A sediment budget for a grazed semi-arid catchment in the Burdekin basin, Australia

In catchments adjacent to the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area in Queensland, Australia, there is a growing concern that sediments and nutrients being exported from the land are having a detrimental effect on coral reef communities. There is a need to determine the processes and rates of erosion from the major land use types, so that management intervention can be initiated to reduce sediment yields where required. This paper presents a sediment budget for Weany Creek, a 13.5 km² grazed semi-arid sub-catchment of the Burdekin River catchment, Australia. A range of field methods was used to measure erosion from hillslopes, gullies and stream banks, as well as identify the amount of sediment being deposited and remobilised on the bed of gullies and the stream network. The data suggests that at least during drought conditions, the primary erosion source in this catchment is gully erosion. However, the largest source of sediment in the budget is actually associated with the remobilisation of in-channel sediment stores. Overall, the sediment budget is comprised of  81% coarse material and 19% fine sediment and an agreement between the fine sediment yield estimated in the sediment budget and the yield measured at the catchment outlet is within 10%. The total sediment yield estimated for this catchment is  4205 t yr^− 1 and is much lower than expected for a catchment of this size. This may reflect the drought conditions during the measurement period; however, there is also the possibility that the primary erosion sources have been exhausted, and the rates of sediment loss may be much lower now than they may have been in the past. Nonetheless, the results show that stored sediment, which may have been deposited in the channel many decades ago, is an important contributor to end of catchment sediment yields and warrants further investigation.     

The recent history of hydro-geomorphological processes in the upper Hangbu river system, Anhui Province, China

This paper describes 20th century climate and human impacts on terrestrial and fluvial systems in the Dabie Mountains, Anhui Province, China, based on analyses of four types of information. Analyses of particle size, mineral magnetism, organic carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus in a sediment core taken from the Longhekou reservoir, built in 1958 AD in the upper reaches of Hangbu River, provide an  45 year record of fluvial responses, while monitored meteorological and hydrological data provide records of climate and river discharge. Census data compiled for the local Shucheng County provide records of population and land use, complemented with analyses of satellite images. The Xiaotian river delivers over 65% of the total water and silt to the reservoir. Analyses indicate that the fluvial regime tracks the monsoon climate over seasonal timescales, but human activities have a strongly mediating effect on sediment supply, sediment delivery and, to a lesser extent, runoff over longer timescales. Notable periods of human impact on erosion include the Great Leap Forward (1958–1960) and Great Cultural Revolution (1966–1976). A rising trend in precipitation and new land use changes at the present time may be leading to an enhanced flood risk.     

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.     

Mid–late Holocene hydrological changes in the Mahi River, arid western India

This paper attempts to quantify contemporary and palaeo-discharges and changes in the hydrologic regime through the mid–late Holocene in the alluvial reach of the arid Mahi River basin in western India. The occurrence of terraces and pointbars high above active river levels and change in the width/depth ratio can be regarded as geomorphic responses to changes in discharge. Discharge estimates are made based on the channel dimensions and established empirical relations for the three types of channels: mid–late Holocene, historic (the channel that deposited extensive pointbars above the present-day average flow level) and the present ones. The bankfull discharge of the mid–late Holocene channel was  55 000 m³ s^− 1 and that of the historic channel was  9500 m³ s^− 1, some  25 times and  5 times greater than that of the present river (2000 m³ s^− 1), respectively. Since the mid–late Holocene, the channel form has changed from wide, large-amplitude meanders to smaller meanders, and decreases in the width/depth ratio, unit stream power and the bed shear stresses have occurred. It can be inferred that there has been a trend of decreasing precipitation since the mid–late Holocene.     

Bank Erosion in Fifteen Tributaries in the Glaciated Upper Susquehanna Basin of New York and Pennsylvania

The proportional contributions of cultivated lands and stream banks as sources of fine sediment loads were quantified in 15 rural watersheds in the Glaciated Appalachian Plateau region of the Susquehanna River basin of New York and Pennsylvania. We utilized a relatively simple method of fingerprinting sediment sources by comparing the concentrations of the nuclear bomb-derived radionuclide ¹³⁷ Cs in fluvial sediment samples collected from channel margins with sediment from cultivated fields and stream banks. The proportion of fine sediment from bank erosion ranged from none to 100% in the study tributaries, with a median contribution of 53% across the 15 study streams. In one stream with no evidence of bank sediment, anomalously high ¹³⁷ Cs levels in the samples indicated that the sources were pasture or forest, probably scoured from marshy floodplains upstream of the sampling sites. In the 14 other streams, cultivated lands accounted for an average of 42% of the fine sediment. We discuss sources of eroded bank material and the processes driving stream bank erosion in this glaciated region, and examine the impact of historic mill-dam deposits on bank erosion.     

SEDIMENT YIELD CONDITIONED BY GLACIATION IN A RURAL AGRICULTURAL BASIN OF SOUTHERN ONTARIO,CANADA

A sediment budget is constructed for the South Saugeen River, a sixth-order stream basin in southwestern Ontario. Input from eroding glacial embankments accounts for up to 68% of the fine (<63 μm) sediment outputs from the basin. Sediment derived from eroding alluvial banks in the main river contributes approximately 22% of sediment outputs and is approximately equivalent in magnitude to sediments stored in the floodplain. The remaining 10% is derived from sheet and rill erosion of uplands that have been modified by agriculture. However, specification of an appropriate sediment delivery ratio from individual fields to the low-order tributaries remains problematic. Small reservoirs confined by mill dams constructed around the time of land settlement in 1860 store about 3% of the basin sediment inputs. The results demonstrate the importance of downstream, non-alluvial (glacial) sediment sources and can be linked to the model of increasing specific sediment yields with drainage area found in several other river systems of Canada. The high frequency of tall glacial banks in several entrenched river valleys entering the Great Lakes in southern Ontario indicates that the model of dominantly agricultural sediment inputs needs to be adjusted for this region. [Key words: sediment budget, glacial conditioning, reservoir sedimentation, bank erosion, agricultural erosion, southern Ontario, Canada.]     

Flux and fate of Yangtze River sediment delivered to the East China Sea

Numerous cores and dating show the Yangtze River has accumulated about 1.16 × 10¹² t sediment in its delta plain and proximal subaqueous delta during Holocene. High-resolution seismic profiling and coring in the southern East China Sea during 2003 and 2004 cruises has revealed an elongated ( 800 km) distal subaqueous mud wedge extending from the Yangtze River mouth southward off the Zhejiang and Fujian coasts into the Taiwan Strait. Overlying what appears to be a transgressive sand layer, this distal clinoform thins offshore, from  40 m thickness between the 20 and 30 m water depth to < 1–2 m between 60 and 90 m water depth, corresponding to an across shelf distance of less than 100 km. Total volume of this distal mud wedge is about 4.5 × 10¹¹ m³, equivalent to  5.4 × 10¹¹ t of sediment. Most of the sediment in this mud wedge comes from the Yangtze River, with some input presumably coming from local smaller rivers. Thus, the total Yangtze-derived sediments accumulated in its deltaic system and East China Sea inner shelf have amounted to about 1.7 × 10¹² t. Preliminary analyses suggest this longshore and across-shelf transported clinoform mainly formed in the past 7000 yrs after postglacial sea level reached its mid-Holocene highstand, and after re-intensification of the Chinese longshore current system. Sedimentation accumulation apparently increased around 2000 yrs BP, reflecting the evolution of the Yangtze estuary and increased land erosion due to human activities, such as farming and deforestation. The southward-flowing China Coastal Current, the northward-flowing Taiwan Warm Current, and the Kuroshio Current appear to have played critical roles in transporting and trapping most of Yangtze-derived materials in the inner shelf, and hence preventing the sediment escape into the deep ocean.     

Geomorphic inferences from regolith thickness, chemical denudation and CRN erosion rates near the glacial limit, Boulder Creek catchment and vicinity, Colorado

Granitic regolith, developed in the Boulder Creek catchment and adjacent areas, records a history of deep weathering, some of which may predate Quaternary time. Field and well-log measurements of weathering, chemical denudation and rates of erosion derived from ¹⁰Be cosmogenic radionuclide (CRN) data help to quantify rates of landscape change in the post-orogenic Rocky Mountains. The density of oxidized, fractured bedrock ranges from 2.7 to about 2.2 g cm^− 3, saprolite and grus have densities between 2.0 and 1.8 g cm^− 3, and 30 soil samples averaged 1.6 ± 0.2 g cm^− 3. Highly weathered regolith in 540 wells averages 3.3 m thick, mean depth to bedrock in 1661 wells is 7 m, and the weathered thickness exceeds 10 m in relatively large local areas east of the late Pleistocene glacial limit. Thickness of regolith shows no simple relationship to rock type or structure, local slope, or distance from channels. Catchments in the vicinity of the Boulder Creek have an average CRN erosion rate of 2.2 ± 0.7 cm kyr^− 1 for the past 10,000 to 40,000 yr. Annual losses of cations and SiO₂ vary from about 2 to 5 g m^− 2 over a runoff range of 10 to nearly 160 cm.Using measured rates in simple box models shows that if a substantial fraction of void space is created by volume expansion in the weathering rock materials, 7 m of weathered rock materials could form in as little as 230 kyr. If density loss results mainly from chemical denudation and some volume expansion, however, the same weathering profile would take > 1340 kyr to form. Rates of erosion measured by CRN could be balanced by the rate of soil formation from saprolite if the annual solute loss from soil is 2.0 g m^− 2 and 70% of the density decrease from saprolite to grus and soil results from strain. Saprolite, however, forms from oxidized bedrock at a far slower rate and rates of saprolite formation cannot balance soil and grus losses to erosion. The zone of thick weathered regolith is likely an eroding relict landscape. The undulating surface marked by relatively low relief and tors is not literally a topographic surface of Eocene, Oligocene or Miocene age unless it was covered with deposits that were removed in Pliocene or Quaternary time.     

长江干流河道对流域输沙的调节作用

利用长江干流和主要支流上测站1956~2004年的输沙量资料,对干流未测区域的来沙进行了估计。根据泥沙平衡 (Sediment budget) 概念,对长江干流河道的冲淤对来水来沙的响应以及对入海泥沙的影响进行研究发现,长江干流屏山至大通河道平均淤积速率为88.58×10⁶ t/a,河道淤积占总的来沙量及大通站输沙量比例分别为14%与21%。由于河道淤积,大通站输沙量减少了17.5%。总体来说上游淤积较轻,宜昌至汉口区间淤积严重,汉口至大通区间为微冲。长江干流的河道冲淤与流域总的来沙具有显著的相关关系,但各段河道的冲淤对流域来沙的响应各不一样。上游的冲淤与流域的径流量和来沙量均没有很好的相关性,宜昌-汉口段河道冲淤的变化与宜昌站的来沙具有显著的相关性;影响汉口-大通间河道的冲淤变化的主要因素是流域的来水量,河道的冲淤与大通站径流量的存在显著的负相关关系。三峡水库蓄水后整个长江干流的冲淤形势发生了根本的变化。三峡水库的蓄水运用有效地减轻了洞庭湖的泥沙淤积,同时也降低了洞庭湖的对长江干流泥沙的调节作用;长江上游干流河道淤积增强,中下游河道出现冲刷,但不同的河段表现不一;中下游河道冲刷量小于预测值,三峡水库的蓄水运用直接导致了长江入海泥沙的减少。     

Modelling the impact of land-use change and farm dam construction on hillslope sediment delivery to rivers at the regional scale

Landscapes in southeastern Australia have changed dramatically since the spread of European colonisation in the 19th century. Due to widespread forest clearance for cultivation and grazing, erosion and sediment yields have increased by a factor of more than 150. In the 20th century, erosion and sediment yield were reduced again due to an increasing vegetative cover. Furthermore, during the last decades, thousands of small farm dams were constructed to provide drinking water for cattle. These dams trap a lot of sediment, thereby further reducing sediment delivery from hillslopes to river channels. Changes in sediment delivery since European colonisation are documented in sediment archives. Within this study, these changing rates in hillslope erosion and sediment delivery were modelled using a spatially distributed erosion and sediment delivery model (WATEM/SEDEM) that was calibrated for Australian ecosystems using sediment yield data derived from sedimentation rates in 26 small farm dams. The model was applied to the Murrumbidgee river basin (30,000 km²) under different land-use scenarios. First, the erosion and sediment yield under pre-European land-use was modelled. Secondly, recent land-use patterns were used in the model. Finally, recent land-use including the impact of farm dams and large reservoirs was simulated. The results show that the WATEM/SEDEM model is capable of predicting the intensity of the geomorphic response to changes in land-use through time. Changes in hillslope erosion and hillslope sediment delivery rates are not equal, illustrating the non-linear response of the catchment. Current hillslope sediment supply to the river channel network is predicted to be 370% higher compared to the pre-European settlement period, yet farm dams have reduced this back to 2.5 times the pre-19th century values. The role of larger reservoirs is even more important as they have reduced the current sediment supply downstream to their pre-European values, thus completely masking the increased hillslope erosion rates from land-use change. However, the model does so far not include valley widening and sediment storage in river systems. Therefore, modelled rates of sediment delivery are lower than observed values.     

Landscape disequilibrium on 1000–10,000 year scales Marsyandi River, Nepal, central Himalaya

In an actively deforming orogen, maintenance of a topographic steady state requires that hillslope erosion, river incision, and rock uplift rates are balanced over timescales of 10⁵–10⁷ years. Over shorter times, <10⁵ years, hillslope erosion and bedrock river incision rates fluctuate with changes in climate. On 10⁴-year timescales, the Marsyandi River in the central Nepal Himalaya has oscillated between bedrock incision and valley alluviation in response to changes in monsoon intensity and sediment flux. Stratigraphy and ¹⁴C ages of fill terrace deposits reveal a major alluviation, coincident with a monsoonal maximum, ca. 50–35 ky BP. Cosmogenic ¹⁰Be and ²⁶Al exposure ages define an alluviation and reincision event ca. 9–6 ky BP, also at a time of strong South Asian monsoons. The terrace deposits that line the Lesser Himalayan channel are largely composed of debris flows which originate in the Greater Himalayan rocks up to 40 km away. The terrace sequences contain many cubic kilometers of sediment, but probably represent only 2–8% of the sediments which flushed through the Marsyandi during the accumulation period. At 10⁴-year timescales, maximum bedrock incision rates are 7 mm/year in the Greater Himalaya and 1.5 mm/year in the Lesser Himalayan Mahabarat Range. We propose a model in which river channel erosion is temporally out-of-phase with hillslope erosion. Increased monsoonal precipitation causes an increase in hillslope-derived sediment that overwhelms the transport capacity of the river. The resulting aggradation protects the bedrock channel from erosion, allowing the river gradient to steepen as rock uplift continues. When the alluvium is later removed and the bedrock channel re-exposed, bedrock incision rates probably accelerate beyond the long-term mean as the river gradient adjusts downward toward a more “equilibrium” profile. Efforts to document dynamic equilibrium in active orogens require quantification of rates over time intervals significantly exceeding the scale of these millennial fluctuations in rate.     

中国河流地貌研究进展——纪念沈玉昌先生100年诞辰

2016年是中国现代河流地貌研究的开拓者和奠基人沈玉昌先生100年诞辰,本文对中国河流地貌研究进展进行综述,以资纪念。研究涉及4个方面：① 水系发育与河谷地貌演变,包括大江大河水系历史发育和山区河流地貌;② 侵蚀与产沙过程,包括有物理成因基础的侵蚀产沙模型、侵蚀产沙过程的尺度效应、植被对侵蚀的影响及临界现象、坡面细沟发育过程模拟等;③ 河床过程与河型,包括河道冲淤过程、河床演变、河型成因与演变等;④ 河流地貌系统研究,包括流域系统不同子系统的耦合关系、河流地貌系统中的高含沙水流和多营力地貌过程、河流地貌系统对于自然因素变化和人类活动的响应、河流地貌系统中的泥沙灾害和河流地貌系统的实验研究等。50年前沈玉昌先生与钱宁先生提出在地貌学与河流动力学相结合的基础上发展中国河流学科。文中对此方面的进展进行了综述,并提出了需要深化和解决的问题。     

A high resolution record of storm-induced erosion from lake sediments,New Zealand

The sustainable management of erodible pastoral hill country is a major focus of land use research in New Zealand. A multi-disciplinary study, using a high resolution lake sedimentation record, is being conducted to determine the role that cyclonic storms and natural and human-induced vegetation changes play in the erosion history of a landslide-prone hill country watershed.Sediment cores from Lakes Tutira and Waikopiro in northern Hawke's Bay were analysed to construct the magnitude-frequency history of storm-induced erosion since European settlement. Pulses of sediment representing individual storms can be clearly identified and are correlated to a storm history derived from analysis of a 93 year daily rainfall record. Correlation and dating are confirmed by pollen and diatom analysis,¹³⁷Cs distribution, tephrochronology and reference to a well documented land use history. Annually laminated, organic rich deposits, which occur in the uppermost sediments and represent the annual decomposition of biogenic material associated with eutrophication, are also used to confirm the chronology.A high correlation was found between storm sediment thickness and total storm rainfall (R²=0.8). Although sediment producing storms (>150 mm) occur on a near annual basis, the two largest storms (>600 mm) contributed 54% of the total sediment thickness.The presence of well defined storm sediment pulses has enabled the lake storage component of a sediment budget to be calculated for Cyclone Bola (1988), the most recent and largest rainstorm on record. The integration of this budget with the storm-magnitude-frequency history will be used to develop watershed-based models to predict the impacts of land use changes and the erosion response to climate scenarios.This is the third paper in a series of papers published in this issue on high-resolution paleolimnology. These papers were presented at the Sixth International Palaeolimnological Symposium held 19–21 April, 1993 at the Australian National University, Canberra, Australia. Dr A. F. Lotter and Dr. M. Sturm served as guest editors for these papers.     

Fallout radionuclide tracers identify a switch in sediment sources and transport-limited sediment yield following wildfire in a eucalypt forest

Fire can alter sediment sources and transport rates in river basins, changing landforms and aquatic habitats and degrading downstream water quality. Variability in the response between environments, between fires, and with time since fire makes predicting the catchment-scale effect of individual fires difficult. This study applies the fallout radionuclides ¹³⁷Cs and ²¹⁰Pb_xs to trace the sources and transport of fine sediment through a river network following a wildfire of moderate to extreme severity in the 629-km² eucalypt-forested Nattai River water-supply catchment near Sydney, Australia. The tracer analysis showed that post-fire erosion caused a switch in fine (< 10 µm) sediment sources from 80% subsoil derived from gully and river bank erosion to 86% topsoil derived from hillslope surface erosion. The fine sediment phosphorus content increased 4–10 fold over pre-fire levels. Annual post-fire sediment yields estimated from suspended solids rating curves were 109–250 times higher than they would have been without fire. A large additional amount of sediment remained stored within the river network for at least four years, particularly in lower-gradient reaches. Analysis of a sediment core showed that surface erosion following a previous fire had supplied at least 29% of total catchment sediment yield over the past 36 years. It is concluded that wildfire can alter catchment sediment budgets in two ways. Firstly, a spatially-diffuse pulse of elevated erosion is associated with moderate or intense rainfall events in post-fire years. Secondly, pulses of elevated catchment sediment yield are driven by the timing and river sediment transport capacity of runoff events. Severe post-fire erosion and high interannual hydrologic variability can result in large sediment stores persisting within the river network for many years. Fallout radionuclide tracers are shown to be useful in quantifying fine sediment sources and transport dynamics following wildfire, and the contribution of wildfire to catchment sediment yield.     

Assessment of the interrill and rill contributions to total soil loss from an upland field plot

Erosion measurements were carried out on an upland field plot in the Loam Region of Belgium. The sediment being detached by splash on interrill areas is transported to the channel system mainly by interrill wash. Over the entire 7500 m² field plot, rill (and gully) erosion is more important than interrill erosion. However, the relative importance of interrill erosion varies in time and in space, due to changes of the interrill surface characteristics and the activation of sidewall and gullying processes in the channel network. These factors should be taken into account in a realistic rill-interrill erosion model.     

坡面径流冲刷及泥沙输移特征的试验研究

通过室内放水冲刷试验,对坡面细沟侵蚀发生的临界条件、细沟发展过程中的侵蚀产沙特征、以及影响细沟侵蚀产沙的因素进行了分析研究,得出了试验土条件下产生细沟的临界流量与坡面坡度的关系式.在分析产沙变化的基础上,探讨了细沟侵蚀量随径流量和坡面倾斜度的变化规律.     

Pattern and rate of erosion inferred from Inca agricultural terraces in arid southern Peru

Earthworks of assumed age and their initial and current morphologies provide an ideal basis for developing and testing models for long-term landform erosion. Inca agricultural terraces abandoned at  1532 A.D in the drylands of southern Peru may be used to document morphological changes since the abandonment. The objective of this research is to determine the erosion pattern and process to estimate the erosion rate.The development of rills and channels on the Inca agricultural terraces is evidence for erosion by wash processes on slopes where the anchoring effect of vegetation is absent and loose material is available for removal. The pattern and amount of erosion from 1532–2005 A.D. is estimated by comparing elevation models of the observed morphology and reconstructed models of the original morphology of the Inca terraces. The results show that in areas of sediment accumulation surface elevation increased up to 0.5 m. Elevation lowering on the terrace treads was 0.7 m at maximum, and a temporally and spatially averaged lowering rate was 0.094 mm yr^− 1. This gives insights about how the rate of erosion occurs on currently disturbed lands in arid environments where soil resources are scarce and lands are prone to desertification.     

Late Pleistocene outburst flooding from pluvial Lake Alvord into the Owyhee River, Oregon

At least one large, late Pleistocene flood traveled into the Owyhee River as a result of a rise and subsequent outburst from pluvial Lake Alvord in southeastern Oregon. Lake Alvord breached Big Sand Gap in its eastern rim after reaching an elevation of 1292 m, releasing 11.3 km³ of water into the adjacent Coyote Basin as it eroded the Big Sand Gap outlet channel to an elevation of about 1280 m. The outflow filled and then spilled out of Coyote Basin through two outlets at 1278 m and into Crooked Creek drainage, ultimately flowing into the Owyhee and Snake Rivers. Along Crooked Creek, the resulting flood eroded canyons, stripped bedrock surfaces, and deposited numerous boulder bars containing imbricated clasts up to 4.1 m in diameter, some of which are located over 30 m above the present-day channel.Critical depth calculations at Big Sand Gap show that maximum outflow from a 1292- to 1280-m drop in Lake Alvord was  10,000 m³ s^− 1. Flooding became confined to a single channel approximately 40 km downstream of Big Sand Gap, where step-backwater calculations show that a much larger peak discharge of 40,000 m³ s^− 1 is required to match the highest geologic evidence of the flood in this channel. This inconsistency can be explained by (1) a single 10,000 m³ s^− 1 flood that caused at least 13 m of vertical incision in the channel (hence enlarging the channel cross-section); (2) multiple floods of 10,000 m³ s^− 1 or less, each producing some incision of the channel; or (3) an earlier flood of 40,000 m³ s^− 1 creating the highest flood deposits and crossed drainage divides observed along Crooked Creek drainage, followed by a later 10,000 m³ s^− 1 flood associated with the most recent shorelines in Alvord and Coyote Basins.Well-developed shorelines of Lake Alvord at 1280 m and in Coyote Basin at 1278 m suggest that after the initial flood, postflood overflow persisted for an extended period, connecting Alvord and Coyote Basins with the Owyhee River of the Columbia River drainage. Surficial weathering characteristics and planktonic freshwater diatoms in Lake Alvord sediment stratigraphically below Mt. St. Helens set Sg tephra, suggest deep open-basin conditions at  13–14 ka (¹⁴C yr) and that the flood and prominent shorelines date to about this time. But geomorphic and sedimentological evidence also show that Alvord and Coyote Basins held older, higher-elevation lakes that may have released earlier floods down Crooked Creek.     

Spatial variability of soil hydrophobicity after wildfires in Montana and Colorado

Increases in runoff and erosion after wildfires are often attributed to the development of hydrophobic soils. The potential for increased overland flow depends on the spatial contiguity of the hydrophobicity as well as its overall strength, but there is limited information on the spatial variability of soil hydrophobicity. We conducted spatially intensive hydrophobicity measurements in 225 m² and 1 m² plots in forested areas of Montana and Colorado burned at moderate to high severity, and in unburned control plots. Both the burned and unburned 225 m² plots contained 10–23 hydrophobic soil patches in which hydrophobicity was strongest at the surface and declined rapidly with depth. The hydrophobic patches were closer together and up to 3 times larger in the burned plots. Consequently, 19% to 76% of the burned plots were hydrophobic compared to just 11% of the unburned plots. In five of the six burned plots, the patches were not laterally connected, suggesting that in most cases Hortonian overland flow generated from hydrophobic patches will infiltrate near its point of origin. The 1 m² plots were smaller than most of the hydrophobic patches, so they did not capture the spatial characteristics of soil hydrophobicity. Characterization of the spatial variability of soil hydrophobicity should be based on measurements conducted at  1 m intervals across areas of > 100 m². Due to the patchiness of soil hydrophobicity at the 10⁰ to 10¹ meter scale, overland flow measurements in small ( 1 m²) plots may overestimate the magnitude and variability of runoff from burned catchments.