Regional and local controls on the spatial distribution of bedrock reaches in the Upper Guadalupe River, Texas

While studies on gravel mantled and mixed alluvial bedrock rivers have increased in recent decades, few field studies have focused on spatial distributions of bedrock and alluvial reaches and differences between reach types. The objective of this work is to identify the spatial distribution of alluvial and bedrock reaches in the Upper Guadalupe River. We compare reach length, channel and floodplain width, sinuosity, bar length and spacing, bar surface grain size, and slope in alluvial and bedrock reaches to identify whether major differences exist between channel reach types. We find that local disturbances, interaction of the channel and valley sides, variation in lithology, and regional structural control contribute to the distribution of bedrock reaches in the largely alluvial channel. Alluvial and bedrock channel reaches in the Upper Guadalupe River are similar, particularly with respect to the distribution of gravel bars, surface grain size distributions of bars, and channel slope and width. Our observations suggest that the fluvial system has adjusted to changes in base level associated with the Balcones Escarpment Fault Zone by phased incision into alluvial sediment and the underlying bedrock, essentially shifting from a fully alluvial river to a mixed alluvial bedrock river.     

Effectiveness of monsoon floods on the Tapi River, India: role of channel geometry and hydrologic regime

Geomorphic effects of floods are a function of several controlling factors, such as magnitude, frequency, rate of sediment movement, flood power, duration of effective flows, sequence of events and the channel geometry. In this paper, these measures of effectiveness have been evaluated for the monsoon-dominated, flood-controlled and incised Tapi River, India by defining four flow categories: low flows, moderate flows, floods and large floods. Ratios between effectiveness parameters of moderate flows on one hand and the floods, large floods and maximum floods on the other, were computed to understand the relative importance of moderate and large flows. In addition to this, stream-power graphs for large floods were constructed, and the changes in channel form were analyzed by using multi-date cross-sections. The results of the study indicate that the morphological characteristics of the bedrock as well as the alluvial channels of the monsoonal and incised Tapi River are maintained by large-magnitude, but low frequency floods that occur at long intervals. Because the channel is incised the effectiveness of large flows is accentuated. The incised channel form enhances the role of large floods by reducing the width–depth ratio, and by increasing the velocity as well as the energy per unit area. The low and moderate flows are superior to high-magnitude flows, only in terms of suspended sediment transport and frequency of occurrence. Another conclusion is that the suspended sediment carried by flows may not be the most appropriate criterion for measuring the geomorphic effectiveness of flows, particularly for monsoonal rivers.     

Simulating cross-sectional geometry of the main channel in response to changes in water and sediment in Lower Yellow River

Journal of Geographical Sciences - To understand the non-equilibrium morphological adjustment of a river in response to environmental changes, it is essential to (i) accurately identify how past...     

三维景观GIS几何建模方法——以无锡唐城为例

本文实现了以 4D测绘数据 (DEM、DOM、DLG、DRG)为基本数据源的无锡唐城古建筑三维数字景观GIS。同时 ,在三维GIS传统三维空间数据模型的基础上 ,提出面向对象的三维建模点对象的划分不同与二维GIS中的点对象 ;针对基于面状的三维GIS,提出有向曲线构建面状复杂单体的几何建模方法是较为简捷的途径。     

Geometric adjustment of pools to changes in slope and discharge: a flume experiment

To characterize the factors controlling pool shape, 30 different forced pools were created utilizing a 50% triangular constriction in a 0.5-m wide, 6-m long recirculating flume. Pools were scoured from an initial plane bed of sand with a d₅₀ of 0.25 mm. Pool depth and length were measured and used as dependent variables in least-squares, multiple-regression analyses. Discharge, channel-bed gradient and energy slope were the independent variables. Additional linear-regression analyses were conducted with either pool depth or length and stream power. Results indicate that both pool depth and length are primarily a function of discharge. Channel-bed and energy slopes are also significantly related to pool length but are not significantly related to pool depth. Stream power is significantly related to both pool depth and length, but R² values for pool depth versus discharge indicate stronger relations than those between pool depth and stream power. Observations on the type of geometric adjustment indicate that pools may minimize their rate of energy expenditure primarily through elongation. In contrast, pool depth appears to be more sensitive to the characteristics of the constrictions that create the forced pools. The results suggest that many field studies may suffer from cross-correlation problems. In particular, channel erodibility may exert a more dominant influence on pool geometry than hydraulic controls in many constriction-influenced channels.     

黄河下游游荡段排沙比对水沙条件与断面形态的响应

提高黄河下游游荡段的输沙能力是河道治理的主要任务,而河道输沙效率（排沙比）受到来水来沙条件和河床边界条件的共同影响。本文基于1971—2016年花园口—高村河段（简称花高段）的实测水沙及地形资料,计算了花高段的平均河相系数及水沙条件（来沙系数和水流冲刷强度）,从汛期和场次洪水2个时间尺度,定量分析了排沙比与水沙条件及前一年汛后主槽形态之间的响应关系。分析结果表明：① 汛期和场次洪水排沙比与来沙系数呈负相关,与水流冲刷强度呈正相关,临界的汛期不淤来沙系数为0.012 kg?s/m ⁶,场次洪水排沙比与来沙系数及水量比的决定系数为0.76;② 游荡段排沙比与河相系数呈负相关,当河相系数大于15 /m ^0.5时,河段排沙比基本小于1;③ 以来沙系数与河相系数为自变量的汛期排沙比计算式的决定系数为0.82,计算精度较高,对于场次洪水排沙比而言,断面形态的影响权重大于来沙系数。这些排沙比计算公式能够反映游荡段的输沙特点,有助于定量掌握断面形态及水沙条件对河道输沙能力的影响。     

地理学的模型建设及其选择标准——简析非欧几何学对地理学研究方法的影响

非欧几何学产生以后,科学研究的主要任务由寻求真理转变为建设模型,地理科学的任务也理当发生相应的转向．像其他科学分支一样,地理学的研究目标不再是发现真理,而是提出假设、建立模型．判断一个地理理论模型好坏的标准不是模型的假设是否符合实际,而是该模型对现实世界的解释和预言能力．在模型的解释和预言能力一定的情况下,模型越是简单,就越是可取;在模型的复杂程度一定的情况下,模型的解释和预言能力越强,就越是优越．当一个地理模型不仅仅对地理现象具有刻画能力,而且对其他相关领域具有某种启示作用的时候．该模犁就具有超学科的理论意义或者研究价值．     

Local- and watershed-scale controls on the spatial variability of natural levee deposits in a large fine-grained floodplain: Lower Pánuco Basin, Mexico

This study examines spatial variations in natural levee deposits within the lower reaches of a large coastal plain drainage system. The Pánuco basin (98,227 km²) drains east-central Mexico, and is an excellent setting to examine the influence of watershed and local controls on the morphology and sedimentology of natural levees. Although many fluvial systems in the U.S. Gulf Coastal Plain have been investigated, the rivers in the Mexican Gulf Coastal Plain have received comparatively little attention. Lateral and downstream characteristics of natural levee morphology and sediment texture are considered within the context of meandering river floodplain deposits. Data sources include total-stations surveying, sediment samples of surficial levee deposits, topographic maps (1:50,000), and aerial photographs (1:40,000). The slope of natural levees average 0.0049 m/m, whereas the texture (D₈₄) of levee deposits averages 0.12 mm. Natural levee characteristics vary due to local- and watershed-scale controls. The lateral reduction in levee height displays a curvilinear pattern that coincides with an abrupt change in sediment texture. The downstream pattern of natural levee texture exhibits the influence of local-scale perturbations superimposed upon a larger watershed-scale trend. Disruption to the fining trend, either by tributary inputs of sediment or reworking of Tertiary valley deposits, is retained for a limited distance. The influence of the channel planform geometry on levee morphology is examined by consideration of the radius of curvature (R_c) of meander bends, and is inversely related to natural levee width. This suggests that the planform geometry of river channels exerts a control on the dispersal of flood sediments, and is responsible for considerable local variability in the floodplain topography. The average width of natural levees increases with drainage area, from an average of 747 m in the Moctezuma to an average of 894 m in the Pánuco. However, in the lower reaches of the Pánuco valley the width of natural levees rapidly decreases, which is associated with fining of the suspended sediment load. Thus, the reduction in natural levee width signifies an abrupt change in the directionality of cause–effect relationships at the watershed-scale. Findings from this study elucidate linkages between meandering river channels and floodplains for a large lowland alluvial valley.     

Morphometric analysis of sediment conduits on a bathymetric high: Implications for palaeoenvironment and hydrocarbon prospectivity

Canyons and other sediment conduits are important components of the deep‐water environment and are the main pathways for sediment transport from the shelf to the basin floor. Using 3‐D and 2‐D seismic reflection data, seismic facies and statistical morphometric analyses, this study showed the architectural evolution of five canyons, two slide scars and four gullies on the southern part of the Loppa High, Barents Sea. Morphometric parameters such as thalweg depth (lowest point on a conduit's base), wall depth (middle point), height, width and base width, sinuosity, thalweg gradient, aspect ratio (width/height) and cross‐sectional area of the conduits were measured at intervals of 250‐m perpendicular to the conduits’ pathways. Our results show that the canyons and slide scars in the study area widen down slope, whereas the gullies are narrow and short with uniform widths. The sediment conduits in the study area evolved in three stages. The first stage is correlated with a time when erosion and bypass were dominant in the conduits, and sediment transferred to the basin in the south. The second stage occurred when basin subsidence was prevalent, and a widespread fine‐grained sequence was deposited as a drape blanketing the canyons and other conduits. A final stage occurred when uplift and glacial erosion configured the entire southern Loppa High into an area of denudation. Our work demonstrates that the morphometric parameters of the canyons, slide scars and gullies generally have increasing linear trends with down‐slope distance, irrespective of their geometries. The morphometric analysis of the sediment conduits in the study area has wider applications for understanding depositional processes, reservoir distribution and petroleum prospectivity in frontier basins.     

基于GIS的侵蚀冲沟与地貌因子的关系

冲沟是多种外力作用的结果,展示为多种地貌现象。选择胶东半岛北岩子口小流域作为研究对象,以正射影像（DOM）和数字高程模型（DEM）为数据源,选择土地利用、地形湿度指数、坡度坡长因子、水流动力指数、坡向、平面曲率和地表粗糙度等7个地貌因子,计算小流域土壤侵蚀敏感性,研究侵蚀冲沟与地貌因子的关系。结果表明:冲沟多发生在坡度坡长较大、水流动力强、地表湿度较低的林草地区域,多分布在阳坡的凹面;冲沟大多分布在土壤侵蚀中等敏感性及以上的区域,约占总冲沟的96.4%;在土壤侵蚀中等敏感性及以上区域,实验权重值对验证区冲沟分布的响应精度为87.9%,与实际值93.3%相差较小,精度较高。研究结果可为区域内冲沟侵蚀的评价提供一定科学依据。     

Influence of changes in developed land and precipitation on hydrology of a coastal Texas watershed

Freshwater inflows, among the most important factors in the overall health of estuarine environments, can be altered both by regional climatic influences as well as changes in land use and land cover. We conduct a scenario analysis to study the individual and combined impacts of changes in land use and land cover and in precipitation patterns in a coastal Texas watershed. The watershed is one of the major sources of freshwater for the estuarine area within the Mission-Aransas National Estuarine Research Reserve (NERR). Our scenario analysis suggests that climatic changes are more influential than land changes at the watershed level. However, localized impacts of land change may still be significant on habitats within the NERR site. Results from our watershed-level analysis poorly agree with the recommended freshwater flows established for the region, which deserve further scrutiny. Our findings suggest that geomorphic characteristics of the streams in the watershed need to be taken into consideration in hydrological modeling. Further research on the interactions between land change and hydrological dynamics should also aim for tighter temporal integration of the two sets of processes.     

Monitoring of small and medium embankment dams on permafrost in a changing climate

Global climate warming which began in the second half of the twentieth century is continuing. It is associated with increased risks for ecological management, especially in permafrost areas comprising over 65% of Russia. Of special concern are dams constructed on permafrost. They are subject not only to climatic impacts, but also to additional hydrothermal loads from water reservoirs. This paper presents the concept of geocryological monitoring of dams and other water resource projects and substantiates its necessity in view of climatic change. It also presents methods, scope and implementation of geocryological monitoring at medium and small dams, considering the specific nature of Far Northern areas, as well as the complicated geotechnical, hydrogeological and permafrost conditions.     

The influence of landsliding on sediment supply and channel change in a steep mountain catchment

Rates of sediment supply by landsliding to an alluvial channel in a small catchment in central Switzerland were estimated over an 11-month study period. Fluvial sediment transport in the channel is independently monitored at the upstream and downstream ends of the study reach, yielding a unique opportunity to quantitatively compare the volume of sediment supplied to the channel with the volume in fluvial transport. Landslide-derived sediment discharge to the channel was greatest during the winter and spring months, while most of the fluvial sediment transport occurred during short, intense summer storms. Approximately 98 m³ of sediment was delivered directly to the study reach by landsliding,  80 m³ was transported into the reach from upstream, and  70 m³ was transported out of the reach. Thus, there was a net accumulation of  100 m³ of sediment during the 11-month study. Decadal-scale channel aggradation was independently assessed by comparing channel longitudinal profiles in 1993 and 2004. During this 11-year period, a total of  1500 m³ of sediment has accumulated in the study reach. Aggradation has occurred largely in two broad zones that correspond with both the locations of major landslide complexes and reaches of high channel slope, indicating that hillslope sediment input left an imprint on the morphology of the channel bed that appears to be stable over at least decadal time scales.     

Impacts of Different Land Reclamation Methods on Organic Carbon and Black Carbon in Soil in a Mine Subsided Area

In this paper, changes in the amounts of organic carbon and black carbon in reclaimed soil were studied. The subsidence area was in a Xuzhou coal mining area that is part of a national land reclamation demonstration area. The significance of the paper is to explain the law of quality changes of reclaimed soil, improve the soil reclamation process and promote the sustainable use of soil in mining areas. In the study, four kinds of soils were collected using four land reclamation methods: coal gangue filling (CGF), mixed flat reclamation (MFR), mud pump filling (MPF) and fly ash filling (FAF); soil from the subsided area (SS) was used as the control. Organic carbon and black carbon on content were determined by elemental analysis, potassium dichromate titration and other methods. The result shows that reclamation methods do have an influence on the organic carbon and black carbon content in subsidence soil. The content of organic carbon and black carbon at different soil depths varies the most in FAF. Regression analysis of black carbon and organic carbon contents from the four different reclamation methods show that the levels are significant in all cases. Therefore, there is no obvious relationship between the proportion of black carbon and the accumulation of organic carbon in the study area.     

北京市职住空间错位对居民通勤行为的影响分析——基于就业可达性与通勤时间的讨论

基于问卷调查的非汇总数据、第五次人口普查和第一次经济普查数据,测度了北京城市124 个街道的就业可达性,并作为职住空间错位的标度指标,讨论了职住空间错位与居民通勤时间之间的关系。研究发现：① 北京城市中心区的就业可达性高于郊区,高就业可达性的街道主要集中在二环以内及东二环至东四环的东北一隅。② 全体样本的回归分析发现,在控制社会经济属性与住房状况等条件下,街道就业可达性对通勤时间的影响并不显著,但就业可达性平方与居民通勤时间存在负向相关关系。③ 分收入组来看,中高收入组两变量影响均不显著,中低收入组和低收入组就业可达性对通勤时间的影响显著,表现为通勤时间与就业可达性为正向相关,与就业可达性平方为负向相关,说明一定的阈值范围内居住街道就业可达性的提高鼓励居民延长通勤时间,但超过一定阈值后则限制居民长时间通勤。该结果与西方城市研究的研究结论不同,反映出中国城市处于空间重构和转型期的独特性。但二者的共同点是低收入居民等弱势群体更容易受城市职住关系的结构性变化的制约,城市规划和住房政策应更加重视通过公共服务设施的空间配置消减低收入居民面临的空间障碍。     

Impacts of the local land-use system in a semi-arid region of northeastern China on soil properties, crop growth, and weed communities

We examined changes in soil properties, crop biomass, and weed communities in the Horqin Sandy Land of China to elucidate cropland degradation. We studied three local cropland types having periods of cultivation of up to 20 years: maize cropland on lowlands without irrigation (nonirrigated lowland), maize cropland on flat sandy lands with irrigation (irrigated flatland), and bean-centered cropland on sand dunes without irrigation (nonirrigated dunes). Soil properties and crop biomass were more degraded in nonirrigated lowland and nonirrigated dunes than in irrigated flatland. Weed communities in the nonirrigated croplands were the type that become established in drier conditions, whereas wetland weeds were more abundant on irrigated flatland. Trends of change in each indicator did not always occur in parallel and differed statistically among the cropland types. Monitoring these indicators within the context of local land-use systems can provide scientific evidence on which to base local management practices or recommendations for change.     

Particle size and sorting characteristics of sand in transport on the stoss slope of a small reversing dune

Studies of the particle size and sorting characteristics of sand on the stoss slope of a 6-m high reversing dune show that the sand in transport is generally finer and better sorted than surface sand at the same position on the slope. The sand in transport becomes coarser and more poorly sorted as wind speed and rates of mass transport increase toward the dune crest. These patterns reflect changes in the competence of the wind, which is capable of transporting larger grains and a wider range of grain sizes as its speed increases in space and time. Our field observations suggest that the particle size and sorting characteristics of surface sand are highly dependent on antecedent wind conditions and are not an invariant property of the dune, as is widely assumed. The wide range of particle sizes on the surface, as well as its change through time, also has important implications for modeling sediment transport on dunes. Transport thresholds may vary by as much as 30% on the stoss slope of the study dune.