Pediment response to drainage basin evolution in south-central Arizona

The Sonoran Desert portion of the Basin and Range physiographic province contains a number of streams that now flow across once-closed basins. We explore here the research questions of if and how granitic rock pediments respond to the transition from rimming endorheic basins to bordering through-flowing streams. Granitic rock pediments of the northern Usery and eastern McDowell Mountains once graded to the closed Miocene–Pliocene Pemberton basin that occupied the present-day location of the confluence of the Salt and Verde Rivers. The process of lake overflow, which integrated these rivers, first aggraded fill terraces that, in turn, caused aggradation of a mantle of transported grus on bedrock pediments. Subsequent episodic incision of the Salt and Verde rivers lowered the base level; this led to the development of erosional features such as rolling topography of a degrading pediment mantle; exposure of the former piedmont angle and its associated zones of enhanced bedrock decay and regolith carbonate; and exposure of spheroidally weathered bedrock and emerging tors, some of which experienced 20^th century erosion. The granitic pediments of the former Pemberton Basin, which now transport grus to the Salt and Verde rivers, have actively adjusted to aggradational and degradational events associated with drainage integration and do not appear to be inherited from an ancient wet climatic interval.     

天山北麓山地-绿洲-荒漠生态系统净初级生产力空间分布格局及其季节变化

以天山北麓总面积达93 936 km~2的山地-绿洲-荒漠生态样带为例,利用生态-遥感光能利用率模型NPP-PEM,使用1 km分辨率SPOT/VEGETATION遥感等数据资料,估算了生态样带净初级生产力(NPP)空间分布及其季节变化.结果表明山地-绿洲-荒漠生态样带平均NPP为161.06 g C·m~(-2)·a~(-1),样带陆地生态系统年总碳吸收量或年总NPP累积量为15.081 Tg C(1Tg=10~(12)g),其中绿洲农田、山地草甸草原、平原荒漠草原和山地森林对的碳吸收贡献率分别为32.67%、28.16%、12.41%和9.15%.夏季是各类生态系统NPP增加量最大的季节,而沙漠由于早春短命植被覆盖而具有生长双峰现象.样带NPP空间分布及其季相变化特征是自然环境、地貌、气候以及人类生产活动长期共同作用和影响的结果,其中水热条件和基质是控制干旱区陆地生态系统NPP空间格局的决定因子.结果检验表明模拟效果较为合理,证明NPP-PEM模型在干旱生态系统的应用是可行的.研究为干旱区陆地生态系统碳循环研究开辟了途径,可为干旱区生态系统评估、监测和管理提供研究方法和参考依据.     

Variability in erosion rates related to the state of landscape transience in the semi‐arid Chilean Andes

We quantify erosion rates in the higher sectors of the Huasco Valley, in the Main Cordillera of the semi‐arid Andes of Chile, using elevation differences between three successive geomorphic markers (pediments and paleo‐valleys) and the present day valley. Available Ar‐Ar ages of Neogene pediments are used to estimate mean erosion rates for the three periods (16 to 13 My, 13 to 8 My, and following 8 My). The landscape of the Huasco Valley is in a transient state, as indicated by well‐preserved pediment surfaces in interfluves, valleys deeply incised by fluvial and glacial erosion and scarped head‐valleys that represent the current knickzones. Higher erosion rates (45–75 m/My) are calculated for the more recent period (< 8 My) during which deep incision developed compared to previous periods (6–31 m/My). Quantitative data indicate that glaciers had a much higher erosional capability than fluvial activity in the higher sectors of the Main Cordillera. Comparison with erosion rates calculated in other drainage basins of the Chilean Andes suggests that the variability of erosion rates depends on the landscape's transient erosive state. The landscape's geomorphologic response to the uplift of the Main Cordillera results in the retreat of a knickzone, for which retreat velocity depends on precipitation rate pattern and glacial erosion intensity. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Hydrogeological evolution of the Luni river basin,Rajasthan, western India: A review

The Luni river basin has been evolved as a result of typical hydrogeomorphic processes of arid zone, operating under the influence of active tectonic lineaments. A detailed analysis of stream morphology in relation to geology and lineaments carried out on selected windows indicated the morphological control of the streams while flowing over the lineaments from the eastern to the western part of the basin. Typical valley fills indicated by dark green tone on digitally processed images and the pediments showing greenish white tone appear in sharp contrast and indicate respectively the graben and horst structures. A detailed identification of lineaments for the georesources and geological evaluation has been carried out. Earlier analysis carried out on Bouguer anomalies correlate with graben and horst structures in the subsurface. Quaternary sequences have been dated from 80 ka to 3 ka indicating a range of fluvial to aeolian deposits reflecting prevailing climatic conditions. However, the changes in sediment type from coarse and mixed of all size grades to fine in a vertical litho-column warrant further studies on fine resolution stratigraphy and high resolution stratigraphy for understanding climatic variations in the region     

ANOMALOUS WET AND DRY SPELLS IN THE CENTRAL UNITED STATES, 1931–75

The Palmer Index (PI) was employed to compare anomalous dry spells with anomalous wet spells for 76 climatic divisions in the central United States. Comparisons were made in terms of the frequency, severity and persistence of wet and dry climatic episodes for the period 1931–75. The results indicated more frequent dry anomalies in the southwest (New Mexico and west Texas) portion of the study area and more frequent wet anomalies in the northeast (Illinois and Iowa). Not surprisingly, these are the most arid and most humid portions respectively. The results of the analysis for persistence were less clear. Typically dry anomalies lasted longer than wet anomalies, especially as the minimum length was increased. This was especially apparent when comparing the very longest dry spell with the very longest wet spell during the 45-year study period. Thus there are more but shorter wet spells and less frequent, but typically longer lasting dry spells. This final relationship posits the question of feedback processes between surface soil moisture and the persistence of atmospheric precipitation anomalies. [Key Words: Palmer Index, drought, moisture anomalies, wet spells, dry spells.]     

Fabric analyses of some Saudi Arabian pediment gravels

Two- and three-dimensional gravel fabric analyses have been performed on a number of pediments located in central, western Saudi Arabia. Standard methods of vector analysis were used to measure orientation. It is concluded that long axes of pediment gravels tend to point downslope and that fabrics are remarkably uniform over pediment surfaces. The results indicate that agents such as sheetfloods, rather than channel flow, may be most effective in bringing about such fabrics.     

Process–form relationships in Southern Italian badlands: erosion rates and implications for landform evolution

Characteristic badlands are incised into Plio‐Pleistocene clays in Basilicata, southern Italy, creating steep, scarp slopes with knife‐edge ridges (calanchi) and small dome‐shaped forms (biancane). Erosion pin data for the period 1997–2003 give mean annual erosion rates for dome‐shaped biancane in the range 9–19 mm a^?1, while rates for the calanchi scarps are lower, at 7–10 mm a^?1. The erosion pin data also show a non‐linear relationship with slope angle. Maximum erosion rates coincide with a slope angle of 35°, within an envelope defined by combining the theoretical effects of both rainsplash and surface weathering. Monitoring of surface changes and erosion rates for two 0·5 m² cleared swathes on biancane forms reveals a complex relationship between weathering and erosion. Characteristic forms can develop from large blocks of intact clay bedrock over a time period of less than 30 a. The implications of the measured erosion rates for the landform association of mountain front/pediment/domed inselberg are explored. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

六盘山西侧山麓剥蚀面的发育与新构造隆升

晚新生代青藏高原的隆升对其周围地貌格局和沉积产生了重大影响。地处高原东北构造边界的六盘山受其影响产生明显的地貌分异，造成黄土高原东西两部分巨大的风成沉积差异。最近对位于六盘山西侧陇中盆地东北边缘黄河最高阶地之上的山麓剥蚀面上的黄土磁性地层学研究表明该剥蚀面形成于约1.8 MaBP，与陇中盆地西南隅的兰州、临夏两地山麓剥蚀面的年龄一致_〔1〕，表明在约1.8 MaBP 以前六盘山以西普遍遭受剥蚀，可能形成一级统一 的山麓剥蚀面，即所谓的甘肃期准平原，并指示在约1.8 MaBP 时，六盘山和青藏高原曾产生进一步强烈抬升，该剥蚀面发育结束，黄河出现，黄土开始堆积_〔1，2〕。     

念青唐古拉山南东麓断层的初步研究

念青唐古拉山南东麓断层位于尼木、当雄、谷露一带,长240km,总体走向NE,倾向SE,由力学性质、运动方式不同的三大段构成。晚第四纪以来,该断层强烈活动,目前能比较确定的活动次数至少有6—7次;断层切断一系列地质、地貌体,留下了丰富的位移现象;晚第四纪以来,平均水平滑动速率4.2mm/a、垂直滑动速率3.5mm/a。沿断层观察到多次古地震和历史地震的地表破裂;现今地震震中主要位于该断层附近,等震线的长轴方向也与该断层的走向一致。表明该断层是青藏高原内部一条强烈活动的发震断层。     

祁连山东南缘基于RGMAP的数字化地貌研究

在RGMAP平台下, 以数字高程模型DEM为基础, 结合野外路线调查、图切构造地貌剖面, 较系统地研究了青藏高原东北缘祁连山东南麓(达坂山—拉脊山) 地区典型层状地貌分布发育特征, 初步识别出了调查区的两级夷平面(一级夷平面海拔3000m、二级夷平面4000m左右)、多级山足剥蚀面(1~ 11级) 及主要入海水系如黄河及其支流, 如湟水河、大通河发育的河流阶地系列, 其中湟水河发育7级河流阶地, 黄河5级河流阶地, 黄河干流于盐锅峡段贯通之前, 湟水河一度为黄河上游源头.结合野外调查和室内分析, 本文详细描述了各级层状地貌分布特征、沉积学、形成时代及其与新构造运动的关联, 说明典型层状地貌的发育是青藏高原晚新生代以来间歇性构造抬升的结果.