Evidence on the Koseda coast of Yakushima Island of a tsunami during the 7.3 ka Kikai caldera eruption

Previous research indicates that Yakushima Island, southwestern Japan, may have been struck by a huge tsunami before or soon after the arrival of the Koya pyroclastic flow during the 7.3 ka caldera‐forming Kikai eruption, but this has not yet been confirmed. This paper describes sedimentological and chronostratigraphic evidence showing that Unit TG, one of three gravel beds exposed on the Koseda coast of northeast Yakushima Island and investigated here, is a tsunami deposit. Unit TG is a poorly sorted, 30 cm thick gravel bed overlying a wave‐cut bench and underlying a Koya pyroclastic flow deposit. Sparse wood fragments in Unit TG were dated at 7 416–7 167 cal year BP. The constituent gravel clasts of Unit TG are similar in composition to those of modern beach and river deposits along the Koseda coast. Unit TG also contains pumice clasts whose chemistry is identical to that of pumice derived from the 7.3 ka eruption at Kikai caldera. The long‐axis orientations and composition of gravel clasts in Unit TG suggest that they were transported by a landward‐travelling high‐particle‐concentration flow, which suggests that Unit TG was deposited by a tsunami run‐up flow during the 7.3 ka Kikai caldera eruption, just before the arrival of the major Koya pyroclastic flow at the Koseda coast. Whether the 7.3 ka tsunami was caused by a volcanic eruption or an earthquake remains unclear, but Unit TG demonstrates that a tsunami arrived immediately before emplacement of a Koya pyroclastic flow.     

Coupling eruption and tsunami records: the Krakatau 1883 case study,Indonesia

The well-documented 1883 eruption of Krakatau volcano (Indonesia) offers an opportunity to couple the eruption’s history with the tsunami record. The aim of this paper is not to re-analyse the scenario for the 1883 eruption but to demonstrate that the study of tsunami deposits provides information for reconstructing past eruptions. Indeed, though the characteristics of volcanogenic tsunami deposits are similar to those of other tsunami deposits, they may include juvenile material (e.g. fresh pumice) or be interbedded with distal pyroclastic deposits (ash fall, surges), due to their simultaneity with the eruption. Five kinds of sedimentary and volcanic facies related to the 1883 events were identified along the coasts of Java and Sumatra: (1) bioclastic tsunami sands and (2) pumiceous tsunami sands, deposited respectively before and during the Plinian phase (26–27 August); (3) rounded pumice lapilli reworked by tsunami; (4) pumiceous ash fall deposits and (5) pyroclastic surge deposits (only in Sumatra). The stratigraphic record on the coasts of Java and Sumatra, which agrees particularly well with observations of the 1883 events, is tentatively linked to the proximal stratigraphy of the eruption.     

Floods in the Southern Alps of New Zealand: the importance of atmospheric rivers

Extremely high precipitation occurs in the Southern Alps of New Zealand, associated with both orographic enhancement and synoptic‐scale weather processes. In this study, we test the hypothesis that atmospheric rivers (ARs) are a key driver of floods in the Southern Alps of New Zealand. Vertically integrated water vapour and horizontal water vapour transport, and atmospheric circulation, are investigated concurrently with major floods on the Waitaki River (a major South Island river). Analysis of the largest eight winter maximum floods between 1979 and 2012 indicates that all are associated with ARs. Geopotential height fields reveal that these ARs are located in slow eastward moving extratropical cyclones, with high pressure to the northeast of New Zealand. The confirmation of ARs as a contributor to Waitaki flooding indicates the need for their further exploration to better understand South Island hydrometeorological extremes. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Great earthquake at 7.3 ka inferred from tsunami deposits in the Sukumo Bay area,Southwestern Japan

Tsunami deposits in Kyushu Island, Southwestern Japan, have been attributed to the 7.3 ka Kikai caldera eruption, but their origin has not been confirmed. We analyzed an 83-cm-thick Holocene event deposit in the SKM core, obtained from incised valley fill in the coastal lowlands near Sukumo Bay, Southwestern Shikoku Island. We confirmed that the event deposit contains K-Ah volcanic ash from the 7.3 ka eruption. The base of the event deposit erodes the underlying inner-bay mud, and the deposit contains material from outside the local terrestrial and marine environment, including angular quartz porphyry from a small inland exposure, oyster shell debris, and a coral fragment. Benthic foraminifers and ostracods in the deposit indicate various habitats, some of which are outside Sukumo Bay. The sand matrix contains low-silica volcanic glass from the late stage of the Kikai caldera eruption. We also documented the same glass in an event deposit in the MIK1 core, from the incised Oyodo River valley in the Miyazaki Plain on Southeastern Kyushu. These two 7.3 ka tsunami deposits join other documented examples that are widely distributed in Southwestern Japan including the Bungo Channel and Beppu Bay in Eastern Kyushu, Tachibana Bay in Western Kyushu, and Zasa Pond on the Kii Peninsula as well as around the caldera itself. The tsunami deposits near the caldera have been divided into older and younger 7.3 ka tsunami deposits, the younger ones matching the set of widespread deposits. We attribute the younger 7.3 ka tsunami deposits to a large tsunami generated by a great interplate earthquake in the Northern part of the Ryukyu Trench and (or) the Western Nankai Trough just after the late stage of the Kikai caldera eruption and the older 7.3 ka tsunami deposits to a small tsunami generated by an interplate earthquake or Kikai caldera eruption.     

Volcanic tsunamis and prehistoric cultural transitions in Cook Inlet,Alaska

The 1883 eruption of Augustine Volcano produced a tsunami when a debris avalanche traveled into the waters of Cook Inlet. Older debris avalanches and coeval paleotsunami deposits from sites around Cook Inlet record several older volcanic tsunamis. A debris avalanche into the sea on the west side of Augustine Island ca. 450 years ago produced a wave that affected areas 17 m above high tide on Augustine Island. A large volcanic tsunami was generated by a debris avalanche on the east side of Augustine Island ca. 1600 yr BP, and affected areas more than 7 m above high tide at distances of 80 km from the volcano on the Kenai Peninsula. A tsunami deposit dated to ca. 3600 yr BP is tentatively correlated with a southward directed collapse of the summit of Redoubt Volcano, although little is known about the magnitude of the tsunami. The 1600 yr BP tsunami from Augustine Volcano occurred about the same time as the collapse of the well-developed Kachemak culture in the southern Cook Inlet area, suggesting a link between volcanic tsunamis and prehistoric cultural changes in this region of Alaska.     

Projecting climate change impacts on stream flow regimes with tracer‐aided runoff models ‐ preliminary assessment of heterogeneity at the mesoscale

The northern mid‐high latitudes form a region that is sensitive to climate change, and many areas already have seen – or are projected to see – marked changes in hydroclimatic drivers on catchment hydrological function. In this paper, we use tracer‐aided conceptual runoff models to investigate such impacts in a mesoscale (749 km²) catchment in northern Scotland. The catchment encompasses both sub‐arctic montane sub‐catchments with high precipitation and significant snow influence and drier, warmer lowland sub‐catchments. We used downscaled HadCM3 General Circulation Model outputs through the UKCP09 stochastic weather generator to project the future climate. This was based on synthetic precipitation and temperature time series generated from three climate change scenarios under low, medium and high greenhouse gas emissions. Within an uncertainty framework, we examined the impact of climate change at the monthly, seasonal and annual scales and projected impacts on flow regimes in upland and lowland sub‐catchments using hydrological models with appropriate process conceptualization for each landscape unit. The results reveal landscape‐specific sensitivity to climate change. In the uplands, higher temperatures result in diminishing snow influence which increases winter flows, with a concomitant decline in spring flows as melt reduces. In the lowlands, increases in air temperatures and re‐distribution of precipitation towards autumn and winter lead to strongly reduced summer flows despite increasing annual precipitation. The integration at the catchment outlet moderates these seasonal extremes expected in the headwaters. This highlights the intimate connection between hydrological dynamics and catchment characteristics which reflect landscape evolution. It also indicates that spatial variability of changes in climatic forcing combined with differential landscape sensitivity in large heterogeneous catchments can lead to higher resilience of the integrated runoff response. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Constant‐ductility response spectra for sequential earthquake and tsunami loading

Simplified approaches for examining structural system response under sequential earthquake and tsunami loading are helpful for understanding response trends. To aid understanding, nonlinear (constant‐ductility) response spectra are developed for elastoplastic single degree of freedom systems subjected to seismic loads followed by hydrodynamic tsunami loads. The forcing function is composed of long‐duration earthquake motion concatenated with a range of tsunami hydrodynamic forces that are proportional to the pseudo‐spectral acceleration produced by the earthquake motion. The constant‐ductility spectra are thus constructed for scenarios where the loading imposed by one hazard is not dominant over the other. The spectra and basic intensity measures indicate that the amplification of response for sequential earthquake and tsunami loading over the earthquake only case is most significant for systems with long natural periods and high‐ductility capacity under seismic loading. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A geophysical interpretation of the 1883 Krakatau eruption

From the present submarine topography in the vicinity of the Krakatau Islands it is concluded that the focus of the large explosions was situated to the northwest of the present Rakata Island. The channel between Krakatau and Sebesi Islands was completely blocked by banks of volcanic material immediately after the eruptions, and it is suggested that this material was mainly lithic fragments.The explosion sequences of Krakatau are deduced from the records of sea-waves and air-waves observed at Jakarta. The large tsunami was caused by the most violent explosion, simultaneously with the largest air-waves. It is inferred that the origin of the tsunami was a sudden upheaval of the seawater due to a violent explosion and that the height of the tsunami near its source was 30–40 m. Energy of the explosion is estimated from analyses of the air-waves as one order of magnitude greater than that of the 1956 Bezymianny eruption; thus, the 1883 Krakatau eruption may have caused explosive removal of more than 10 km³ of material.The subsurface structure of Krakatau Islands after the 1883 eruption is deduced from gravity anomalies. It is concluded that at the bottom of the caldera there are deposits of low density in the shape of an inverted cone 8 km in diameter and 1 km in depth. From the residual gravity anomaly observed over the caldera, one can estimate the mass deficiency there. This allows estimates to be made as to the amount of ejecta. Although large uncertainties remain, these data indicate that explosive removal of material was the main process responsible for the disappearance of the northern half of the former Rakata (Krakatau) Island in the 1883 eruption.     

Tsunami generation by pyroclastic flow during the 3500-year B.P. caldera-forming eruption of Aniakchak Volcano, Alaska

 A discontinuous pumiceous sand, a few centimeters to tens of centimeters thick, is located up to 15 m above mean high tide within Holocene peat along the northern Bristol Bay coastline of Alaska. The bed consists of fine-to-coarse, poorly to moderately well-sorted, pumice-bearing sand near the top of a 2-m-thick peat sequence. The sand bed contains rip-up clasts of peat and tephra and is unique in the peat sequence. Major element compositions of juvenile glass from the deposit and radiocarbon dating of enclosing peat support correlation of the pumiceous sand with the caldera-forming eruption of Aniakchak Volcano. The distribution of the sand and its sedimentary characteristics are consistent with emplacement by tsunami. The pumiceous sand most likely represents redeposition by tsunami of climactic fallout tephra and beach sand during the approximately 3.5 ka Aniakchak caldera-forming eruption on the Alaska Peninsula. We propose that a tsunami was generated by the sudden entrance of a rapidly moving, voluminous pyroclastic flow from Aniakchak into Bristol Bay. A seismic trigger for the tsunami is unlikely, because tectonic structures suitable for tsunami generation are present only south of the Alaska Peninsula. The pumiceous sand in coastal peat of northern Bristol Bay is the first documented geologic evidence of a tsunami initiated by a volcanic eruption in Alaska. Received: 3 December 1997 / Accepted: 11 April 1998     

Provenance of long‐travelled dust determined with ultra‐trace‐element composition: a pilot study with samples from New Zealand glaciers

We report high‐precision inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometric (ICP‐MS) compositional data for 39 trace elements in a variety of dust deposits, trapped sediments and surface samples from New Zealand and Australia. Dusts collected from the surface of alpine glaciers in the Southern Alps, New Zealand, believed to have undergone long‐distance atmospheric transport from Australia, are recognizable on account of their overabundances of Pb and Cu with respect to typical upper crustal values. Long‐travelled dust from Australia therefore scavenges these and other metals (e.g. Zn, Sb and Cd) from the atmosphere during transport and deposition. Hence, due to anthropogenic pollution, long‐travelled Australian dusts can be recognized by elevated metal contents. The relative abundance of 25 other elements that are not affected by atmospheric pollution, mineral sorting (Zr and Hf) and weathering[sol ]solubility (alkali and earth alkali elements) reflects the geochemistry of the dust source sediment. As a result, we are able to establish the provenance of dust using ultra‐trace‐element chemistry at regional scale. Comparison of long‐travelled dust chemistry with potential Australian sources shows that fits of variable quality are obtained. We propose that the best fitting potential source chemistry most likely represents the major dust source area. A binary mixing model is used to demonstrate that admixture of small quantities of local dust provides an even better fitting dust chemistry for the long‐travelled dusts. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Stratigraphic records of tsunamis along the Japan Sea,southwest Hokkaido,northern Japan

The stratigraphy of tsunami deposits along the Japan Sea, southwest Hokkaido, northern Japan, reveals tsunami recurrences in this particular area. Sandy tsunami deposits are preserved in small valley plains, whereas gravelly deposits of possible tsunami origin are identified in surficial soils covering a Holocene marine terrace and a slope talus. At least five horizons of tsunami events can be defined in the Okushiri Island, the youngest of which immediately overlies the Ko‐d tephra layer (1640 AD) and was likely formed by the historical Oshima‐Ohshima tsunami in 1741 AD. The four older tsunami deposits, dated using accelerator mass spectrometry ¹⁴C, were formed at around the 12th century, 1.5–1.6, 2.4–2.6, and 2.8–3.1 ka, respectively. Tsunami sand beds of the 1741 AD and circa 12th century events are recognized in the Hiyama District of Hokkaido Island, but the older tsunami deposits are missing. The deposits of these two tsunamis are found together at the same sites and distributed in regions where wave heights of the 1993 tsunami (Hokkaido Nansei‐oki earthquake, Mw = 7.7) were less than 3 m. Thus, the 12th century tsunami waves were possibly generated near the south of Okushiri Island, whereas the 1993 tsunami was generated towards the north of the island. The estimated recurrence intervals of paleotsunamis, 200–1100 years with an average of 500 years, likely represents the recurrence interval of large earthquakes which would have occurred along several active faults offshore of southwest Hokkaido.     

Volcanogenic Tsunamis in Lakes: Examples from Nicaragua and General Implications

This paper emphasizes the fact that tsunamis can occur in continental lakes and focuses on tsunami triggering by processes related to volcanic eruptions and instability of volcanic edifices. The two large lakes of Nicaragua, Lake Managua and Lake Nicaragua, host a section of the Central American Volcanic Arc including several active volcanoes. One case of a tsunami in Lake Managua triggered by an explosive volcanic eruption is documented in the geologic record. However, a number of events occurred in the past at both lakes which were probably tsunamigenic. These include massive intrusion of pyroclastic flows from Apoyo volcano as well as of flank-collapse avalanches from Mombacho volcano into Lake Nicaragua. Maar-forming phreatomagmatic eruptions, which repeatedly occurred in Lake Managua, are highly explosive phenomena able to create hugh water waves as was observed elsewhere. The shallow water depth of the Nicaraguan lakes is discussed as the major limiting factor of tsunami amplitude and propagation speed. The very low-profile shores facilitate substantial in-land flooding even of relatively small waves. Implications for conceiving a possible warning system are also discussed.     

Block‐and‐ash flow deposit of the Narcondam Volcano: Product of dacite–andesite dome collapse in the Burma–Java subduction complex

Narcondam Island in the Andaman Sea represents a dacite–andesite dome volcano in the volcanic chain of the Burma–Java subduction complex. The pyroclasts of andesitic composition are restricted to the periphery of the dome predominantly in the form of block‐and‐ash deposits and minor base surge deposits. Besides pyroclastic deposits, andesitic lava occurs dominantly at the basal part of the dome whereas dacitic lava occupies the central part of the dome. The pyroclasts are represented by non‐vesiculated to poorly vesiculated blocks of andesite, lapilli, and ash. The hot debris derived from dome collapse was deposited initially as massive to reversely‐graded beds with the grain support at the lower part and matrix support at the upper part. This sequence is overlain by repetitive beds of lapilli breccia to tuff breccia. These deposits are recognized as a basal avalanche rather than lahar deposit. This basal avalanche was punctuated by an ash‐cloud surge deposit representing a sequence of thinly bedded units of normal graded unit to parallel laminated beds.     

Geochemical characteristics of deposits from the 2011 Tohoku‐oki tsunami at Hasunuma,Kujukuri coastal plain,Japan

We examined the geochemical characteristics and temporal changes of deposits associated with the 2011 Tohoku‐oki tsunami. Stable carbon isotope ratios, biomarkers, and water‐leachable ions were measured in a sandy tsunami deposit and associated soils sampled at Hasunuma, Kujukuri coastal plain, Japan, in 2011 and 2014. At this site, the 2011 tsunami formed a 10–30 cm ‐thick layer of very fine to medium sand. The tsunami deposit was organic‐poor, and no samples contained any detectable biomarkers of either terrigenous or marine origin. In the underlying soil, we identified hydrocarbons and sterols derived from terrestrial plants, but detected no biomarkers of marine origin. In the samples collected in 2011, concentrations of tsunami‐derived water‐leachable ions were highest in the soil immediately beneath the tsunami deposit and then decreased gradually with depth. Because of its finer texture and higher organic content, the soil has a higher water‐holding capacity than the sandy tsunami deposit. This distribution suggests that ions derived from the tsunami quickly penetrated the sand layer and became concentrated in the underlying soil. In the samples collected in 2014, concentrations of water‐leachable ions were very low in both soil and sand. We attribute the decrease in ion concentrations to post‐tsunami rainfall, seepage, and seasonal changes in groundwater level. Although water‐leachable ions derived from seawater were concentrated in the soil beneath the tsunami deposit following the tsunami inundation, they were not retained for more than a few years. To elucidate the behavior of geochemical characteristics associated with tsunamis, further research on organic‐rich muddy deposits (muddy tsunami deposits and soils beneath sandy tsunami deposits) as well as sandy tsunami deposits is required.     

The Hulopoe Gravel,Lanai, Hawaii: New Sedimentological Data and their Bearing on the “Giant Wave” (Mega-Tsunami) Emplacement Hypothesis

—Recognition that many oceanic islands are shaped by giant landslides has highlighted claims that the Hulopoe Gravel on south Lanai, Hawaii, was deposited by giant waves (mega-tsunami) generated by such a landslide. This interpretation is controversial. Resolution of the controversy has global implications because mass wasting of oceanic islands has been a common process for as long as hot spot volcanism has affected the ocean basins. Thus, if mega-tsunami are attendant upon the mass wasting process, their effect on earth surface processes should be discernible for much of geological time and may be comparable to that resulting from bolide impacts that form astroblemes.¶Detailed facies analysis of the pebble, cobble and boulder gravels that form the Hulopoe Gravel type section shows that the gravels are composed predominantly of basalt clasts with appreciable amounts of limestone clasts in 8 of the 14 beds present. Deposition was not continuous: eight disconformities are recognized in the 9.2 m type section, three of which are associated with truncated paleosols. The Hulopoe Gravel was not deposited by a single tsunami at 105 ka, as has been proposed. One bed is clearly an alluvial deposit. The origins of others are unclear but the facies data do not exclude tsunami as one of the processes that deposited individual beds within the Hulopoe Gravel, either above or below sea level.     

Mind,the gap in landscape‐evolution modelling

Despite an increasing recognition that human activity is currently the dominant force modifying landscapes, and that this activity has been increasing through the Holocene, there has been little integrative work to evaluate human interactions with geomorphic processes. We argue that agent‐based models (ABMs) are a useful tool for overcoming the limitations of existing, highly empirical approaches. In particular, they allow the integration of decision‐making into process‐based models and provide a heuristic way of evaluating the compatibility of knowledge gained from a wide range of sources, both within and outwith the discipline of geomorphology. The application of ABMs to geomorphology is demonstrated from two different perspectives. The SPASIMv1 (Special Protection Area SIMulator version 1) model is used to evaluate the potential impacts of land‐use change – particularly in relation to wildfire and subsequent soil conditions, runoff and erosion – over a decadal timescale from the present day to the mid‐twenty‐first century. It focuses on the representation of farmers with traditional versus commercial perspectives in central Spain, and highlights the importance of land‐tenure structure and historical contingencies of individuals' decision‐making. CYBEROSION, however, considers changes in erosion and deposition over the scale of at least centuries. It represents both wild and domesticated animals and humans as model agents, and investigates the interactions of them in the context of early agriculturalists in southern France in a prehistoric context. We evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of the ABM approach, and consider some of the major challenges. These challenges include potential process‐scale mismatches, differences in perspective between investigators from different disciplines, and issues regarding model evaluation, analysis and interpretation. If the challenges can be overcome, this fully integrated approach will provide geomorphology a means to conceptualize soundly the study of human–landscape interactions by bridging the gap between social and physical approaches. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Investigation of the impacts of vegetation distribution and evaporative cooling on synthetic urban daytime climate using a coupled LES—LSM model

Local flow properties and regional weather or climate are strongly affected by land‐atmosphere interactions of momentum and scalars within the daytime convective boundary layer (CBL). In this study, we investigate the impact of green space scale on the daytime atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) over a synthetic urban domain using a recently developed large‐eddy simulation‐land surface model (LES–LSM) framework. With the use of realistic soundings as initial conditions, a series of numerical experiments over synthetic urban surfaces with varied scale of vegetated area is performed. Simulated micrometeorological properties, surface fluxes, basic CBL characteristics, and cloud distribution are analysed. The results show reference‐level air potential temperature and specific humidity as well as surface fluxes over green space are significantly affected by the scale of green space in the urban domain. The surface organization due to vegetated area scale also has impacts on horizontally averaged scalar and momentum profiles; however, the magnitude in this study is smaller than the results of a previous study using a set of offline surface fluxes as the lower boundary condition for LES. In addition, even though this study only performs a daytime diurnal cycle, the impact of green space scale on cloud distribution in simulations is significant. The cases with more organized green space yield lower‐elevated cumulus cloud and larger‐cloud cover fraction, which impacts the energy budget at the top of boundary layer and, in turn, could lead to additional surface cooling with respect to longer‐term weather and climate. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Log‐jams and avulsions in the San Antonio River Delta,Texas

The San Antonio River Delta (SARD), Texas, has experienced two major avulsions in the past 80 years, and a number of other historical and Holocene channel shifts. The causes and consequences of these avulsions – one of which is ongoing – were examined using a combination of fieldwork, geographic information system (GIS) analysis, and historical information to identify active, semi‐active, and paleochannels and the sequence of shifting flow paths through the delta. The role of deposition patterns and antecedent morphology, large woody debris jams, and tectonic influences were given special attention. Sedimentation in the SARD is exacerbated by tectonic effects. Channel aggradation is ubiquitous, and superelevation of the channel bed above the level of backswamp areas on the floodplain is common. This creates ideal setup conditions for avulsions, and stable, cohesive fine‐grained banks favor avulsions rather than lateral migration. Flood basins between the alluvial ridges associated with the aggraded channels exist, but avulsions occur by re‐occupation of former channels found within or connected to the flood basins. Large woody debris and channel‐blocking log‐jams are common, and sometimes displace flow from the channel, triggering crevasses. However, a large, recurring log‐jam at the site of the ongoing avulsion from the San Antonio River into Elm Bayou is not responsible for the channel shift. Rather, narrow, laterally stable channels resulting from flow splits lead to accumulation of wood. Some aspects of the SARD avulsion regime are typical of other deltas, while others are more novel. These includes avulsions involving tributaries and subchannels within the delta as well as from the dominant channel; tectonic influences on delta backstepping and on channel changes within the delta; avulsions as an indirect trigger for log‐jam formation (as well as vice‐versa); and maintenance of a multi‐channel flow pattern distinct from classic anastamosing or distributary systems. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Relations between rainfall–runoff‐induced erosion and aeolian deposition at archaeological sites in a semi‐arid dam‐controlled river corridor

Process dynamics in fluvial‐based dryland environments are highly complex with fluvial, aeolian, and alluvial processes all contributing to landscape change. When anthropogenic activities such as dam‐building affect fluvial processes, the complexity in local response can be further increased by flood‐ and sediment‐limiting flows. Understanding these complexities is key to predicting landscape behavior in drylands and has important scientific and management implications, including for studies related to paleoclimatology, landscape ecology evolution, and archaeological site context and preservation. Here we use multi‐temporal LiDAR surveys, local weather data, and geomorphological observations to identify trends in site change throughout the 446‐km‐long semi‐arid Colorado River corridor in Grand Canyon, Arizona, USA, where archaeological site degradation related to the effects of upstream dam operation is a concern. Using several site case studies, we show the range of landscape responses that might be expected from concomitant occurrence of dam‐controlled fluvial sand bar deposition, aeolian sand transport, and rainfall‐induced erosion. Empirical rainfall‐erosion threshold analyses coupled with a numerical rainfall–runoff–soil erosion model indicate that infiltration‐excess overland flow and gullying govern large‐scale (centimeter‐ to decimeter‐scale) landscape changes, but that aeolian deposition can in some cases mitigate gully erosion. Whereas threshold analyses identify the normalized rainfall intensity (defined as the ratio of rainfall intensity to hydraulic conductivity) as the primary factor governing hydrologic‐driven erosion, assessment of false positives and false negatives in the dataset highlight topographic slope as the next most important parameter governing site response. Analysis of 4+ years of high resolution (four‐minute) weather data and 75+ years of low resolution (daily) climate records indicates that dryland erosion is dependent on short‐term, storm‐driven rainfall intensity rather than cumulative rainfall, and that erosion can occur outside of wet seasons and even wet years. These results can apply to other similar semi‐arid landscapes where process complexity may not be fully understood. Published 2015. This article is a U.S. Government work and is in the public domain in the USA