The structure of denudation cycles in the forest-steppes of Middle Siberia

A comparison between the evidence from station-based investigations into contemporaneous denudation with the data on the structure of reference sections of the loess formation from the late Pleistocene revealed a hierarchical structure of denudation cycles in the submontane forest-steppes of Middle Siberia. It is established that an elementary 3–5-year cycle exhibits features typical of high-order cycles. Similarity features manifest themselves in the denudation mechanism, and in the sequence of phase change inside the cycles. A denudation cycle of any hierarchical level inheritedly from the late Pleistocene includes accumulation phases of Aeolian material, redistribution of matter by the slope processes, and of fluvial removal of matter from the system.     

Dynamic types of denudation in island steppes of southern Siberia

Basic patterns of contemporary functioning of the denudation systems are presented for the areas of southern Siberia. The denudation triggering mechanism is elucidated, which is associated with the climate-induced alternation of the zonal and extreme phases of denudation cycles. Three regional types of denudation with a different directedness of relief-formation, controlled by the structure of climatic fluctuations, are considered.     

中国主要流域盆地风化剥蚀率的控制因素

利用中国40余条主要河流及其支流的沉积物和溶解质载荷分别去表征流域盆地的物理剥蚀率和化学风化率。研究发现,中国流域盆地的总剥蚀率明显高于世界平均值,且具有南北低中间高的地理分布特点,黄河中游的皇甫川机械和总剥蚀率是世界上已知的最高值。根据流域盆地的机械剥蚀率、化学风化率和总剥蚀率及其影响因子之间的相关分析,得出中国流域盆地中的机械剥蚀率在总剥蚀率中占主导地位,机械剥蚀率和总剥蚀率主要由流域的干旱指数和相对高差来控制,不同流域之间总剥蚀率72%的差异是由于这两个参数所造成的。而化学风化率在总剥蚀率中总是处于次要地位,它主要受到流域年均降水量和气温的影响(39%),且不受机械剥蚀率的控制。流域盆地自身属性、径流量、最高海拔和森林覆盖率对流域岩石的风化剥蚀率影响不大。构造活动提高了流域的机械剥蚀率和化学风化率,且对机械剥蚀率的影响更强烈。与世界流域盆地相比,中国流域盆地受到流域干旱指数的影响更为显著。     

The Siberian School of Experimental Geomorphology

This paper considers the results of geomorphological field experiments in Siberia conducted at the permanent stations operated by the V.B. Sochava Institute of Geography SB RAS for a 60-year period and describes the observation methods. A unique database of quantitative data on the modern relief dynamics is provided. The rates of slow mass motions of soils on slopes, and also of the deluvial, aeolian and channel processes are presented. Observations for long-term time series are summarized. Much attention is paid to the results from investigating the slope processes. The contribution of stationary investigations to the solution of fundamental problems in geomorphology is shown. The role of field experiments in understanding the temporal organization of geomorphological systems is emphasized. Dynamic phases of the intrasecular cycles of exogenous relief formation are investigated. Models of the contemporary functioning of denudation systems that cover all possible variety of dynamic phases and morphological and climatic conditions of denudation in semi-arid conditions of southern Siberia are obtained. It was found that the spatial ordering of exogenous relief formation in the south of Siberia is manifested in the form of a regional series of correlative denudational systems whose structure and functioning mode naturally vary along the aridity and continentality vectors of climate. The spatial ordering of aeolian lithostreams is shown, which are involved in a common cycle of matter spinning clockwise and moving aeolian fine material along the northern subarid foothills areas of the mountain belt of Southern Siberia. An important role of the observation results on the relief dynamics for solving ecological problems is pointed out. Prospects for a further development of experimental geomorphological research in Siberia using high-precision instruments, GIS technologies and other modern methods are outlined.     

四维剥蚀地貌的计算机模拟

该文根据戴维斯山地演化模型 ,推导了四维剥蚀地貌的数学模型 ,阐述如何基于这个数学模型 ,采用计算机模拟四维剥蚀地貌。最后详细介绍两个四维剥蚀地貌的计算机模拟实例     

Sedimentation record in the Konkan–Kerala Basin: implications for the evolution of the Western Ghats and the Western Indian passive margin

The Konkan and Kerala Basins constitute a major depocentre for sediment from the onshore hinterland of Western India and as such provide a valuable record of the timing and magnitude of Cenozoic denudation along the continental margin. This paper presents an analysis of sedimentation in the Konkan–Kerala Basin, coupled with a mass balance study, and numerical modelling of flexural responses to onshore denudational unloading and offshore sediment loading in order to test competing conceptual models for the development of high‐elevation passive margins. The Konkan–Kerala Basin contains an estimated 109 000 km³ of Cenozoic clastic sediment, a volume difficult to reconcile with the denudation of a downwarped rift flank onshore, and more consistent with denudation of an elevated rift flank. We infer from modelling of the isostatic response of the lithosphere to sediment loading offshore and denudation onshore infer that flexure is an important component in the development of the Western Indian Margin. There is evidence for two major pulses in sedimentation: an early phase in the Palaeocene, and a second beginning in the Pliocene. The Palaeocene increase in sedimentation can be interpreted in terms of a denudational response to the rifting between India and the Seychelles, whereas the mechanism responsible for the Pliocene pulse is more enigmatic.     

论盐类保存条件研究对四川盆地三叠系找钾工作的重要性

四川盆地三叠系T1j4、T1j5成盐期卤水浓缩程度较高,已达钾盐沉积阶段,然而人们至今并未找到固相可溶性钾矿层。究其原因,乃盆地T1j4、T1j5盐类形成以来经历了沉积成岩—古剥蚀淋滤—深埋封闭—再次剥蚀淋滤等4个地质及水文地质发展阶段,可能导致固相盐类乃至钾矿层的溶滤破坏,因此加强对盐类成盐期极其以后地质历史发展阶段保存条件的研究极其重要,应予重视。     

Turf exfoliation in the high Drakensberg, Southern Africa

Limited research attention has focussed on turf exfoliation as a denudation process in mountain environments. This paper examines some characteristics of turf exfoliation forms identified within particular valley zones in the Drakensberg alpine belt. Morphological and sedimentological data are presented for turf exfoliated sites investigated in the Mashai Valley of eastern Lesotho. It is found that a variety of processes, including needle ice action, biological activity, fluvial processes and deflation, operating synergistically, are responsible for contemporary turf exfoliation in the high Drakensberg. It is apparent that the strong seasonality from mild, wet summers to cold, dry winters has helped induce the annual cycle of dominating processes.     

Space–time variability of denudation rates at the catchment and hillslope scales on the Tyrrhenian side of Central Italy

Studies on denudation rates can provide insight into the influence of climate change, tectonics, and human activities on landscape evolution. Research performed in Central Italy has shown considerable spatial variability of denudation rates in the major river basins. These studies have focused mainly on the Tyrrhenian side of the Italian peninsula, where Plio-Pleistocene marine deposits filling NW–SE elongated sedimentary basins have been uplifted during the Quaternary up to several hundreds of meters above present sea level. Small sub-catchments developed on clays are affected by sharp- and/or rounded-edged badlands (i.e. calanchi and biancane), representing denudation “hot spots” in the present-day morphoclimatic framework.In this paper, we analyze the relationships between indirectly estimated denudation rates at the catchment scale and field monitoring data at the hillslope scale. We attempt to better understand and quantify all hillslope processes that contribute to seasonal variability of denudation, to help with predicting the net input from “hot spots” to the overall estimated sediment yield at the basin outlets. At the hillslope scale, we discuss, in particular, the variability of denudation rates at calanchi and biancane badlands as a function of their different morphoevolution.     

Influence of orographic precipitation on the topographic and erosional evolution of mountain ranges

The influence of climate on mountain denudation has been the topic of an intense debate for two decades. This debate partly arises from the covariation of rainfall and topography during the growth of mountain ranges, both of which influence denudation. However, the denudational response of this co-evolution is poorly understood. Here, we use a landscape evolution model where the rainfall evolves according to a prescribed rainfall–elevation relationship. This relationship is a bell curve defined by a rainfall base level, a rainfall maximum and a width around the rainfall peak elevation. This is a first-order model that fits a large range of orographic rainfall data at the ca. 1-km spatial scale. We carried out simulations of an uplifting block with an alluvial apron, starting from an initially horizontal surface, and testing different rainfall–elevation relationships. We find that the denudation history is different from that with constant rainfall models. The results essentially depend on the ratio between the final steady-state summit elevation H_ss and the prescribed rainfall peak elevation H_p. This ratio is hard to predict because it depends on the transient coupling of rainfall and elevation. We identified three types of results according to H_ss/H_p. If H_ss/H_p > 4 (Type I), the denudation rates peak when the summits reach values close to H_p. If H_ss/H_p > 1.5 and < 4 (Type II), the denudation is strongly accelerated when the elevation of the summits approaches H_p, and then the denudation increases slowly towards the uplift rate. If H_ss/H_p < 1.5 (Type III), the denudation evolution is similar to situations with constant and homogeneous rainfall. In the Type I and II experiments, the mountain top is subjected to aridification once the summits have passed through H_p. To adapt to this reduced rainfall, the slopes increase. This can lead to a paradoxical situation where the mountain relief increases faster, whereas the denudation increases more slowly. The development of orographic precipitation may thus favour the stability of the mean denudation rate in a rising mountain. Despite the model limitations, including a constant rainfall–elevation relationship, our study suggests that the “classical” exponential increase in the denudation rate predicted by constant rainfall models is not the common case. Instead, the common case involves pulses and acceleration of the denudation even in the absence of uplift or global climate variations.     

Exhumation of the Pyrenean orogen: implications for sediment discharge

Apatite fission track analyses of 21 samples from the central and eastern Pyrenees are modelled to generate time–temperature plots for the post 110±10 °C cooling history over the 40–10 Ma time interval. Modelled thermal histories have been converted into exhumation plots through the application of the present-day geothermal gradient in the Pyrenees. The documented geology of the Pyrenees allows us to assume no significant extensional unroofing and subvertical exhumation trajectories, thus enabling exhumation to be translated into erosional denudation. Maps of denudation have been constructed for six, 5-Myr time intervals. Denudation varied with a 20–50-km length scale, and does not appear to have been related to the major structural zones of the mountain belt. Spatially averaged denudation rates for the six time intervals ranged from 34 to 61 mm kyr^?1 assuming the present-day geothermal gradient. Maximum rates of 240 mm kyr^?1 occurred in the interval 35–30 Ma, in the region of the Querigut-Millas massif. Assuming the denudation resulted primarily from erosion, the denudation maps can be used to calculate sediment discharge through time to the neighbouring foreland basins. Using a series of rectangular drainage basins with a 2:1 aspect ratio (based on modern linear mountain belts) and a location of the main drainage divide based on the mean present-day position, it is possible to evaluate the potential for spatial and temporal variations in sediment discharge as a function of denudation. The results show along-strike variations in sediment discharge between drainage basins of 500%, and temporal variations from individual basins of >300%. A comparison of total sediment discharge per year to the Ebro and Aquitaine basins, assuming a fixed drainage divide, shows that the discharge to the south is likely to have been between 1.5 and 2.8 times greater than to the north.     

Long-term denudation rates of actively uplifting hillcrests in the Boso Peninsula, Japan, estimated from depth profiling of in situ-produced cosmogenic Be and Al

Depth profiling of in situ-produced cosmogenic ¹⁰Be and ²⁶Al was applied to estimate the rate of long-term denudation on actively uplifting hillcrests made of weakly consolidated sandstone in the Boso Peninsula, Japan. The nuclide concentration in the topmost meter of the hillcrest has reached an equilibrium value owing to surface denudation at 90 mm/kyr. This rate is much smaller than the regional uplift rate, and is consistent with the current isolated residual topography of the hillcrest. By considering the epoch of emergence of the sandstone hillcrests, we estimate the summit denudation rate of the adjacent mudstone hill formation to be 720 ± 110 mm/kyr.     

Steady, balanced rates of uplift and erosion of the Santa Monica Mountains, California

Topographic change in regions of active deformation is a function of rates of uplift and denudation. The rate of topographic development and change of an actively uplifting mountain range, the Santa Monica Mountains, southern California, was assessed using landscape attributes of the present topography, uplift rates and denudation rates. Landscape features were characterized through analysis of a digital elevation model (DEM). Uplift rates at time scales ranging from 10⁴ to 10⁶ years were constrained with geological cross-sections and published estimates. Denudation rate was determined from sediment yield data from debris basins in southern California and from the relief of rivers set into geomorphic surfaces of known age. First-order morphology of the Santa Monica Mountains is set by large-scale along-strike variations in structural geometry. Drainage spacing, drainage geometry and to a lesser extent relief are controlled by bedrock strength. Dissection of the range flanks and position of the principal drainage divide are modulated by structural asymmetry and differences in structural relief across the range. Topographic and catchment-scale relief are ≈300–900 m. Mean denudation rate derived from the sediment yield data and river incision is 0.5±0.3 mm yr^?1. Uplift rate across the south flank of the range is ≈0.5±0.4 mm yr^?1 and across the north flank is 0.24±0.12 mm yr^?1. At least 1.6–2.7 Myr is required to create either the present topographic or the catchment-scale relief based on either the mean rates of denudation or uplift. Although the landscape has had sufficient time to achieve a steady-state form, comparison of the time-scale of uplift and denudation rate variation with probable landscape response times implies the present topography does not represent the steady-state form.     

A World Model of Chemical Denudation in Karst Terrains

In this paper, I develop global karst chemical denudation models using chemical equilibrium equations. Theoretical karst chemical denudation rates are calculated as soil carbon dioxide concentration varies from 10^?3.5 atm to 10^?1.0 atm, temperature varies from 0°C to 30°C, and annual runoff varies from 500 mm to 3,000 mm. Both open and closed karst solution systems are examined. The Drake (1980) and the Brook-Folkoff-Box (1983) soil pCO² equations are used to develop chemical denudation models for different carbonate rocks (limestone and dolomite), climate (tropical, temperate, and arctic/alpine terrains), and karst solution type (open and closed systems). The major conclusion is that the karst solution type, least known in the past karst studies, is an important factor in controlling chemical denudation rates.     

A World Model of Chemical Denudation in Karst Terrains

In this paper, I develop global karst chemical denudation models using chemical equilibrium equations. Theoretical karst chemical denudation rates are calculated as soil carbon dioxide concentration varies from 10^?3.5 atm to 10^?1.0 atm, temperature varies from 0°C to 30°C, and annual runoff varies from 500 mm to 3,000 mm. Both open and closed karst solution systems are examined. The Drake (1980) and the Brook‐Folkoff‐Box (1983) soil pCO² equations are used to develop chemical denudation models for different carbonate rocks (limestone and dolomite), climate (tropical, temperate, and arctic/alpine terrains), and karst solution type (open and closed systems). The major conclusion is that the karst solution type, least known in the past karst studies, is an important factor in controlling chemical denudation rates.     

The Rise and Fall of the Davisian Cycle of Erosion: Prelude,Fugue, Coda,and Sequel

The Cycle of Erosion formulated by the American geographer William Morris Davis in the 1880s remained the dominant paradigm in geomorphology well into the 20th century, before it waned in response to improved understanding of Earth's crustal and surface behavior. The Davisian model sought to explain landforms in terms of structure, process, and stage. Following initial rapid tectonic uplift, landforms were presumed to evolve on a quiescent crust through stages of youth, maturity, and old age, to culminate in a peneplain. A new cycle would be initiated by landform rejuvenation in response to a changing base level of erosion. This model was a reflection of its time, of the cycle mania of the 19th century, which in turn was founded on Hutton's limitless "succession of worlds" and dissatisfaction with earlier notions of landscape origins constrained by limited Earth time. Davis's model was derived from ideas regarding orogenic cycles favored by Dana and Le Conte, and of prolonged subaerial denudation toward base-level observed by Powell and Dutton. The model's supremacy was challenged from time to time, notably by the Pencks (father and son) and by alternative cyclic denudation models that invoked pediplanation and etchplanation rather than peneplanation. The relevance of the Davisian model declined after 1940 in response to a growing awareness of Earth's crustal mobility, changing climates and geomorphic processes, and refined dating of geologic time. The subsequent quantitative revolution in geomorphology, with its emphasis on measurement of form and process aided by rapidly improving technologies, and based in part on lingering antecedents, sounded the death knell for the Davisian model but also triggered something of a theoretical hiatus. In recent years, resurrection of the concept of isostasy, defined by Dutton but ignored by Davis, has led to the formulation of a more realistic but more complex model, briefly introduced here, in which landforms may be viewed as responses to more-or-less continuous interaction between tectonic activity, subaerial denudation, and isostatic adjustment.     

拱王山风化壳的发育特征及其环境和构造意义

风化壳的化学、粘粒矿物及磁化率等实验分析表明 ,云南东川拱王山地区碳酸盐岩风化壳的红土化程度较低 ,处于Ca、Mg淋失阶段的后期或SiO2 淋失、Fe、Mn富积的早期。该地区风化壳在不同程度上存在与现代环境的不相容性。它们是在古风化壳基础上发育的继承性风化壳。在不同海拔高度的山前剥蚀面上 ,风化壳红土化程度的差异 ,是不同时期风化作用的产物。除山顶残留古夷平面上的风化壳之外 ,随海拔高度的增加 ,风化壳的风化程度存在逐渐增强的趋势 ,这一现象反映了该区新构造运动的间歇性抬升特征。     

Transantarctic Basin: new insights from fission track and structural data from the USARP Mountains and adjacent areas (Northern Victoria Land, Antarctica)

The USARP Mountains comprise two N–S‐aligned mountain ranges (Daniels Range, Pomerantz Tableland) located along the western margin of the Rennick Glacier in Northern Victoria Land (NVL). Four zircon and titanite fission track (FT) ages from granitic samples from the Pomerantz Tableland fall in a common range of 369–392 Ma. The apatite FT ages from 20 Granite Harbour Intrusive rocks sampled throughout the USARP Mountains are distinctively younger (86–270 Ma); their mean track lengths (MTL) vary between 11.0 and 13.9 μm. Six samples from Renirie Rocks and the Kavrayskiy Hills east of the USARP Mountains have even younger, concordant apatite FT ages of 43–71 Ma, and MTL of 12.2–14.0 μm. Thermal history modelling of the thermochronological data indicate that both the Daniels Range and Pomerantz Tableland experienced a common Phanerozoic geologic history consisting of a mid‐Devonian pulse of rapid denudation, followed by a protracted denudation stage between the Carboniferous and Jurassic. This latter period of denudation was contemporaneous with the formation of the Transantarctic Basin to the east. We consequently suggest that the USARP Mountains were one of the major source areas for the Beacon Supergroup that formed the fill of the Transantarctic Basin. Subsequent to the deposition of the Beacon sequence, the now‐outcropping rocks of the USARP Mountains were buried to a maximum depth of 4.2 km. A palaeogeothermal gradient of 25±8°C km^?1 was inferred at the time of maximum burial. Inversion of the Transantarctic Basin due to the breakup of Gondwana, and in response to Cenozoic rifting and uplift of the Transantarctic Mountains, has triggered the final denudation stages recorded in NVL since the Cretaceous. Thereby, the amounts of denudation increase eastward. Whereas 2.4–4.2 km of crustal unloading are recognized for the USARP Mountains since the Cretaceous, more than 4 km of denudation has occurred towards the Rennick Graben alone since the Eocene. This denudation was associated with major fault activities involving early ENE–WSW to E–W‐directed extension. Related structures were reactivated by dominant NW–SE to NNW–SSE‐oriented right‐lateral shear genetically linked to the formation and inversion of the structural depression of the Rennick Graben in Cenozoic times.     

Inferring denudation variations from the sediment record; an example of the last glacial cycle record of the Golo Basin and watershed,East Corsica,western Mediterranean sea

Geophysical data and sampling of the Golo Basin (East Corsica margin) provide the opportunity to study mass balance in a single drainage system over the last 130 kyr, by comparing deposited sediments in the sink and the maximum eroded volume in the source using total denudation proxies. Evaluation of the solid sediments deposited offshore and careful integration of uncertainties from the age model and physical properties allow us to constrain three periods of sedimentation during the last climatic cycle. The peak of sedimentation initiated during Marine Isotopic Stage (MIS) 3 (ca. 45 ka) and lasted until late in MIS 2 (ca. 18 ka). This correlates with Mediterranean Sea palaeoclimatic records and the glaciation in high altitude Corsica. The yield of solid sediment into the Golo Basin drops in the observed present day Mediterranean basins (gauging stations), whereas the palaeo‐denudation estimate derived from the sediments over the last glacial period is one to ten times higher than that predicted using cosmogenic or thermochronometer estimates of exhumation. The catchment‐wide denudation rate calculated from deposited solid sediment ranges from 47 to 219 mm kyr^?1, which is higher than the estimate from palaeosurface ablation in the proximal part of the source (9–140 mm kyr^?1) and lower than the distal, narrow, incised channel of the Golo River (160–475 mm kyr^?1). This mismatch raises questions about the investigation of denudation at millennial‐time scale (kyr) and at higher integrating times (Myr) as a reliable tool for determining the effect of climate change on mountain building and on sedimentary basin models.     

Chemical denudation rates in Kärkevagge, Swedish Lapland

This study examines the spatial and temporal variability of chemical denudation rates in Kärkevagge, northern Sweden. The chemical flux rates within the valley are strongly influenced by the local geology. Chemical denudation rates determined for the study period are more than double those previously reported in the literature for this valley. Rates of greater than 46t km⁻² a⁻¹ were measured at the valley mouth over the course of the melt season. This difference is likely due to differences in measurement technique compared to that used by past researchers. This rate is also much higher than for other arctic and alpine watersheds. Chemical denudation in Kärkevagge is comparable to larger temperate rivers. The rapid chemical denudation in Kärkevagge is likely due to sulfide weathering creating acid solutions.