Effective timescales of coupling within fluvial systems

This paper presents a review of the coupling concept in fluvial geomorphology, based mainly on previously published work. Coupling mechanisms link the components of the fluvial system, controlling sediment transport down the system and the propagation of the effects of base-level change up the system. They can be viewed at several scales: at the local scale involving within-hillslope coupling, hillslope-to-channel coupling, and within-channels, tributary junction and reach-to-reach coupling. At larger scales, coupling can be considered as zonal coupling, between major zones of the system or as regional coupling, relating to complete drainage basins. These trends are illustrated particularly by the examples of hillslope-to-channel coupling in the Howgill Fells, northwest England, badland systems in southeast Spain, alluvial fans in Spain, USA and UAE, and base-level-induced dissection of Neogene sedimentary basins in southeast Spain. As the spatial scales increase, so do the timescales involved. Effective temporal scales relate to magnitude and frequency characteristics, recovery time and propagation time, the relative importance changing with the spatial scale. For downsystem coupling at the local scale, the first two are important, with propagation time increasing in importance in larger systems, especially in those involving upsystem coupling related to base-level change. The effective timescales range from the individual event, with a return period of decades, through decadal to century timescales for downsystem coupling, to tens to hundreds of thousands of years for the basinwide response to base-level change. The effective timescales influence the relative importance of factors controlling landform development.     

Human Modification of the Geomorphically Unstable Salt River in Metropolitan Phoenix

In‐stream gravel mining, massive bridge piers, and channelization have all contributed to the geomorphic instability of the Lower Salt River channel in Arizona. Dam closure, changing dam operating rules, and the frequent modification of the channel bed have decreased our ability to predict the Salt River hydrology. Engineering practice has adapted to this situation and to a public that is increasingly intolerant of service disruptions by constructing larger bridges and extending levees. Building these larger structures may be counterproductive; future construction should not constrict the channel and should re‐establish a braided river to decrease the energy available to the system.     

矿山工程裂隙破碎带的三维地震模式识别原理及应用效果

本文从时间域、频率域、三维空间域介绍了矿山工程裂隙破碎带主要的地震运动学、动力学属性参数,包括相对振幅、波峰相位时间、相似系数、主频带能量、三维空间时间梯度和相干系数等,提出了矿山工程裂隙破碎带三维地震属性的去噪平滑、归一化、相关分析、特征变换的处理方法以及裂隙破碎带的模式识别原理与方法,并用实例说明了该方法的应用效果。结果表明:模式识别法对于解释矿山工程的裂隙破碎带是有效的,并具有广阔的应用前景。     

黄河上游第四纪河流地貌演化--兼论青藏高原1∶25万新生代地质填图地貌演化调查

在青藏高原1∶25万地质填图中,新生代地貌演化调查方法是查明地貌组成的形态、分布、形成年代等特征,分析地貌成因类型,研究地貌与构造、气候、沉积的关系,通过夷平面、河流阶地等反映隆升过程的标志性地貌面调查,分析地貌发展阶段,建立区域地貌演化史.由黄河上游羊曲段阶地地貌调查结果,推断黄河在0.03 Ma才切开共和南山.对比黄河上游不同发育地段阶地,表明黄河上游地貌演化过程是伴随高原阶段隆升而向上游阶段性溯源侵蚀发展的.1.6 Ma黄河稳定出现在民和-兰州-临夏,1.1 Ma切开积石峡到达化隆-贵德,0.15 Ma切开龙羊峡出现于共和盆地,约0.03 Ma经历最新抬升事件,切开贵南南山及西秦岭,并沟通若尔盖盆地抵达黄河源区.     

The design of post‐mining landscapes using geomorphic principles

Nature can provide analogues for post‐mining landscapes in terms of landscape stability and also in terms of the rehabilitated structure ‘blending in’ with the surrounding undisturbed landscape. In soil‐mantled landscapes, hillslopes typically have a characteristic pro?le that has a convex upper hillslope pro?le with a concave pro?le lower down the slope. In this paper hillslope characteristic form is derived using the area–slope relationship from pre‐mining topography at two sites in Western Australia. Using this relationship, concave hillslope pro?les are constructed and compared to linear hillslopes in terms of sediment loss using the SIBERIA erosion model. It is found that concave hillslopes can reduce sediment loss by up to ?ve times that of linear slopes. Concave slopes can therefore provide an alternative method for the construction of post‐mining landscapes. An understanding of landscape geomorphological properties and the use of erosion models can greatly assist in the design of post‐mining landscapes. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Use of Geomorphological Information in Indirect Landslide Susceptibility Assessment

The objective of this paper is to evaluate the importance of geomorphological expert knowledge in the generation of landslide susceptibility maps, using GIS supported indirect bivariate statistical analysis. For a test area in the Alpago region in Italy a dataset was generated at scale 1:5,000. Detailed geomorphological maps were generated, with legends at different levels of complexity. Other factor maps, that were considered relevant for the assessment of landslide susceptibility, were also collected, such as lithology, structural geology, surficial materials, slope classes, land use, distance from streams, roads and houses. The weights of evidence method was used to generate statistically derived weights for all classes of the factor maps. On the basis of these weights, the most relevant maps were selected for the combination into landslide susceptibility maps. Six different combinations of factor maps were evaluated, with varying geomorphological input. Success rates were used to classify the weight maps into three qualitative landslide susceptibility classes. The resulting six maps were compared with a direct susceptibility map, which was made by direct assignment of susceptibility classes in the field. The analysis indicated that the use of detailed geomorphological information in the bivariate statistical analysis raised the overall accuracy of the final susceptibility map considerably. However, even with the use of a detailed geomorphological factor map, the difference with the separately prepared direct susceptibility map is still significant, due to the generalisations that are inherent to the bivariate statistical analysis technique.     

Yucatán karst features and the size of Chicxulub crater

The buried Chicxulub impact structure is marked by a dramatic ring of sinkholes (called cenotes if containing water), and adjacent less prominent partial rings, which have been shown to coincide with maxima in horizontal gravity gradients and a topographic depression. These observations, along with the discreteness and spacing of the features, suggest a formation mechanism involving faulting in the outer slump zone of the crater, which would thus have a diameter of approximately 180 km.
An opposing view, based primarily on the interpretation of gravity data, is that (he crater is much larger than the cenote ring implies. Given the association of the known cenote ring with faults, we here examine northern Yucatan for similar rings in gravity, surface features and elevation, which we might expect to be associated with outer concentric faults in the case of a larger, possibly multiring, structure.
No such outer rings have been found, although definite patterns are seen in the distribution of karst features outside the crater rim. We explain these patterns as resulting mainly from deformation related to the block fault zone that parallels tbe shelf edge of eastern Yucatan.     

Streambank fish-shelter structures help stabilize tributary streams in Wisconsin

 A significant proportion of stream sediment yield in North America comes from stream channel and bank erosion. One method used for stream stabilization is the bank installation of timber and stone fish-shelter structures, but there is little evidence for their potential effectiveness. Nine to nineteen years of precise survey data from Coon Creek, Wisconsin, however, show that fish structures enhance sediment deposition along the stream and may retard lateral migration of channels. Such structures have greater utility for sediment control when streams are eroding away a high bank and replacing it with a lower bank. Received: 18 October 1996 · Accepted: 4 February 1997     

Doubtful Events Reported in Current Italian Earthquake Catalogues: The Medieval Earthquakes of Subiaco (Central Italy)

Within the framework of a study of the seismicity of the Aniene Valley (Central Italy), we analysed the medieval earthquakes of Subiaco (1216, 1227, 1299), the largest events reported for the area. Our main goal was to investigate some doubtful events reported in earthquake catalogues and, as such, currently utilised for seismic hazard estimates. A careful screening of the oldest available sources and their filiation pattern up to the present pointed out the uncertainty on the date and nature of these phenomena. A multidisciplinary approach based on the joint analysis of archaeological, geomorphologic and historical evidence allowed us to propose new interpretations concerning these events and their significance for the assessment of seismic hazard in the Aniene Valley. The main conclusion is that the dates of the 1216 and 1227 events are fairly unsupported. In particular, the 1216 earthquake could be dated back to between AD 1159 and 1181.     

The development of talus slopes around Lord Howe island and implications for the history of island planation

Lord Howe Island is a small eroded remnant of a Late Miocene shield volcano. A fringing coral reef dissipates wave energy along a portion of the shoreline, but the remainder of the coast is rugged with spectacular high basaltic sea cliffs. This paper investigates the evolution of talus slopes that occur beneath the loftiest cliffs, and places this analysis within the context of a longer history of island planation that has resulted in a wide truncated shelf around the island. During the Last Glacial, when the sea level was lower than at present, talus slopes accumulated around the extent of the island's cliffed coast because material eroded from cliffs by subaerial processes could not be removed by marine processes. The survival of these slopes during the Holocene has depended on a balance achieved between rates of subaerial and marine erosion. This balance is fundamentally influenced by cliff height, as cliffs higher than 200 m are plunging or veneered by talus slopes, whereas lower cliffs have erosional shore platforms. On comparison with published erosion rates from inland basalt scarps it appears that marine processes may account for over 90 per cent of the total cliff retreat that has occurred at Lord Howe Island, yet contemporary coastal morphology attests to the significance of subaerial processes in recent times. It is likely that marine cliffing was very rapid soon after volcanism ceased, but rates of erosion decreased through time as wave energy became increasingly attenuated across a widening planation surface, and as increasing cliff heights yielded greater quantities of talus that provided protection from rapid marine erosion.