Terraces Development and Their Implications for Valley Evolution of the Jinsha River Since Late Pleistocene near Longjie,Yunnan

The drainage evolution and valley development of the Jinsha River is an important issue constantly concerned by researchers in geology and geomorphology. Despite hundreds of years of research, there is a big dispute on the formation time and the evolution process of the fluvial valley. Fluvial terraces are very important geomorphic markers for studying the formation and evolution of the fluvial valley. Through field investigation combined with Electron Spin Resonance (ESR) dating, we confirmed that 5 fluvial terraces were formed, and then preserved, along the course of the Jinsha River near the Longjie, which are all strath terraces. Among them, T5 developed on the base rock, with an age of (78±12) ka; all T4~T1 developed on the lacustrine sediments, named Longjie Group by Chinese, with an age of (29±1.4) ka, (26±2.4) ka, (23±1.4) ka, (18±1.7) ka, respectively. Compared with the global and regional climate change history, the terraces are all the result of the river responding to the climate change. T5 formed at MIS 5/4, and T4~T1 formed at the period of regional climate fluctuation. The relationship of terraces and the Longjie Formation, combined with sedimentary characteristics analysis demonstrate that the Longjie Formation is landslide dammed lake sediment. The landslide and blocking events.seriously influenced the valley evolution, inhibiting the river incising, and making the valley evolution defer to the mode of “cut-landside-damming-fill-cut” in the period of Late Pleistocene. Synthesized studies of the terraces and the correlative sediments indicate that the formation of the Jinsha River valley may have begun in the late Early Pleistocene.     

The rate of denudation of some British lowland landscapes

Developments in dating techniques applicable to the late Tertiary and Quaternary are giving us the ability to date past land surfaces. Where reasonable assumptions about the nature of such past surfaces and their partial preservation may be made, they can be reconstructed. This permits the contouring and measurement of the subsequent dissection, allowing not only calculation of the average rate of erosion over the elapsed time, but also information on the pattern of incision. Two examples where this has been attempted are present; both are dissected till surfaces in eastern England, one of Anglian and the other of Devensian age. The approach quantifies the disparity between the incision of valleys and the general denudational lowering of the surface which characterizes many landscapes. The technique is not only of academic interest, but potentially forms a useful line of approach to the assessment of the safety of the burying toxic wastes. © 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Ecohydrologic feedbacks controlling sizes of cypress wetlands in a patterned karst landscape

Many landforms on Earth are profoundly influenced by biota. In particular, biota play a significant role in creating karst biogeomorphology, through biogenic CO₂ accelerating calcite weathering. In this study, we explore the ecohydrologic feedback mechanisms that have created isolated depressional wetlands on exposed limestone bedrock in South Florida – Big Cypress National Preserve –as a case study for karst biogeomorphic processes giving rise to regularly patterned landscapes. Specifically, we are interested in: (1) whether cypress depressions on the landscape have reached (or will reach) equilibrium size; (2) if so, what feedback mechanisms stabilize the size of depressions; and (3) what distal interactions among depressions give rise to the even distribution of depressions in the landscape. We hypothesize three feedback mechanisms controlling the evolution of depressions and build a numerical model to evaluate the relative importance of each mechanism. We show that a soil cover feedback (i.e. a smaller fraction of CO₂ reaches the bedrock surface for weathering as soil cover thickens) is the major feedback stabilizing depressions, followed by a biomass feedback (i.e. inhibited biomass growth with deepening standing water and extended inundation period as depressions expand in volume). Strong local positive feedback between the volume of depressions and rate of volume expansion and distal negative feedback between depressions competing for water likely lead to the regular patterning at the landscape scale. The individual depressions, however, are not yet in steady state but would be in ~0.2–0.4 million years. This represents the first study to demonstrate the decoupling of landscape-scale self-organization and the self-organization of its constituent agents. © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

典型地貌景观指数的多尺度效应分析 ——以山西省运城市为例

 景观指数作为定量描述景观特征的指数,具有明显的尺度效应。进行景观指数的尺度效应研究,对进一步理解格局与尺度之间的关系具有重要意义。本文以TM影像为基础,选择山西省运城市平原、丘陵、山地及综合地貌4种不同地貌类型,对7个常用景观指数进行了多尺度效应分析。结果表明:不同地形上斑块密度(PD)、景观形状指数(LSI)、结合度(COHESION)3个指数有明显的粒度效应,随粒度的增加呈现逐渐减少的变化趋势;最大斑块指数(LPI)、周长面积比分维数(PAFRAC)、景观聚集度(CONTAG)和Shannon多样性指数(SHDI)4个指数随粒度的增加几乎不发生变化。不同地貌的景观指数随幅度的变化规律比较复杂,景观形状指数(LSI)随幅度的增加呈现逐渐增加的趋势,其余6个指数在较小幅度范围内变化比较复杂,但随着幅度的增大有逐渐趋于平稳的趋势。针对研究区不同地貌类型,其景观指数在不同粒度和幅度下有较大区别,可以根据景观指数值的大小来区分地貌的复杂程度。     

The Fractal Characteristics of Drainage Networks and Erosion Evolution Stages of Ten Kongduis in the Upper Reaches of the Yellow River,China

The fractal characteristics of drainage in the ten kongduis of the upper Yellow River were obtained using the box counting dimension, and the evolution stages of the watershed topography were defined by different ranges of the fractal dimensions of river networks (Dg). The results show that the fractal scaleless range of the Maobula River is 20–370 m based on a combination of artificial judgment, correlation coefficient test and fitting error. Other kongduis show good fractal characteristics in this fractal scaleless range as well. The box counting dimension can be used as a quantitative index of watershed topography fractal characteristics. The fractal dimension of stream networks is independent of the threshold contributing area used for extracting the drainage networks from the DEM. The values of Dg in the upper ten kongduis are in the range of 1.08?1.14. Both the runoff yield and the sediment yield are positively and linearly related with Dg. The positive relation between the sediment yield and Dg reflects the effect of landform features on sediment yield in the young and/or mature stages of landform evolution of the study area. By revising the critical value of Dg, the value of Dg of the basin in the young evolution stage is less than 1.06, while it is more than 1.06 for the basin in mature or old evolution stage. The upper ten kongduis are in the mature stage of landform evolution.     

Controls on the location,morphology and evolution of complex esker systems at decadal timescales,Breiðamerkurjökull,southeast Iceland

This paper uses detailed mapping of eskers to address three questions which are important for reconstructing meltwater behaviour beneath contemporary and ancient ice masses: ‘What controls the morphology of simple and complex esker systems?’, ‘How do esker systems evolve through time?’ and ‘Are esker patterns compatible with groundwater controlled hydraulic spacing of esker tunnels?’. Esker crestlines and widths are mapped on the Breiðamerkurjökull foreland for eight time slices between 1945 and 2007, from high resolution (~50 cm) aerial photography, permitting their long‐term morphological evolution to be analysed in a high level of detail. We find that complex eskers develop where meltwater and sediment is abundant, such that sediment clogs channels, forming distributary eskers. Isolated eskers are simpler and smaller and reflect less abundant meltwater and sediment, which is unable to clog channels. Eskers may take several decades to emerge from outwash deposits containing buried ice and can increase or decrease in size when ice surrounding and underlying them melts out. It has been suggested that groundwater–channel coupling dictates the spacing between eskers at Breiðamerkurjökull. Our results do not dispute this, but suggest that the routing of sediment and meltwater through medial moraines is an additional important control on esker location and spacing. These results may be used to better understand the processes surrounding esker formation in a variety of geographical settings, enabling a more detailed understanding of the operation of meltwater drainage systems in sub‐marginal zones beneath glaciers and ice sheets. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Schmidt‐hammer exposure‐age dating (SHD) of snow‐avalanche impact ramparts in southern Norway: approaches,results and implications for landform age,dynamics and development

Schmidt‐hammer exposure‐age dating (SHD) was applied to the problem of dating the diachronous surfaces of five distal river‐bank boulder ramparts deposited by snow avalanches plunging into the Jostedøla and Sprongdøla rivers in the Jostedalsbreen region of southern Norway. Approaches to local high‐precision linear age calibration, which controlled in different ways for boulder roundness, were developed. The mean age (SHD_mean) and the maximum age (SHD_max) of surface boulders were estimated for whole ramparts, crests and distal fringes. Interpretation was further assisted by reference to R‐value distributions. SHD_mean ages (with 95% confidence intervals) ranged from 520 ± 270 years to 5375 ± 965 years, whereas SHD_max ages (expected to be exceeded by <5% of surface boulders) ranged from 675 to 9065 years. SHD ages from the Jostedøla ramparts tended to be older than those associated with the Sprongdøla, rampart crests were younger than the respective distal fringes, and use of relatively rounded boulders yielded more consistent SHD ages than angular boulders. The SHD_mean ages indicate differences in recent levels of snow‐avalanche activity between ramparts and provide insights into rampart dynamics as boulders are deposited on rampart crests and, in smaller numbers, on the distal fringes. SHD_max ages provide minimum age estimates of rampart age (i.e. the time elapsed since the ramparts began to form) and suggest that at least some of the ramparts have been developing since the early Holocene. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

内蒙古石人沟南山晶洞正长花岗岩地貌特征

通过详尽的野外调查工作对其地貌形态进行描述和成因分析,表明石人沟南山晶洞正长花岗岩发育有石蛋、晶洞等较为奇特的地貌.其造景岩石为早白垩世A型晶洞正长花岗岩.岩体中发育的北北东-北东向、北西向断裂、裂隙及节理是控制山峰形态和规模的主要构造.风化剥蚀、流水侵蚀和重力崩塌是地貌形成的主要外动力作用,其成景岩石独特,所成多种地貌是不可多得的地质遗迹与旅游开发资源.     

构造地貌及其分析方法述评

构造地貌是指受构造内动力作用控制,通过内外地质动力的相互作用所奠定的能够反映一定构造特征的地貌形式.构造地貌学的研究内容为:地貌与构造的关系、构造地貌发生和发展过程以及构造地貌过程所揭示的地球内部构造动力过程;其分析方法可归纳为构造地貌格局分析法、构造地貌形态分析法、构造地貌相关沉积分析法和构造地貌年代分析法.构造地貌学从地形地貌的角度来分析构造过程,涉及不同圈层间的相互作用,响应了当前地球系统科学的研究思路,可以预见,构造地貌学将在圈层作用研究中发挥重要作用,同时朝着信息化、定量化的方向发展.     

山西断陷系交城断裂全新世古地震活动初步研究

断错地貌调查及探槽开挖表明,晋中盆地西界分布的黄土台地的前、后缘均存在断层,断层的最新活动位于地表陡坎的前缘,地表见到的断层最新活动断面的上升盘是早全新世地层。同时,新民探槽开挖表明,该断裂在早全新世以后曾发生三次古地震事件,最新一次活动接近距今2748a,另两期古地震事件的时间分别距今4037～5910a及8360～5910a。如果取后两次古地震事件时间跨度的中值,这三次古地震事件的间隔分别是2225a和2162a,平均2193a。