Gradient irregularity in the herbert gorge of Northeastern Australia

The seventy-kilometre-long Herbert Gorge of northeastern Australia preserves a record of past floods in slackwater deposits and palaeostage indicators. Step-backwater modelling of water-surface profiles indicates that discharges ranging from 11000 to 17000 m³s^?1 have occurred six times in the gorge during the last 900 years. These flood reconstructions provide insight into the role of extreme flows in shaping bedrock channel morphology. In particular, the hydraulics of extreme flows can be related to boulder transport, and to the location of large boulder bars. Large boulder bars occur throughout the Herbert Gorge, being best developed at loci of stream power minima along the inside of bends, at tributary junctions, and at obstructions in the channel caused by bedrock highs. Only the flows exceeding approximately 8000 m³ s^?1 are competent to transport the boulders which constitute the bars. In the straight channel reaches, the boulder accumulations and bedrock highs have a fairly regular spacing which appears to be independent of lithologic or structural controls. The bars provide an efficient means of energy dissipation, and they are interpreted as a result of the inherent high turbulence of flow in a steep channel. The regular spacing of the bars, and their correspondence with the hydraulics of large flows, suggest that the bars and associated bedrock highs may represent a self-regulating mechanism akin to the pool-riffle sequence of alluvial channels. It may therefore be appropriate to view bedrock channels as deformable on the timescale of extreme discharges.     

26Al and 10Be dating of late pleistocene and holocene fill terraces: a record of fluvial deposition and incision,Colorado front range

Cosmogenic ²⁶Al, ¹⁰Be, and ¹⁴C dating of fluvial fill terraces in steep canyons of the Colorado Front Range provides a temporal framework for analysing episodic aggradation and incision. Results from Boulder Canyon show that terrace heights above the modern channel (grade) can be divided into: (1) Bull Lake (≳100 ka; 20–15 m above grade); (2) Pinedale (32–10 ka; 15–4 m above grade); and (3) Holocene age (<4 m above grade). No pre‐Bull Lake deposits are preserved along Boulder Canyon, and only three small remnants >15 m above grade record Bull Lake deposition. Well‐preserved terraces of Pinedale age suggest that the range of terrace height above grade reflects short‐term fluctuations in the river profile during periods of rapidly changing stream load and power. Net river incision apparently occurred during transitions to interglacial periods. Soil development and stratigraphic position, along with limited cosmogenic and ¹⁴C dating, suggest that ∼130 ka terraces in Boulder Canyon correlate with the Louviers Alluvium, and that 32 to 10 ka fills in the canyon correlate with the Broadway Alluvium on the adjacent High Plains. Late Pleistocene incision rates (∼0·15 m ka⁻¹) along Boulder Canyon exceed pre‐late Pleistocene incision rates, and are higher than middle to late Pleistocene incision rates (∼0·04 m ka⁻¹) on the High Plains. This study provides an example of how modern geochronologic techniques allow us to understand better rivers that drain glaciated catchments. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Mesh area vis-à-vis blast performance in a limestonequarry of the Philippines

The present research paper is a case study in a limestone quarry in the Philippines where major problems in terms of improper fragmentation (large boulder count and poor pay-loader performance), poor wall control, and poor heave characteristics of the muck pile were witnessed. The paper highlights the role of modifying the firing pattern and, also, the application of stemming plug without incorporating any change in the stemming column length due to which incremental expansion in the mesh area could be implemented to determine the optimum mesh area. The optimum mesh area, due to the said changes in the blast design, was considerably larger in comparison to the pre-existing mesh area. The study has also highlighted the importance of indirect methods for characterizing and precisely adjudging the blast performance.     

Accuracy of cosmogenic ages for moraines

Analyses of all published cosmogenic exposure ages for moraine boulders show an average age range of 38% between the oldest and youngest boulders from each moraine. This range conflicts with the common assumption that ages of surface boulders are the same as the age of the landform. The wide spread in boulder ages is caused by erosion of the moraine surface and consequent exhumation of fresh boulders. A diffusion model of surface degradation explains the age range and shows that a randomly sampled small set of boulders (n = 3-7) will always yield a lower age limit for the moraine. The model indicates that for identical dating accuracy, six to seven boulders are needed from old and tall moraines (40,000-100,000 yr, 50-100 m initial height) but only one to four boulders from small moraines (20,000-100,000 yr, 10-20 m). By following these guidelines the oldest obtained boulder age will be ≥90% of the moraine age (95% probability). This result is only weakly sensitive to a broad range of soil erosion rates. Our analysis of published boulder ages indicates that <3% of all moraine boulders have prior exposure, and 85% of these boulders predate the dated moraine.     

Wildfire-Migration Dynamics: Lessons from Colorado's Fourmile Canyon Fire

The number of people living in wildfire-prone wildland–urban interface (WUI) communities is on the rise. However, no prior study has investigated wildfire-induced residential relocation from WUI areas after a major fire event. To provide insight into the association between sociodemographic and sociopsychological characteristics and wildfire-related intention to move, we use data from a survey of WUI residents in Boulder and Larimer counties, Colorado. The data were collected 2 months after the devastating Fourmile Canyon fire destroyed 169 homes and burned more than 6,000 acres of public and private land. Although this study is working with a small migrant sample, logistic regression models demonstrate that survey respondents intending to move in relation to wildfire incidence do not differ sociodemographically from their nonmigrant counterparts. They do, however, show significantly higher levels of risk perception. Investigating destination choices shows a preference for short-distance moves.     

朝阳石炭系煤层中的漂砾

作者在辽宁省朝阳煤矿北腰矿井石炭系煤层内获石英岩漂砾。漂砾层厚约几 cm,漂砾多呈圆形或椭圆形,倾斜产出,长约2.5—4cm,宽约2.2—3.5cm,厚约1.2—1.5cm。砾石呈深灰色,表面光滑,有一层薄膜,无棱角,具裂缝。煤的变质程度低,灰分高。推测系华北地台型聚煤盆地北缘古陆震旦系石英岩被风化剥蚀,随水流长距离搬运,并泛入泥炭沼泽而形成的。     

Subsurface architecture of the Boulder Creek Critical Zone Observatory from electrical resistivity tomography

The architecture of the critical zone includes the distribution, thickness, and contacts of various types of slope deposits and weathering products such as saprolite and weathered bedrock resting on solid bedrock. A quantitative analysis of architecture is necessary for many model‐driven approaches used by pedologic, geomorphic, hydrologic or biologic studies. We have used electrical resistivity tomography, a well‐established geophysical technique causing minimum surficial disturbance, to portray the subsurface electrical resistivity differences at three study sites (Green Lakes Valley; Gordon Gulch; Betasso) at the Boulder Creek Critical Zone Observatory (BcCZO). Possible limitations of the technique are discussed. Interpretation of the specific resistivity values using natural outcrops, pits, roadcuts and drilling data as ground truth information allows us to image the critical zone architecture of each site. Green Lakes Valley (3700 MASL), a glacially eroded alpine basin, shows a rather simple, split configuration with coarse blockfields and sediments, partly containing permafrost above bedrock. The critical zone in Gordon Gulch (2650 MASL), a montane basin with rolling hills, and Betasso (1925 MASL), a lower montane basin with v‐shaped valleys, is more variable due to a complex Quaternary geomorphic history. Boundaries between overlying stratified slope deposits and saprolite were identified at mean depths of 3.0 ± 2.2 m and 4.1 ± 3.6 m in the respective sites. The boundary between saprolite and weathered bedrock is deeper in Betasso at 5.8 ± 3.7 m, compared with 4.3 ± 3.0 m in Gordon Gulch. In general, the data are consistent with results from seismic studies, but electrical resistivity tomography documents a 0.5–1.5 m shallower critical zone above the weathered bedrock on average. Additionally, we document high lateral variability, which results from the weathering and sedimentation history and seems to be a consistent aspect of critical zone architecture within the BcCZO. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

二维微动剖面探测"孤石":以深圳地铁7号线为例

"孤石"是花岗岩不均匀风化所残留的风化核,在我国南方沿海地区普遍发育."孤石"埋藏分布随机,形状大小各异,给地铁盾构施工带来重大安全隐患,探测"孤石"一直是地铁工程勘察面临的难题.我们首次尝试利用二维微动剖面技术探测"孤石",在深圳地铁7号线车公庙-上沙段区间实测二条剖面,结合少量钻孔资料进行岩性层划分和"孤石"解释.实测结果显示,在二维微动视S波速度剖面上,素填土、粉质粘土、砾质粘性土等岩土层、全风化、强-中风化、微风化和未风化的花岗岩层,视S波速度值各不相同,剖面特征也存在较大差异,利用少量钻孔结果标定,易于划分;在强-中风化花岗岩层中,视S波速度(岩性)横向变化剧烈,局部发育"团块状"高速体,本文将其解释为未风化的花岗岩"孤石".本文结果表明,二维微动剖面技术探测"孤石"是有效的微动视S波速度剖面除能直观显示岩性的纵、横向变化,提供工程基岩面的埋深及起伏形态信息外,还可给出岩土层风化程度的判断信息,为高层建筑的桩基设计提供地球物理依据.作为一种全新的"孤石"探测手段,二维微动剖面技术尤其适用于交通繁忙、建筑物密集的、各种场源干扰严重的闹市区.     

Aspect control of water movement on hillslopes near the rain–snow transition of the Colorado Front Range

In the Colorado Front Range, forested catchments near the rain–snow transition are likely to experience changes in snowmelt delivery and subsurface water transport with climate warming and associated shifts in precipitation patterns. Snowpack dynamics are strongly affected by aspect: Lodgepole pine forested north‐facing slopes develop a seasonal snowpack, whereas Ponderosa pine‐dotted south‐facing slopes experience intermittent snow accumulation throughout winter and spring. We tested the degree to which these contrasting water input patterns cause different near‐surface hydrologic response on north‐facing and south‐facing hillslopes during the snowmelt period. During spring snowmelt, we applied lithium bromide (LiBr) tracer to instrumented plots along a north–south catchment transect. Bromide broke through immediately at 10‐ and 30‐cm depths on the north‐facing slope and was transported out of soil waters within 40 days. On the south‐facing slope, Br^? was transported to significant depths only during spring storms and remained above the detection limit throughout the study. Modelling of unsaturated zone hydrologic response using Hydrus‐1D corroborated these aspect‐driven differences in subsurface transport. Our multiple lines of evidence suggest that north‐facing slopes are dominated by connected flow through the soil matrix, whereas south‐facing slope soils experience brief periods of rapid vertical transport following snowmelt events and are drier overall than north‐facing slopes. These differences in hydrologic response were largely a function of energy‐driven differences in water supply, emphasizing the importance of aspect and climate forcing when considering contributions of water and solutes to streamflow in catchments near the snow line. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Influence of Collective Boulder Array on the Surrounding Time-averaged and Turbulent Flow Fields

Arrays of large immobile boulders,which are often encountered in steep mountain streams,affect the timing and magnitude of sediment transport events through their interactions with the approach flow.Despite their importance in the quantification of the bedload rate,the collective influence of a boulder array on the approach timeaveraged and turbulent flow field has to date been overlooked.The overarching objective is,thus,to assess the collective effects of a boulder array on the time-averaged and turbulent flow fields surrounding an individual boulder within the array,placing particular emphasis on highlighting the bed shear stress spatial variability.The objective of this study is pursued by resolving and comparing the timeaveraged and turbulent flow fields developing around a boulder,with and without an array of isolated boulders being present.The results show that the effects of an individual boulder on the time-averaged streamwise velocity and turbulence intensity were limited to the boulder’s immediate vicinity in the streamwise（x/d c 〈 2-3） and vertical（z/d c 〈 1） directions.Outside of the boulder’s immediate vicinity,the time-averaged streamwise velocity was found to be globally decelerated.This global deceleration was attributed to the form drag generated collectively by the boulder array.More importantly,the boulder array reduced the applied shear stress exerted on theindividual boulders found within the array,by absorbing a portion of the total applied shear.Furthermore,the array was found to have a ＂homogenizing＂ effect on the near-bed turbulence thus significantly reducing the turbulence intensity in the near-bed region.The findings of this study suggest that the collective boulder array bears a portion of the total applied bed shear stress as form drag,hence reducing the available bed shear stress for transporting incoming mobile sediment.Thus,the effects of the boulder array should not be ignored in sediment transport predictions.These effects are encapsulated in this study by E