Paleomagnetic poles and polarity zonation from Cambrian and Devonian strata of Arizona

Basal Paleozoic Tapeats Sandstone (Early and Middle Cambrian) in northern and central Arizona exhibits mixed polarity and a low-latitude paleomagnetic pole. Carbonates of Middle and early Late Cambrian age, and directly superposed carbonate and carbonate-cemented strata of latest Middle(?) and early Late Devonian age, are characterized by reversed polarity and high-latitude poles. The high-latitude Middle Cambrian pole, which appears to record a large but brief excursion of the polar wandering path, is considered provisional pending additional work. The Devonian data from Arizona indicate that a shift of the pole to a “late Paleozoic” position had occurred by Middle Devonian time.     

Rates of development of tafoni in the Moenkopi and Kaibab formations in Meteor Crater and on the Colorado Plateau,northeastern Arizona

Tafoni are pits formed by non‐uniform weathering in otherwise uniform rock. Two equations have been proposed for the rate of development of tafoni, both based on 2000‐year‐old outcrops from the coast of Japan. We have taken tafoni measurements from the Meteor Crater, Arizona, and vicinity that extend the equations back at least 50 000 years. As reported in earlier studies, we found pit depth to be the best tafone parameter to measure. The size of the pit decreases significantly with increasing inclination of the rock surface; however, the size of the pit can vary greatly for other reasons. In some cases the measurements are statistically significantly different between two stations taken from contiguous areas of similar inclination and aspect in an apparently homogeneous bed. It is clear, however, that over tens of thousands of years tafoni enlarge significantly. Our data are generally log‐normal and all are markedly heteroscedastic. The 1991 equation proposed by Matsukura and Matsuoka does not fit our data. The 1996 equation proposed by Sunamura provides a better fit. We propose a sigmoidal equation D = b1 + e^(b2+(b3/t)) where D is the depth, t is the age, and b1, b2 and b3 vary with lithology. This new equation fits our data far better than the earlier published equations. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Palaeoflood hydrology of the Salt river,Arizona

Geomorphic evidence along bedrock-confined reaches of the Salt River in east-central Arizona provides a record of the river's largest flood events. Fine-grained flood slackwater deposits accumulated at channel margin irregularities several metres above the low-flow channel. Discharges associated with flow events responsible for the deposits were estimated by computer flow modelling. These estimates document flood magnitudes in excess of gauged historic streamflows. Relative and radiocarbon dating suggest that a flood record in excess of 600 y is preserved in the slackwater sequences. A prominent flood scar cut into grussy hillslope soils allows the extension of the prehistoric flood record to several thousand years. A maximum discharge estimate of 4600 m³s^?1 affixed to the flood scar represents the largest flood event in the record, and is given a minimum recurrence interval of 1000–2000 y. The 1952 flood is the largest historic flow event experienced along the study reach and is estimated at 2900 m³s^?1. Two palaeoflood events preserved in the slackwater stratigraphy exceed the 1952 event, and are given recurrence intervals of 300 and 600 y. The latter flood event had an estimated discharge of 3200 m³s^?1. It is apparent that discharge estimates affixed to these infrequent, large-magnitude flood events approach a maximum with decreased probabilities (large recurrence intervals). This suggests that a physical limit on discharge may exist within the Salt River drainage basin and is perhaps directly related to drainage basin size.     

Rill hydraulics on a semiarid hillslope,southern Arizona

Seventy field experiments were conducted in seven rills located on a semiarid rangeland hillslope underlain by gravelly soils at Walnut Gulch, Arizona. The rills, which are characterized by wide, shallow cross-sections and gravel-covered beds, have mean at-a-station hydraulic geometry exponents of b = 0·33, f = 0·34 and m = 0·33. Although the differences between these values and typical values of b = 0·30, f = 0·40 and m = 0·30 for cropland rills are not statistically significant, they are thought to be real, as cropland rills often have more rectangular cross-sections and steeper sides than the rangeland rills under study. For rills formed in silty loamy soils, Govers developed an empirical relation between mean flow velocity and discharge. Emphasizing the generality of this relation, he suggested that it may be used as a simple means of routing runoff through rills. He also noted that this relation appeared to be unaffected by either slope or soil materials. The present data represent rills underlain by coarser and somewhat more varied gravel-rich soils. These data do not conform to Govers' relation, and a multiple regression analysis reveals that slope and soil materials, either directly or indirectly through bed roughness, exert almost as much influence on flow velocity as does discharge. Three alternative methods are developed for predicting flow velocity in the rills under study. All three methods give good results with the largest root mean square deviation being 3·115 cm s⁻¹.