Geomorphological research of large-scale slope instability at Machu Picchu, Peru

A multidisciplinary approach has been adopted to study the slope movements and landscape evolution at the archaeological site of Machu Picchu and its immediate surroundings. The basic event in the paleogeomorphological evolution of the area was the large-scale slope movement, which destroyed the originally higher ridge between Mt. Machupicchu and Mt. Huaynapicchu. Within remnants of that primary deformation, several younger generations of slope movements occurred. The laboratory analyses of granitoids revealed highly-strained zones on the slopes of Mt. Machupicchu, which strongly affect the largest slope deformation. The borders of the largest slope deformation are structurally predisposed by the existence of fault zones. The majority of various types of slope movements on the so-called Front Slope (E facing) and Back Slope (W facing) are influenced by the alignment between topography and joints. Along with slope movements, fluvial erosion and tectonic disturbance of the rocks have been affecting the evolution of the landscape. A monitoring network for dilatometric and extensometric measurements was used to detect the present-day activity of rock displacements within the archaeological site. In addition to standard mapping of surface hydrogeological phenomena, eleven express slug tests were conducted to verify the infiltration potential of precipitation. The results of these surveys indicate that recent large-scale slope movement as suggested by some previous studies is doubtful, and the detected movements can be explained by individual movements of rock blocks or several other mechanisms including sinking of archaeological structures, subsurface erosion and annual changes in the water content of the soils.     

Late Quaternary uplift rate of the northeastern Japan arc inferred from fluvial terraces

Glacial Lake Wisconsin was a large proglacial lake that formed along the southern margin of the Laurentide Ice Sheet during the Wisconsin glaciation. It was formed when ice of the Green Bay Lobe came into contact with the Baraboo Hills in southwestern Wisconsin and blocked the south-flowing Wisconsin River. During early glacial recession, the ice dam failed catastrophically and the lake drained in about a week. Despite early recognition of the former lake and the likelihood that it failed catastrophically, outflow rates during the failure have not been previously evaluated. Estimates based on step-backwater modeling indicate that peak discharge was between 3.6 and 5.3 × 10⁴ m³/s in the lower Wisconsin River. As an alternate method, we used a previously derived empirical relationship between lake volume and peak discharge for dam-break events. From a digital elevation model altered to incorporate isostatic depression, we estimated the lake volume to be 87 km³ just prior to dam breach, suggesting that the flooding magnitude was as high as 1.5 × 10⁵ m³/s at the outlet. Adjusting these results for downstream flood wave attenuation gives a discharge of around 4.4 × 10⁴ m³/s in the lower reach, which closely matches the results of the step-backwater modeling. These estimates of discharge from the catastrophic failure of ice-marginal lakes improve our understanding of the processes that have produced the morphology and behavior of present-day upper Midwest river systems.     

Boulder weathering and erosion associated with a wildfire, Sierra Ancha Mountains, Arizona

An April–May 2000 “Coon Creek Fire” burned 37.5 km² of the Sierra Ancha Mountains, 32.3 km miles north of Globe, AZ—including 25 sandstone and 19 diorite boulders surveyed in 1989 and resurveyed after the burn, after the summer 2000 monsoon season, and after the winter 2001 season. When viewed from the perspective of cumulative eroded area, both sandstone and diorite displayed bimodal patterns with 79% of sandstone boulder area and 93% of diorite boulder area undergoing either no fire-induced erosion or fire-induced erosion >76 mm. When stretched over cumulative boulder areas, erosion due to the fire averaged >26 mm for sandstone and >42 mm for diorite. Post-fire erosion from thunderstorm summer rains averaged <1 mm for 5 diorite and 1 mm for 10 sandstone boulders. While only a single diorite boulder eroded an average of 1.2 mm after the winter, winter erosion removed an average of 5.5 mm from 14 sandstone boulders. Thus, fire appears to increase a rock's susceptibility to post-fire weathering and erosion processes, as predicted by Goudie et al. [Earth Surf. Process. Landf. 17 (1992) 605]. In contrast to experimental research indicating the importance of size in fire weathering, no statistically significant relationship exists between erosion and boulder height or boulder surface area—a result similar to Zimmerman et al. [Quat. Res. 42 (1994) 255]. These data exclude 12 original sites and 85 boulders at sites impacted by the fire that could not be relocated, with a reasonable cause for the lack of relocation being boulder obliteration by the fire. Given evidence from ¹⁰Be and ²⁶Al cosmogenic nuclides [Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 186 (2001) 269] supporting the importance of boulders in controlling evolution of nonglaciated, bouldered landscapes [Geol. Soc. Amer. Bull. 76 (1965) 1165], fire obliteration of boulders could be an important process driving drainage evolution in nonglaciated mountains.     

塔克拉玛干沙漠河湖相沉积平原风蚀地貌发育的外营力作用机制

 河湖相沉积是一种非固结沉积物,是风蚀地貌发育的一种重要地质基础。在塔克拉玛干沙漠中发育在这种沉积物上的风蚀地貌分布非常普遍,但相关研究较少,尚缺乏风蚀地貌发育过程方面的研究。基于野外调查信息和理论分析,结合相关文献,分析了塔克拉玛干沙漠河湖相平原风蚀地貌发育的外营力作用机制。研究结果表明：（1）风蚀地貌发育的外营力作用主要有：风化作用、流水作用、风蚀作用以及重力作用;（2）风蚀作用是风蚀地貌发育的主要外营力,但是风化作用、流水作用和重力作用也发挥着重要的作用,它们的关键作用是形成风蚀突破口,而重力作用和风化作用是促进风蚀地貌后期快速发展的重要作用;（3）各种外营力协同作用和互为条件,它们在风蚀地貌发育的各阶段的重要性不同;（4）沉积层特殊沉积构造和外营力作用共同造成了风蚀地貌形态特征。     

Modeling impacts of erosion and deposition on soil organic carbon in the Big Creek Basin of southern Illinois

Land use land cover (LULC) plays an important role in influencing the spatial intensity of water erosion which is the primary governor of horizontal translocation of soil organic carbon (SOC). The fate of redistributed SOC through erosion remains debatable and the mineralization rate of exposed SOC protected in soil aggregates is the major focus of this argument. Cohesive spatially explicit modeling of SOC and erosion can potentially reduce some of the controversy. To this end we simulated erosion/deposition, and photosynthetic (in situ) flux of SOC in a small watershed of ~ 28.42 ha, located in the Big Creek basin of southern Illinois. The main objectives of this research were: (a) to study erosion and deposition dynamics under different LULC, (b) to examine the extent of carbon dislocation and deposition possible in the study area, and (c) to determine the net SOC accretion and reduction possible by accounting for gains through annual photosynthesis and deposition, and losses from erosion under different LULC scenarios. To fulfill our objectives, we combined GeoWEPP, an erosion/deposition process model, with CENTURY 4.0, an ecosystem model used for simulating SOC. Our results show that between 11 and 31% of the eroded soil gets deposited in the same basin depending on the LULC type, leaving the remainder to be transported downstream. Additionally, as expected, SOC flux due to erosion and deposition varies with the type of management practices. In the case of conservation management practices, the flux associated with erosion and deposition remains below 10% in comparison to in situ SOC transformations due to annual photosynthesis. However in the case of non-conservation management practices this proportion rises above 50%.     

Erosion surfaces and Neogene landscape evolution in the NE Duero Basin (north-central Spain)

We present a chronological model of erosion surface development in the Iberian and Cantabrian Ranges of north-central Spain. We map four erosion surfaces and interpret these to be related to Duero basin continental sediments and tectonic activity from Upper Oligocene to Plio-Pleistocene. The oldest erosion surface, SE1, formed across Upper Oligocene–Lower Miocene synorogenic deposits; while surface SE2 was contemporaneous with the Middle Miocene alluvial systems, ending with an uplift stage in the Astaracian. The two most recent erosion surfaces, SE3 and SE4, developed during extensional tectonic episodes and are associated with the deposition of Upper Páramo sedimentary units at the end of the Miocene (Upper Turolian) and alluvial fan deposits, known as rañas (Plio-Pleistocene). With the exception of SE1, which seems to be associated with a relatively wet climate, the surfaces formed during periods of marked aridity and generally warm temperatures. Through geostatistical reconstruction of the best preserved surface (SE2), applying ordinary kriging method to the topography (DEM) of the erosion surface and its correlating sedimentary plains, we identify the deformation processes which occurred on this surface after its formation.     

Quaternary landscape evolution and erosion rates for an intramontane Neogene basin (Guadix–Baza basin, SE Spain)

The landscape evolution in Neogene intramontane basins is a result of the interaction of climatic, lithologic, and tectonic factors. When sedimentation ceases and a basin enters an erosional stage, estimating erosion rates across the entire basin can offer a good view of landscape evolution. In this work, the erosion rates in the Guadix–Baza basin have been calculated based on a volumetric estimate of sediment loss by river erosion since the Late Pleistocene. To do so, the distribution of a glacis surface at ca. 43 kyr, characterised by a calcrete layer that caps the basin infilling, has been reconstructed. To support this age, new radiometric data of the glacis are presented. The volume of sediment loss by water erosion has been calculated for the entire basin by comparing the reconstructed geomorphic surface and the present-day topography. The resulting erosion rates vary between 4.28 and 6.57 m³ ha^− 1 yr^− 1, and are the consequence of the interaction of climatic, lithologic, topographic, and tectonic factors. Individual erosion rates for the Guadix and Baza sub-basins (11.80 m³ ha^− 1 yr^− 1 and 1.77 m³ ha^− 1 yr^− 1 respectively) suggest different stages of drainage pattern evolution in the two sub-basins. We attribute the lower values obtained in the Baza sub-basin to the down-throw of this sub-basin caused by very recent activity along the Baza fault.     

库姆塔格沙漠地区土壤及分布特征

库姆塔格沙漠是我国最后一个进行大型资源环境综合考察的沙漠。该区域土壤研究被列为国家科技部科技基础工作专项“库姆塔格沙漠综合科学考察”的9个科学考察专题之一。通过2007年和2008年两次秋季野外集中科考,得到的初步结论是:在土壤类型和分布特征方面,库姆塔格沙漠地区地带性土壤类型为棕漠土,土壤分布高度地带性显著,存在多种地带与非地带性土壤类型中微域组合。在土壤形成发育和演变方面,表现出土壤形成过程中的风蚀、沙化严重,常使许多土壤类型处于复幼过程;土壤盐分表聚明显;土壤形成发育和演变过程受水文过程主导;区域土壤普遍肥力低下。     

Monitoring degradation in arid and semi-arid forests and woodlands: The case of the argan woodlands (Morocco)

Arid and semi-arid forests and woodlands (hereafter called «dryland forests»), in spite of their ecological and social importance, have received little attention in land change studies. Growing evidence shows that these forests have been receding at very high rates in many places, suggesting a need for a better understanding of the processes and causes of dryland forest degradation. Changes in the extent of dryland forests are debated in part because estimates of forest and woodland areas in drylands are uncertain. Causal explanations of the degradation tend to draw on the literature on desertification and tropical deforestation, and to emphasize either local or remote, and either social or biophysical drivers. This study contributes to a better understanding of dryland forest degradation as a basis for conservation policies. Firstly, we argue that monitoring arid and semi-arid forests and woodlands using area estimates may lead to an underestimation of the severity of change because tree density change often exceeds area change. Secondly, we argue that the analysis of degradation processes in these multifunctional landscapes should integrate both local and remote, and both social and biophysical factors. We use a case study of degradation in the argania woodlands in semi-arid to arid Southwest Morocco to test these two claims. We used gridded tree counts on aerial photographs and satellite images to estimate forest change between 1970 and 2007, and we tested several possible causes of change on the basis of original socio-economic field surveys and climatic and topographic data. We found that forest density declined by 44.5% during this period, a figure that is significantly underestimated if forest area change is used as a measure of degradation. Increasing aridity and, to a lesser extent, fuelwood extraction were related to forest decline. No effect of grazing by local livestock was found.     

Wind tunnel investigation of the influence of surface moisture content on the entrainment and erosion of beach sand by wind using sands from tropical humid coastal southern China

Wind erosion has major impacts on dune growth, desertification, and architecture on sea coasts. The deflation threshold shear velocity is a crucial parameter in predicting erosion, and surface moisture greatly affects this threshold and thus sand stability. Wind tunnel studies have shown that reduced moisture contents decrease entrainment thresholds and increase wind erosion, but field and wind tunnel test data is lacking for tropical humid coastal areas. In this study, we investigated the influence of surface moisture contents (at 1 mm depth) on sand entrainment and erosion using tropical humid coastal sands from southern China. Shear velocities were deduced from velocity profiles above the sand. The threshold shear velocity increased linearly with increasing ln100M (M, gravimetric moisture content). The increase was steepest below a moisture content of 0.0124 (i.e., at M_1.5, the moisture content in the sand at a matric potential of − 1.5 MPa). We compared several popular models that predict threshold shear velocity of moisture sediment, and found substantial differences between their predicted results. At a surface moisture content of 0.0124, the predicted increase in the wet threshold shear velocity compared with the dry threshold shear velocity ranged from 34% to 195%. The empirical model of Chepil and Selah simulated the data well for M < 0.0062 (i.e., 0.5M_1.5), whereas Belly's empirical model simulated the data best for M > 0.0062. Wind erosion modulus increased with increasing effective wind velocity following a power function with a positive exponent at all moisture contents, but decreased with increasing surface moisture content following a power function with a negative exponent. When wind speed and moisture content varied simultaneously, wind erosion modulus was proportional to the 0.73 power of effective wind velocity, but inversely proportional to the 1.48 power of M. The increase in resistance to erosion at low moisture contents probably results from cohesive forces in the water films surrounding the sand particles. At a moisture content near M_1.5, wind erosion ceases nearly for all wind velocities that we tested.     

腾格里沙漠南部格状沙丘的形态演变及移动特征

沙丘的形态变化与移动蕴含区域风沙环境和地貌演化的关键信息,是风沙地貌研究的重要内容。以腾格里沙漠南缘的长格状和方格状沙丘为研究对象,利用风况资料和Google Earth卫星影像,监测2009—2020年两种格状沙丘的形态变化并分析其移动特征。结果表明：(1)腾格里沙漠西南缘和东南缘的主风向均为西北风,长格状沙丘分布区的次风向为东南风,方格状沙丘分布区次风向为东风和东南风,都属于低风能环境、中变率风况。西南部风能环境大于东南部,研究区近10年风动力呈衰减趋势。(2)格状沙丘的主副梁长度和间距在增加,其中,长格状沙丘高度增加,方格状沙丘高度在降低。沙丘主梁向东偏移,副梁向南偏移,形态整体保持稳定。(3)长格状沙丘平均移动速率为1.57～1.71 m·a^-1,方格状沙丘平均移动速率为1.63～2.01 m·a^-1,沙丘平均移动方向与合成输沙方向基本一致,沙丘的体积是造成移动速率差异的主因。     

Identifying erosion hotspots and assessing communities' perspectives on the drivers,underlying causes and impacts of soil erosion in Toledo's Rio Grande Watershed: Belize

Erosion in the Rio Grande watershed of Belize, Central America results in widespread ecological impacts and significant economic costs. In this study, quantitative soil loss analysis and qualitative social surveys were integrated to identify erosion vulnerable areas or hotspots, and to analyze varying perspectives between communities near and far from erosion hotspots regarding the causes of erosion. The results of the quantitative analysis suggest that erosion hotspots are located in the upper-mid reaches of the watershed near the communities of Crique Jute, Naluum Ca, San Pedro Columbia and San Miguel. The Mann–Whitney U test identified significant difference in the ranking of erosion drivers (cattle ranching, logging, and clearing of slopes) between communities. Communities far from erosion hotspots (FEH) ranked cattle ranching and logging higher than communities near erosion hotspots as the main drivers of soil erosion (NEH and FEH, mean = 79.02, 105.92, (U) = 3055, p < 0.001 and mean = 84.9, 100.90, (U) = 3560.5 p < 0.05) respectively. On the other hand, communities near erosion hotspots (NEH) ranked clearing and planting on slopes higher than communities far from erosion hotspots as the main driver of soil erosion (NEH and FEH, mean = 107.03, 81.86, (U) = 3136.5, p < 0.001). The logistic regression model depicted that ethnicity, distance, gender, and employment were significant in explaining the data variability on the perceived implementation of erosion prevention techniques in the watershed (2LL = 208.585, X² = 49, df = 8, p < .001). This research provides significant information on the drivers, underlying causes and erosion vulnerable areas that will aid stakeholders to garner community support, develop and implement sustainable soil management practices. Moreover, the study highlights the need to implement cost-effective soil erosion prevention programs and to assess the loss of soil nutrients and agriculture productivity in the study site.     

Cosmogenic Be and Al exposure ages of tors and erratics, Cairngorm Mountains, Scotland: Timescales for the development of a classic landscape of selective linear glacial erosion

The occurrence of tors within glaciated regions has been widely cited as evidence for the preservation of relic pre-Quaternary landscapes beneath protective covers of non-erosive dry-based ice. Here, we test for the preservation of pre-Quaternary landscapes with cosmogenic surface exposure dating of tors. Numerous granite tors are present on summit plateaus in the Cairngorm Mountains of Scotland where they were covered by local ice caps many times during the Pleistocene. Cosmogenic ¹⁰Be and ²⁶Al data together with geomorphic relationships reveal that these landforms are more dynamic and younger than previously suspected. Many Cairngorm tors have been bulldozed and toppled along horizontal joints by ice motion, leaving event surfaces on tor remnants and erratics that can be dated with cosmogenic nuclides. As the surfaces have been subject to episodic burial by ice, an exposure model based upon ice and marine sediment core proxies for local glacial cover is necessary to interpret the cosmogenic nuclide data. Exposure ages and weathering characteristics of tors are closely correlated. Glacially modified tors and boulder erratics with slightly weathered surfaces have ¹⁰Be exposure ages of about 15 to 43 ka. Nuclide inheritance is present in many of these surfaces. Correction for inheritance indicates that the eastern Cairngorms were deglaciated at 15.6 ± 0.9 ka. Glacially modified tors with moderate to advanced weathering features have ¹⁰Be exposure ages of 19 to 92 ka. These surfaces were only slightly modified during the last glacial cycle and gained much of their exposure during the interstadial of marine Oxygen Isotope Stage 5 or earlier. Tors lacking evidence of glacial modification and exhibiting advanced weathering have ¹⁰Be exposure ages between 52 and 297 ka. Nuclide concentrations in these surfaces are probably controlled by bedrock erosion rates instead of discrete glacial events. Maximum erosion rates estimated from ¹⁰Be range from 2.8 to 12.0 mm/ka, with an error weighted mean of 4.1 ± 0.2 mm/ka. Three of these surfaces yield model exposure-plus-burial ages of 295_− 71^+ 84, 520_− 141^+ 178, and 626_− 85^+ 102 ka. A vertical cosmogenic nuclide profile across the oldest sampled tor indicates a long-term emergence rate of 31 ± 2 mm/ka. These findings show that dry-based ice caps are capable of substantially eroding tors by entraining blocks previously detached by weathering processes. Bedrock surfaces and erratic boulders in such settings are likely to have nuclide inheritance and may yield erroneous (too old) exposure ages. While many Cairngorm tors have survived multiple glacial cycles, rates of regolith stripping and bedrock erosion are too high to permit the widespread preservation of pre-Quaternary rock surfaces.     

干旱区绿洲的成因类型及演变

绿洲是伴随干旱区荒漠环境的形成而形成的。天然绿洲形成与水、土条件关系密切,人工绿洲形成则与水土及矿产资源开发有关。荒漠区绿洲受水、土条件的限制,具有沿河流冲积平原呈带状,在河流出山口呈扇状或点状分布的特点。绿洲分布模式主要有沿河道线状分布、沿河谷阶地层状分布、沿山麓平原片状分布、沿断层或洼地泉水出露地点零星点状分布等4种。基于绿洲形成与水、土关系密切,而地貌及其过程对水、土条件有制约作用的事实,考虑绿洲成因类型及其演变过程,以绿洲“状态成因”为分类原则,选取(1)绿洲的地名;(2)绿洲形成的地貌形态成因类型;(3)天然植被类型与人工绿洲形成结果等为指标,进行绿洲成因类型的划分。各绿洲成因类型的特点不同。在人为与自然因素的综合作用下,绿洲类型常发生由天然绿洲→人工绿洲、绿洲→荒漠或荒漠→人工绿洲演变,其演变模式主要有6种。     

Emergence of the Canadian Rockies and adjacent plains: A comparison of physiography between end-of-Laramide time and the present day

The landscape of the Canadian Rockies in southern Alberta is not a direct result of constructional processes; that is, the ridges and peaks have not been pushed into the positions in which we see them today. Tectonic activity provided original elevation but not mountains: at the end of Laramide time, what are now the front ranges and foothills of the Rockies comprised a high-elevation upland of relatively low relief. The present mountain physiography is the result of 55–60 million years of post-orogenic differential erosion, in which more resistant rocks have been left at higher elevations than less-resistant rocks.The Canadian Rockies and the foothills are developed in a thin-skinned, thrust-and-fold belt created during the Laramide Orogeny; the adjacent Interior Plains cut across foreland basin sediments derived from the mountains. The mountains currently consist of large parts of ridges of well-indurated Paleozoic and, locally, Proterozoic rock alternating with valleys developed in soft Mesozoic clastic rock. In the foothills, where the soft Mesozoic rock is at the surface, relief is subdued, but ridges of more-resistant sandstone rise above shaley lowlands. The plains are relatively flat but also contain erosional outliers of higher paleo-plains-surfaces.Numerous lines of evidence suggest that the mountains and foothills have lost several kilometers of overburden since the end of the Laramide Orogeny, while the western plains have lost at least 2 km, requiring that the local relief of the mountains and foothills that we see is erosional in origin. Local physiography is adjusted to lithology: the mountains have high relief because the exposed sub-Mesozoic rocks can hold up high, steep slopes, whereas the foothills have low relief because the underlying Cretaceous rocks cannot hold up high, steep slopes. The east-facing escarpment at the mountain front is a fault-line scarp along a low-angle thrust.Mesozoic rocks involved in the deformation originally extended all the way across the thrust and fold belt, and physiography of the belt at the end of Laramide time (60–55 Ma) depended mainly on whether Mesozoic or Paleozoic/Proterozoic rocks were exposed at the surface at that time. A reconstruction using critical-taper theory generally agrees with reconstructions from earlier stratigraphic and paleothermometry studies: what are now the front ranges at the eastern edge of the Rocky Mountains were mostly or perhaps entirely covered with Mesozoic rocks and despite that high elevation had a hilly, not mountainous, character. The main ranges, in the central Rocky Mountains, were in part stripped of Mesozoic cover by then and more mountainous. Treeline was higher then, and the thrust belt may have been largely or entirely vegetated. Generation of modern relief in the front ranges, including the escarpment at the mountain front, had to await stripping of Mesozoic rocks and incision of rivers into harder substrates in post-Laramide time.The Interior Plains are an erosional surface that was cut 1 to 3 km below the aggradational top of the foreland basin sediments. Although some of the present low local relief of the plains results from weakness of underlying Cretaceous/Tertiary rocks, the low relief is probably largely related to the process of denudation.     

新疆天山自然遗产地景观格局动态演化及其生态健康评价

喀拉峻-库尔德宁区域是新疆天山自然遗产地的重要组成部分,其生态健康状况将影响该自然遗产地的突出普遍价值。目前从景观生态学角度,通过景观格局动态演化过程反映自然遗产地生态健康研究较少。本研究以喀拉峻-库尔德宁区域为例,基于多源遥感影像,提取景观信息进行定性与定量分析,并结合景观格局指数,从景观动态特征、类型水平和景观水平分析景观格局演化特征,评价景观健康状况,形成自然遗产地景观数据的获取方法,探索景观格局与生态过程的关系,为相关研究提供借鉴。结果显示：裸地增加,冰雪、针阔混交林等景观减少;类型水平上,针阔混交林受人为干扰严重,中和低覆盖度草地呈破碎化;景观水平上,景观聚集度、连通性、分形状况稳定,景观多样性提升后维持稳定;总体景观生态健康,突出普遍价值（OUV）维持稳定,但对针阔混交林需要进行重点保护。结果可为研究区综合管理和生态健康分析提供有效数据。     

Climate during the last glacial maximum in the Wasatch and southern Uinta Mountains inferred from glacier modeling

Recent improvements in understanding glacial extents and chronologies in the Wasatch and Uinta Mountains and other mountain ranges in the western U.S. call for a more detailed approach to using glacier reconstructions to infer paleoclimates than commonly applied AAR-ELA-ÄT methods. A coupled 2-D mass balance and ice-flow numerical modeling approach developed by [Plummer, M.A., Phillips, F.M., 2003. A 2-D numerical model of snow/ice energy balance and ice flow for paleoclimatic interpretation of glacial geomorphic features. Quaternary Science Reviews 22, 1389–1406] allows exploration of the combined effects of temperature, precipitation, shortwave radiation and many secondary parameters on past ice extents in alpine settings. We apply this approach to the Little Cottonwood Canyon in the Wasatch Mountains and the Lake Fork and Yellowstone Canyons in the south-central Uinta Mountains. Results of modeling experiments indicate that the Little Cottonwood glacier required more precipitation during the local Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) than glaciers in the Uinta Mountains, assuming lapse rates were similar to modern. Model results suggest that if temperatures in the Wasatch Mountains and Uinta Mountains were  6 °C to 7 °C colder than modern, corresponding precipitation changes were  3 to 2× modern in Little Cottonwood Canyon and  2 to 1× modern in Lake Fork and Yellowstone Canyons. Greater amounts of precipitation in the Little Cottonwood Canyon likely reflect moisture derived from the surface of Lake Bonneville, and the lake may have also affected the mass balance of glaciers in the Uinta Mountains.