Investigating the spatial distribution of summit flats in the Uinta Mountains of northeastern Utah, USA

Isolated, laterally extensive, gently sloping surfaces known as summit flats are present at high elevations in many Laramide ranges, and are particularly well developed in the Uinta Mountains of northeastern Utah. To investigate the spatial distribution of these surfaces, and to consider possible controls on this pattern, a map of summit flats in the Uintas was developed from digital elevation data. Summit flats were identified as unglaciated areas of the landscape above an elevation of 3400 m, having a slope of less than 0.3 m m^− 1, and an area greater than 5 × 10^− 2 km². As defined, summit flats comprise 43% of the unglaciated land area above 3400 m in the Uintas, with the largest individual flat covering nearly 34 km². To quantitatively evaluate the distribution of summit flats in the Uintas, the area of summit flats was normalized to the total unglaciated area above 3400 m in 10-km-wide swaths oriented normal to the range axis. Values of percent summit flats obtained by this method decrease dramatically westward, from a high of more than 60% at the eastern end of the Uintas, to 0% at the western end. Given that individual summit flats can be diminished through lateral erosion by surrounding valley glaciers, and that the summit flats themselves were apparently never glaciated, this result suggests that glacial erosion has been more effective in the western Uintas over the course of the Quaternary. Focused glacial erosion at the upwind end of the range is consistent with the hypothesis that the proximity of Lake Bonneville enhanced precipitation over the western Uintas during the Last Glacial Maximum [Munroe, J.S., and, Mickelson, D.M., 2002. Last Glacial Maximum equilibrium-line altitudes and paleoclimate, northern Uinta Mountains, Utah, U.S.A. Journal of Glaciology, 48, 257–266].     

LIVE-BED SCOUR IN LONG CONTRACTIONS

1 INTRODUCTION Scour within a channel contraction occurs where the waterway is restricted by the foundations or road approach embankments of a bridge. Alternately, contraction scour takes place when a bridge is located at a natural contraction in the rive…     

Characteristics of coastal erosion geometry under regular and irregular waves

An experimental investigation of coastal erosion generated by the action of regular and irregular waves was carried out in laboratory channels. Natural beach sand, with medium diameter of 0.35 mm and specific gravity of 2.63, was used in this study. A 1:5 initial beach slope was selected for the model tests. Different wave groups were generated over the initially flat beach, and the characteristics of coastal erosion geometry such as erosion lengths, erosion depths, location of maximum erosion point, and total erosion areas were measured. The most important parameters governing coastal erosion were evaluated by using earlier investigations and experimental results. These parameters were expressed as a dimensionless group by using π theory. The empirical relationships between the geometric characteristics of coastal erosion and the dimensionless group are proposed through regression analysis for pure regular waves, pure irregular waves, and regular-irregular waves. The parameters, which were used to define geometric characteristics of coastal erosion, were evaluated and some ratios of these parameters gave a constant value.     

Soil erosion and conservation on land cultivated and drained for afforestation

Erosion of soil from pre-afforestation plough furrows has been measured on four soil types in Scotland for 12 to 18 month periods between 1987 and 1990. Rainfall-run-off was also measured at one site. Run-off is directly proportional to furrow length and rainfall intensity, and for a wide range of intensities (typically > 6 mm hr^?1) small amount of soil is flushed out of the furrows. However, for furrow spacings of 3.8 m, a critical downslope run-off increment associated with significant soil loss is of the order of 25 cm³ s^?1 m^?1, which is in accord with a storm of five years return period and a maximum intensity of 25 mm hr^?1. The total run-off volume for any hydrograph is commensurate with the total rainfall in the rainstorm — typically 40–80% by the hydrograph peak and approaching 100% by the end of the hydrograph; i.e. long term storage is negligible. A positive relationship was recorded between furrow length, slope angle and sediment yield, with deposition predominating in furrows less than 30 m in length on slopes less than a few degrees. Soil loss is proportional to the excess streampower expended by the run-off with an exponent in the range 1–1.5. For the soils examined, significant differences in soil loss when comparing sites for low power expenditure become undifferentiated at high power expenditures. For the rainfall regimes monitored, maximum soil losses were in the region of 40 kg per meter run-length of furrow, when soil peds were ripped from the bed. Laboratory data concerning the critical erosion threshold power and shear stress to erode soil peds are in general accord with the threshold furrow run-lengths defined using the field data for a five year storm and the soil losses observed.     

The use of landscape evolution models in mining rehabilitation design

Landscape evolution models can be useful tools for the evaluation of rehabilitation designs for post-mining landscapes. When calibrated for the erodible material, landscape evolution models can predict sediment loss over entire landscapes (i.e. tonnes/hectare/year), method of erosion (i.e. slope wash, gullying) and also where on a hillslope erosion is likely to occur. The models provide the ability to examine simple hillslopes through to complex whole landscapes. These models can also be used for a probabilistic risk assessment of rehabilitation design for high-risk situations such as tailings dams. Importantly, unlike other erosion models they allow the eroded landscape to be visualised. This paper outlines the capabilities of the SIBERIA landscape evolution model for the rehabilitation of mining landscapes and proposes a probabilistic approach for risk assessment and site stability.     

Analysis of coastal damage of a beach profile under the protection of emergent vegetation

The primary objective of the study was to experimentally explore the protection performance of the emergent vegetation on the morphological changes of a coastal zone. The experiments were conducted under both regular and irregular waves in two different wave flumes. A dimensionless number was derived to characterize the beach profile response under the protection of emergent vegetation. Accordingly, empirical relations were derived that explained the pattern exhibited by the experimental data. The list of wave parameters and beach erosion related functions were incorporated in relation to vegetation intensity in order to define coastal zone response. The relationships of these functions followed good trends with the derived dimensionless number. The findings showed that fall speed parameter is not necessarily involved whereas depth parameter is an important factor while defining the damage. The damage parameter is also considered to formulate the limits of dynamic and static stability of beach profiles under the protection of emergent vegetation.     

Dynamics of the turbidity maximum in King Sound, tropical Western Australia

King Sound is a 100-km-long embayment located in tropical northwestern Australia with a spring tidal range of 11 m. This is the second largest tide in the world after the Bay of Fundy in Canada. Intertidal areas cover about 800 km². The upper reaches of the sound are turbid with fine suspended sediment concentration reaching 3 kg m⁻³. Field studies of the dynamics of water and fine sediment were carried out in the dry seasons of 1997 and 1998. The tide was a propagating wave, shoaling and dissipating by friction as it entered the sound. This mode of propagation generated an asymmetric tidal current with a stronger current at flood than at ebb. An evaporation-driven salinity maximum zone was found in the upper reaches of the sound, and this was also where the turbidity maximum occurred. Tidal pumping by the tidal asymmetry and, possibly, the biological filter formed by muddy marine snow, trapped the fine sediment in the upper regions of King Sound. Wind-driven waves contributed significantly to entrainment of bottom fine sediment, possibly through wave pumping of the sediment and not wave-induced orbital velocities. Field data suggest that erosion of bottom fine sediment was proportional to the sixth power of the tidal current and the third power of the wave height.     

Field-based monitoring of sediment runoff from natural gas well sites in Denton County,Texas, USA

This study evaluates sediment runoff from gas well development sites in Denton County, Texas. The magnitude of sediment runoff was investigated by intercepting sediment in traps and weirs at the periphery of each gas well site and by measuring the growth of debris lobes that formed down slope from two sites. Four debris lobes formed at one gas well site and one formed at a second site. Debris lobes ranged in size from 30 to 306 square meters. Sediment from one site entered local creek channels, either as a component of storm water runoff or, in one case, as a debris lobe that flowed into a channel. The study findings suggest that sediment movement is significantly diminished once areas disturbed by gas well construction become naturally re-vegetated. Based on estimates of debris lobe volumes, sediment loading rates of about 54 metric tonnes per hectare per year were calculated for one site. It is concluded that gas well development sites in areas similar to those studied, especially where vegetation has been removed and terrain has relatively steep slopes (greater than 6%), generate sediment runoff comparable to small construction sites and should therefore be considered for regulations requiring erosion and sediment control measures.     

Erosion and morphology of a debris flow caused by a glacial lake outburst flood,Western Norway

This article documents a 240,000-m³ debris flow resulting from a glacial lake outburst flood in Fjærland, Western Norway, May 8, 2004. The event started when a glacial lake breached a moraine ridge. The ensuing debris flow was able to erode material along its path, increasing in volume from about 25,000 to 240,000 m³ before depositing about 3 km from its starting point. Field investigations, pre- and post-flow aerial photographs as well as airborne laser scanning (LIDAR) were used to describe and investigate the flow. The most striking and unusual feature of this case study is the very pronounced erosion and bulking. We have made a detailed study of this aspect. Erosion and entrainment is quantified and the final volume of the debris flow is determined. We also present geometrical and sedimentological features of the final deposit. Based on the Fjærland data, we suggest that a self-sustaining mechanism might partly explain the extreme growth of debris flows traversing soft terrain.     

Mesozoic to Quaternary continental margin dynamics in South-Central Chile (36–42°S): the apatite and zircon fission track perspective

Zircon and apatite fission track data provide constraints on the exhumation history, fault activity, and thermal evolution of the South-Central Chilean active continental margin (36°S–42°S), which we use to assess the tectonic and geomorphic response of the margin to the Andean subduction regime. Several domains with different exhumation histories are identified. The Coastal Cordillera is characterized by uniform and coherent exhumation between Late Triassic (～200 Ma) and late Miocene times, with surprisingly slow average rates of 0.03–0.04 mm/a. Thermal anomalies, related to Late Cretaceous and early Miocene magmatism, have regionally modified fission track age patterns. The Upper Cretaceous thermal overprint is of previously unrecognized significance and extent in the Coastal Cordillera south of 39°S. With the exception of a local but distinct Pliocene to Recent exhumation period in the high-relief Cordillera Nahuelbuta segment between 37°S and 38°S, Cenozoic overall exhumation in the Coastal Cordillera was very slow. The sedimentary record shows that uplift and subsidence here was episodic, with low amplitudes and durations. This rules out large-scale, long-term, Cenozoic accretion, trench-parallel tilting, and tectonic erosion processes in the forearc. The Main Andean Cordillera shows markedly greater long-term exhumation rates than the Coastal Cordillera and, at ～39°S, a steep exhumation gradient. To the south, long-term average Pliocene to Recent exhumation rates of ～1 to ～2 mm/a in the Liquiñe area (39°45′S) are almost an order of magnitude more rapid than average Paleogene to Recent exhumation near Lonquimay (38°30′S) and farther north. While no imprint of the intra-arc Liquiñe-Ofqui Fault Zone on the exhumation pattern is evident, long-term exhumation rates decrease from the crest of the Andes toward the western foothills. Exhumation gradients correlate with climatic gradients, suggesting a causal link to the variable intensity of late Miocene to Pleistocene glacial erosion.