for quantitative landform assessments. A gravel + bedrock versus soil index developed from airborne midinfrared multispectral imagery acquired by the Thermal Infrared Multispectral Scanner (TIMS) indicates the presence of slopes mantled with larger particle sizes versus slopes mantled with smaller particle sizes and greater soil coverage. Two test areas confirm the applicability of this method and further demonstrate the usefulness of high-resolution midinfrared multispectral imagery as a geomorphic tool in arid regions.     

The failure mechanism of a Late Glacial Sturzstrom in the Subalpine Molasse (Leckner Valley, Vorarlberg, Austria)

A number of prehistoric landslides and rock avalanches occurred in the folded and faulted section of the Molasse Zone in Vorarlberg, Austria. Some developed into a Sturzstrom, defined as a ‘rapidly moving fluidised mass movement of large volumes of rock, derived from the disintegration of a falling rock mass, that spread under the influence of gravity’. Their impact on the landscape usually is related to obstruction of rivers and valleys.In this paper, we analyse the geomorphology and the failure mechanism of a relative small ‘Sturzstrom’. The failure mechanism can be described as a ‘buckling failure’. The morphological situation indicates that failure took place after local deglaciation by the end of the Upper Würm. The period of failure coincides with glacial and ice-marginal remnants, which developed between 15.000 and 14.600 BP. The lithological sequence and rock structure, as well as the impact of the processes related to the former glacial environment, were major causal conditions. The rock sequence consists of conglomerates, sandstone layers, and marls. Next to glacial scouring, which increased the inclination of the valley slopes, the effect of late-glacial unloading and postglacial processes, such as weathering and fluvial erosion, subsequently weakened the mass rock fabric until failure occurred.Discontinuity orientation measurements, geostructural and geomechanical conditions, and the former hydrological and geomorphological conditions support bucklings failure. In fact, three-hinge buckling may have occurred. The frontal section of the Sturzstrom consists mainly of large conglomerate blocks, averaging 1.5 m³ in volume, although megablocks, reaching of up to 4000 m³, are present as well. The volume of the entire Sturzstrom equals approximately 10×10⁷ m³. Present activity is only restricted to minor rock falls derived from the conglomerates and mudflows originating from the marl layers.     

Merged remotely sensed data for geomorphological investigations in deserts: examples from central Saudi Arabia

Image merging has gained acceptance in geological remote sensing, however it has rarely been applied in geomorphology. We report on the usefulness of principal components substitution (PCS) to merge IRS panchromatic data with multispectral Thematic Mapper (TM) imagery, to map commonly encountered desert geomorphological features, and in relative age dating of alluvial surfaces. The merged data were applied to the identification and mapping of geomorphological features along two geolo-gically different mountain fronts in central Saudi Arabia. Two types of geomorphological maps have been created. A morphogenetic map that distinguishes between aeolian landforms, fluvial landforms, desert pavements, and gypsum crusts. Second, a morphochronological map, which shows the relative age of four geomorphic surfaces developed on an alluvial fan. The construction of the two maps is supported by field observations and laboratory measurements. Using the optimum index factor (OIF), a TM band 1, 5 and 7 image (of 20 merged composites) was found to be the optimum colour composite image for the geomorphological features in this arid environment. We discuss our findings in the context of the spatial and spectral properties required for applied geomorphological remote sensing.     

Bioprotection explored: the story of a little known earth surface process

Bioprotection is identified as an earth surface process. However, it has been little studied, little acknowledged and yet may have major implications for the operation and management of geomorphic systems. Key early observations are traced back to Darwin's ‘Voyage of the Beagle’, Geikie in the natural environment and Watson for the built environment. Recent field observations and experimental work examining bioprotection are reviewed, with a specific focus on lichens and the landscape, as are its complex interactions with other processes. A conceptual model of bioprotection is presented for the case of an epilithic lichen on a limestone surface.     

Embedding reach-scale fluvial dynamics within the CAESAR cellular automaton landscape evolution model

We introduce a new computational model designed to simulate and investigate reach-scale alluvial dynamics within a landscape evolution model. The model is based on the cellular automaton concept, whereby the continued iteration of a series of local process ‘rules’ governs the behaviour of the entire system. The model is a modified version of the CAESAR landscape evolution model, which applies a suite of physically based rules to simulate the entrainment, transport and deposition of sediments. The CAESAR model has been altered to improve the representation of hydraulic and geomorphic processes in an alluvial environment. In-channel and overbank flow, sediment entrainment and deposition, suspended load and bed load transport, lateral erosion and bank failure have all been represented as local cellular automaton rules. Although these rules are relatively simple and straightforward, their combined and repeatedly iterated effect is such that complex, non-linear geomorphological response can be simulated within the model. Examples of such larger-scale, emergent responses include channel incision and aggradation, terrace formation, channel migration and river meandering, formation of meander cutoffs, and transitions between braided and single-thread channel patterns. In the current study, the model is illustrated on a reach of the River Teifi, near Lampeter, Wales, UK.     

Optical dating of Holocene sediments from a variety of geomorphic settings using single grains of quartz

This paper presents an improved method for the optical dating of Holocene sediments from a variety of geomorphic settings. We have measured the equivalent dose (D_e) in individual grains of quartz, using green laser light for optical stimulation, and have simulated the D_e distributions for multiple-grain ‘synthetic’ aliquots using the single-grain data. For 12 samples of known (independent) age, we show that application of a ‘minimum age model’ to the single-grain and ‘small’ (10-grain) aliquot D_e data provides the most accurate estimate of the burial dose for nine of the samples examined (3 aeolian, 5 fluvial, and 1 marine). The weighted mean D_e (as obtained using the ‘central age model’) gives rise to burial age overestimates of up to a factor of 10 for these nine samples, whether single grains, small aliquots, or ‘large’ (100-grain) aliquots are used. For the other three samples (two aeolian and one fluvial), application of either the minimum age model or the central age model to the single-grain, small aliquot, and large aliquot D_e data yields burial ages in accord with the independent age control. We infer that these three samples were well bleached at the time of deposition. These results show that heterogeneous bleaching of the optical dating signal is commonplace in nature, and that aeolian transport offers no guarantee that the sample will be well bleached at the time of deposition. We also show that grains sensitive to infrared (IR) stimulation can give rise to low D_e values, which will result in significant underestimation of the burial dose and, hence, of the age of deposition. We demonstrate that use of a modified single-aliquot regenerative-dose protocol incorporating IR stimulation prior to green light stimulation deals effectively with contamination by IR-sensitive grains. We conclude that application of the modified protocol to single grains or small aliquots of quartz, using the lowest D_e population to estimate the burial dose, is the best means of obtaining reliable ages for Holocene sediments from a wide range of depositional environments.     

Terrain mapping unit-based approach for sustainable agricultural development in India—an example from plains ecosystem at semi-arid interface

‘Green Revolution’ was adopted as National Agricultural Policy by the Government of India to meet the requirements for food grain self-sufficiency. Improved seeds, fertilizers and irrigation were provided as science and technology (S&T) inputs to the soil resource base of the country. Land use changes in order to increase the area of land under cultivation have resulted in sectoral imbalances. The introduction of irrigation, fertilizers and new seed varieties using the district as a unit of agricultural input and management, without consideration of moisture and pedogenetic requirements at the micro-level, have resulted in ecological imbalances and environmental degradation in some parts of the district. Intensive irrigation has resulted in water mining in some blocks, and over a period of years the upper aquifer has been lost and in parts of the Aligarh district water-logging and salinity development has taken place.This paper presents the concept of spatial information systems for sustainable agriculture to eliminate the overdose effect of S&T inputs in a land system such as the fragile ecosystem at the semi-arid border in India.The present study has attempted to integrate the natural resource endowments of lithology, soil, ground-water and geomorphology into terrain mapping units (TMUs). The geological, geomorphological and soil maps were generated using remotely sensed data. For ground-water, well logging was carried out and secondary data regarding depth to water-table were collated. The spatial modelling for depth to water-table was carried out using SURFER software. The files on geology, geomorphology, soil and depth to water-table were digitized and integrated to generate an illuminated model characterized by areas of homogeneity in terms of geology, geomorphology, soil and ground-water conditions to map the TMUs. Intergraph's Modular GIS Environment (MGE) software was used to integrate the multiple data base.For sustainable agriculture the natural boundaries represented by TMUs will be more appropriate as spatial units for the application of agricultural inputs and management practices for the land system, rather than villages, blocks and districts which have cultural boundaries. The methodology proposed will be useful for all ecosystems in semi-arid and arid regions.     

Geomorphological limits to self-organization of alpine forest-tundra ecotone vegetation

Feedback in the establishment of vegetation has been shown to produce spatial patterns that differ from the geomorphological basis for resources. The dynamics of these spatial patterns have been characterized as self-organization because local processes produce them at landscape scales. Geomorphic patterns could, however, enhance or disrupt the processes that lead to patterns and the interpretation of self-organization. A simulation model that showed such indication of self-organization at alpine forest-tundra ecotones is modified to incorporate a geomorphic feature commonly seen in this environment – solifluction steps – as an exogenous condition in the model. Analyses linking spatial patterns and rates of advance of vegetation indicate that such geomorphic patterns do not alter the dynamics of vegetation until the size of the patterns is about double that of the dimension within which endogenous dynamics operate. The sizes of some geomorphic patterns incorporated in the model are probably larger than any realistic solifluction feature at such ecotones in western North America.     

The relief of the Swiss Alps and adjacent areas and its relation to lithology and structure: topographic analysis from a 250-m DEM

In this paper we discuss the large-scale geomorphological characteristics of the Swiss Alps based on numerical analysis of a digital elevation model and compare these to an erodibility map constructed from a geotechnical map of Switzerland and regional geomorphological studies. Comparing the erodibility map with the large-scale morphometry shows an intimate relationship between mountain-scale erodibility and topography. On average, higher mean elevations and steeper mean slopes correlate with regions where rocks of low erodibility prevail. Areas with high peaks as well as the main water divides are controlled by the presence of bedrock with low to very low detachability. The drainage network of the Swiss Alps shows a close relationship to the lithological differences as well. Major longitudinal valleys follow easily erodible units. In the eastern and western part of the Swiss Alps, the highest values of local relief are located to the south of the main water divide, whereas in the central part, local relief is higher to the north of the main water divide. The large-scale geomorphic characteristics regarded in the framework of the geological history of uplift and denudation suggest that low and very low erodibilities lead to the development of areas of high elevations which are likely to persist over periods of 10–15 Ma. As the analysis of the Lepontine area shows, 20 Ma after cessation of exhumation, such high elevations are likely to be worn down and to manifest themselves as high relief only.     

A 10-Year Study on Techniques for Vegetation Restoration in a Desertified Salt Lake Area

Vegetation restoration is one of the most common and effective ways to combat desertification and prevent adjacent areas from sand encroachment in many of the desertified regions of the world. However, vegetation restoration in desertified regions is very difficult because of low rainfall, the mobile ground surface, and cost. An effective, low-cost method of afforestation is urgently required. To determine such a method, a 10-year study was carried out in the Jilantai Salt Lake area. Five different afforestation areas were established: a ‘comparison area,’ a ‘land enclosure area,’ a ‘land enclosure + irrigation area,’ a ‘leveled-afforestation area’ (the dune areas were leveled and then planted with seedlings with added irrigation), and a ‘protected afforestation area’ (the dune areas were planted with seedlings, and the surviving natural vegetation was protected as much as possible). Vegetation-related parameters (survival rate, height, trunk diameter, coverage, canopy size, and density) and environment-related factors (relative humidity, wind velocity, and amount of sand encroachment) were measured by standard methods. Results show that the protected afforestation method had the following advantages: (1) the survival rate was higher for seedlings planted in the protected afforestation area than in the leveled afforestation area; (2) vigor (height, trunk diameter, coverage, and canopy size) was better in seedlings planted in the protected afforestation area than in the leveled afforestation area, especially in the beginning period of revegetation; (3) coverage (of individual species, of all planted vegetation, and of all vegetation) was larger in the protected afforestation area than in the leveled afforestation area; (4) density of naturally germinated plant species was higher in the protected afforestation area than in the other areas, showing that the protected afforestation method provided a suitable growing environment not only for planted species but also for naturally growing species; (5) in the protected vegetation area, relative humidity of air increased and wind velocity was greatly reduced; (6) after the establishment of vegetation by the protected afforestation method, sand encroachment into the salt lake area was significantly reduced. These results suggest that protected afforestation is an effective method of vegetation rehabilitation that has the potential not only to be applied to arid lands in China but also to desertified areas throughout the world; (7) cost-effective calculation shows that the leveled afforestation area costs much more than other areas.     

Creating and coupling a high-resolution DTM with a 1-D hydraulic model in a GIS for scenario-based assessment of avulsion hazard in a gravel-bed river

In this paper we explore the development and assimilation of a high resolution topographic surface with a one-dimensional hydraulic model for investigation of avulsion hazard potential on a gravel-bed river. A detailed channel and floodplain digital terrain model (DTM) is created to define the geometry parameter required by the 1D hydraulic model HEC-RAS. The ability to extract dense and optimally located cross-sections is presented as a means to optimize HEC-RAS performance. A number of flood scenarios are then run in HEC-RAS to determine the inundation potential of modeled events, the post-processed output of which facilitates calculation of spatially explicit shear stress (τ) and level of geomorphic work (specific stream power per unit bed area, ω) for each of these. Further enhancing this scenario-based approach, the DTM is modified to simulate a large woody debris (LWD) jam and active-channel sediment aggradation to assess impact on innundation, τ, and ω, under previously modeled flow conditions. The high resolution DTM facilitates overlay and evaluation of modeled scenario results in a spatially explicit context containing considerable detail of hydrogeomorphic and other features influencing hydraulics (bars, secondary and scour channels, levees). This offers advantages for: (i) assessing the avulsion hazard potential and spatial distribution of other hydrologic and fluvial geomorphic processes; and (ii) exploration of the potential impacts of specific management strategies on the channel, including river restoration activities.     

中国近40年来地貌学研究的回顾与展望

地貌学是地理学的一门主要分支学科,其研究成就与发展一直倍受人们关注。本文对中国近60年来的研究状况,尤其近40年来研究历程进行了回顾,从总结经验与发展态势出发,对地貌学科未来发展方向提出了展望。分析认为,中国地貌学科在地貌基本类型、区划以及分支学科：包括动力地貌学（包括冰川地貌、冰缘地貌、风沙地貌、黄土地貌、喀斯特地貌、河流地貌、海岸地貌等）、构造地貌学、气候地貌学、古地貌、岩石地貌学（包括丹霞地貌、花岗岩与流纹岩地貌）、其他地貌类型（包括重力地貌,人工地貌）等方面取得重大进展,地貌学已逐渐发展成为一门拥有完整学科体系的科学。通过回顾认为,应坚持地貌成因、形态相统一的原则发展传统地貌与综合地貌。加强地貌基础理论与综合地貌研究、开展地貌结构及其功能研究、构建全方位资源环境地貌信息系统、加强海岸地貌与海洋地貌研究、加强人才培养和学术团队建设,将是中国实现地貌强国目标的主要途径。     

Watching the East: Constructions of ‘otherness’ in TV representations of East Germany

Coming from a socio-cultural geography perspective this paper sets out to question the ‘essentiality’ of East/West German differences, often said to persist in Germany despite (re)unification, by analysing the way in which they are socially constructed in German television reports and films today. Particular emphasis is placed upon the social and spatial positioning of the TV producers, of those represented, and of the audience. It is suggested that television representations such as those analysed in the paper effect a marginalization of East Germans and East Germany that can be partially resisted on the basis of contradictions ‘within’ and ‘outside’ filmic texts.     

Predicting landslides for risk analysis — Spatial models tested by a cross-validation technique

A landslide-hazard map is intended to show the location of future slope instability. Most spatial models of the hazard lack reliability tests of the procedures and predictions for estimating the probabilities of future landslides, thus precluding use of the maps for probabilistic risk analysis. To correct this deficiency we propose a systematic procedure comprising two analytical steps: “relative-hazard mapping” and “empirical probability estimation”. A mathematical model first generates a prediction map by dividing an area into “prediction” classes according to the relative likelihood of occurrence of future landslides, conditional by local geomorphic and topographic characteristics. The second stage estimates empirically the probability of landslide occurrence in each prediction class, by applying a cross-validation technique. Cross-validation, a “blind test” here using non-overlapping spatial or temporal subsets of mapped landslides, evaluates accuracy of the prediction and from the resulting statistics estimates occurrence probabilities of future landslides. This quantitative approach, exemplified by several experiments in an area near Lisbon, Portugal, can accommodate any subsequent analysis of landslide risk.     

新疆地形复杂度的空间格局及地理特征

地形复杂度（TCI）是区域地表外在形态结构的数字化表达,既可表征坡面单元的多样性及其组合形式的复杂性,也可映射地球内外营力在地表留下“烙印”的过程,其客观描述和定量表达可为地表形态定义、刻画及分异等地形地貌理论研究提供重要依据。新疆独特的山盆地貌结构为地貌学研究提供了理想的场所。本文基于“倒金字塔滤网系统”逐步筛选微观和宏观坡面因子并确定权重进而构建地形复杂度模型;运用均值变点法确定新疆地形复杂度的最佳窗口,分析不同地貌单元地形复杂度的空间异质性,进一步探究不同营力作用对地表复杂程度的贡献。结果显示：① 地形复杂度模型综合相关性分析、聚类分析、变异系数法与主成分分析等方法对地形因子进行客观筛选与科学组合,使其具有全面客观性及独立有效性。② 地形复杂度以ASTER GDEM数据（30 m）为基础,得到最佳窗口（14×14）下全疆TCI介于0.13~46.36。山地与盆地相同地貌类型TCI面积占比峰值相近,不同地貌类型可比较其斜率、偏度及峰度得以区分。在经纬向上能更好的刻画出独立山峰及深切峡谷等局部地形分异,TCI≈1可作为平原与山地地貌单元之间的分界值。在高程分区下TCI>2时为各山系（山群）震荡高程区起始处,山麓处TCI曲线差异显著。③ 地形复杂度能较好的体现不同外营力在地表留下的痕迹,一定程度上也可表征外营力对不同成因地貌类型的贡献度。本研究对新疆地形地貌的形态特征和形成原因等方面提供理论依据和科学方法,可为地形地貌研究、生态环境影响以及区域发展评价提供实践指导。