porous fluid flow enables oceanic subduction initiation on earth 1 although most of the presently active intra oceanic subduction zones are relatively young and initiated during the cenozoic subduction initiation process remains poorly understood previous models of subduction initiation assumed excessive weakening of tectonic plate boundaries that does not reconcile with laboratory rock strength measurements the weakening was assumed to be caused by fluids present along tectonic fractures however no self consistent solid fluid model of subduction initiation has been developed so far here we present new numerical hydro thermo mechanical model of spontaneous intra oceanic subduction initiation where solid rock deformation and fluid percolation are fully coupled based on 2 d numerical experiments we demonstrate that although subduction fails to initiate under fluid absent conditions it can naturally start when porous fluid is present inside oceanic crust and along the plate boundaries fluid percolation is localized along spontaneously forming faults where high fluid pressure compensates lithostatic pressure thus dramatically decreasing friction along the incipient subduction zone through the parametric study we conclude that the most important parameter for subduction initiation is the solid matrix permeability paradoxical at first lowering the permeability indeed favors subduction initiation by maintaining high fluid pressure and thus decreasing friction along active faults

hydraulic geometry river sediment and the definition of bedrock channels a growing literature deals with bedrock channels erosion processes within them and their role in landscape evolution formal definitions currently in use classify channels as bedrock when alluvial cover is discontinuous or thin this is equated with a physical property of the flow using up to date erosion laws and descriptions of channel dynamics we show that existing definitions are difficult to apply and may lead to conflicting classifications we propose the definition a bedrock channel cannot substantially widen lower or shift its bed without eroding bedrock applied to channels in taiwan this leads to a different classification than previous definitions by analysing at a station hydraulic geometry of these channels we show that the classification exposes different controls of sediment effects on dynamics of channels classified as alluvial and bedrock

physically based modeling of bedrock incision by abrasion plucking and macroabrasion 1 many important insights into the dynamic coupling among climate erosion and tectonics in mountain areas have derived from several numerical models of the past few decades which include descriptions of bedrock incision however many questions regarding incision processes and morphology of bedrock streams still remain unanswered a more mechanistically based incision model is needed as a component to study landscape evolution major bedrock incision processes include among other mechanisms abrasion by bed load plucking and macroabrasion a process of fracturing of the bedrock into pluckable sizes mediated by particle impacts the purpose of this paper is to develop a physically based model of bedrock incision that includes all three processes mentioned above to build the model we start by developing a theory of abrasion plucking and macroabrasion mechanisms we then incorporate hydrology the evaluation of boundary shear stress capacity transport an entrainment relation for pluckable particles a routing model linking in stream sediment and hillslopes a formulation for alluvial channel coverage a channel width relation hack s law and exner equation into the model so that we can simulate the evolution of bedrock channels the model successfully simulates various features of bed elevation profiles of natural bedrock rivers under a variety of input or boundary conditions the results also illustrate that knickpoints found in bedrock rivers may be autogenic in addition to being driven by base level fall and lithologic changes this supports the concept that bedrock incision by knickpoint migration may be an integral part of normal incision processes the model is expected to improve the current understanding of the linkage among physically meaningful input parameters the physics of incision process and morphological changes in bedrock streams

where does subduction initiate and cease a global scale perspective abstract the thermo mechanical evolution of the earth s mantle is largely controlled by the dynamics of subduction zones which connect the surface tectonic plates with the interior however little is known about the systematics of where subduction initiates and ceases within the framework of global plate motions and evolving continental configurations here we investigate where new subduction zones preferentially form and where they endure and cease using statistical analysis of large scale simulations of mantle convection that feature self consistent plate like lithospheric behaviour and continental drift in the spherical annulus geometry we juxtapose the results of numerical modelling with subduction histories retrieved from plate tectonic reconstruction models and from seismic tomography numerical models show that subduction initiation is largely controlled by the strength of the lithosphere and by the length of continental margins for 2d models the number of continental margins strong lithosphere favours subduction inception in the vicinity of the continents while for weak lithosphere the distribution of subduction initiation follows a random process distribution reconstructions suggest that subduction initiation and cessation on earth is also not randomly distributed within the oceans and more subduction zones cease in the vicinity of continental margins compared to subduction initiation our model results also suggest that intra oceanic subduction initiation is more prevalent during times of supercontinent assembly e g pangea compared to more recent continental dispersal consistent with recent interpretations of relict slabs in seismic tomography

numerical comparison of different convergent plate contacts subduction channel and subduction fault summary at convergent plate boundaries the properties of the actual plate contact are important for the overall dynamics convergent plate boundaries both mechanically decouple and link tectonic plates and accommodate large amounts of strain we investigate two fundamental physical states of the subduction contact one based on a fault and the other based on a subduction channel using a finite element method we determine the specific signatures of both states of the subduction contact we pay particular attention to the overriding plate in a tectonic setting of converging plates where the subducting plate is freely moving the subduction channel reduces compression relative to the fault model in a land locked basin setting where the relative motion between the far field of the plates is zero the subduction channel model produces tensile stress regime in the overriding plate even though the amount of slab roll back is small the fault model shows a stronger development of slab roll back and a compressive stress regime in the upper plate based on a consistent comparison of fault and channel numerical models we find that the nature of the plate contact is one of the controlling factors in developing or not of backarc extension we conclude that the type of plate contact plays a decisive role in controlling the backarc state of stress to obtain backarc extension roll back is required as an underling geodynamic process but it is not always a sufficient condition

controls and limits on bedrock channel geometry 1 data on channel geometry in naturally incising bedrock rivers reveal variable relationships between channel width slope and erosion rate to explain the range of relationships between these parameters we propose an optimized channel geometry model the model reproduces previous theoretical and numerical modeling scaling relationships however to explain the field data the model must incorporate the effects of immobile sediment cover that reduces vertical incision efficiency adding sediment to a system for a given rate of base level fall both widens and steepens the channel we also find that a constant width to depth ratio is only valid for streams where the shear stress required for sediment transport is insignificant compared to the shear required to erode at the imposed base level fall our model offers an explanation of seemingly contradictory field observations of controls on channel width and shows that channel width fundamentally controls the erosive potential of a river especially when it carries a significant bed load

erosion rates for taiwan mountain basins new determinations from suspended sediment records and a stochastic model of their temporal variation abstract we estimate erosion rates from suspended sediment records for 11 basins in the eastern central range ecr of taiwan using methods based on mean measured sediment discharge a rating curve of sediment and water discharge and a rating curve corrected for periods of limited sediment due to the lack of landslide supplied sediment the preferred method for any basin depends on record length and sampling frequency with higher quality records being analyzed by the latter method erosion rate estimates range from 2 2 to 8 3 mm yr for records with varying sampling frequencies and durations between 8 and 27 yr this variation in erosion rates does not seem to reflect lithology tectonic environment or climate we interpret the variation in terms of natural stochastic variation in water discharge and sediment supply to assess the quality of the erosion rate estimates and to better understand the dependence of uncertainty on the duration and frequency of sampling we construct a stochastic model of sedi

structures associated with the northern end of the 1999 chi chi earthquake rupture central taiwan implications for seismic hazard assessment abstract the surface rupture of the 1999 chi chi earthquake m w 7 6 trendsmore than 100 km in a north south direction surface deformation at the northernend stops abruptly at an area between the tachia river and the taan river where abroad pop up structure with east to northeast strike can be found that has a trenddifferent from the north south striking main thrust we combine the absolute ele vation data before and after the chi chi earthquake to obtain the regional verticaldisplacement and the magnitude of the pop up structure the greatest uplift couldreach as high as 15 16 m using deformation magnitude and the area balancingmethod we measure the depth of the detachment to show the subsurface geometryof the chelungpu fault at its northern end this shows that the geometry of thechelungpu fault controls termination of the surface rupture and the depth of thedetachment controls the amount of deformation introduction perhaps the most unexpected geological feature asso ciated with the chi chi earthquake

initiation of subduction zones along transform and accreting plate boundaries triple junction evolution and forearc spreading centres implications for ophiolitic geology and obduction

distribution of erosion across bedrock channels lateral erosion in bedrock rivers is an important control on the shape of channel crosssections and the coupling of channels and hillslopes recent observations link lateral erosionto the variability of flow we propose two mechanisms to explain this one is based on changing shear stress distributions within the channel with varying flood level the other on the competition between cover and tool effects in fluvial bedrock erosion we assess these processes for the liwu river taiwan and conclude that cover and tool effects dominate the partitioning of lateral and vertical erosion in this case

mountain building in taiwan a thermokinematic model the taiwan mountain belt is classically viewed as a case example of a critical wedge growing essentially by frontal accretion and therefore submitted to distributed shortening however a number of observations call for a significant contribution of underplating to the growth of the orogenic wedge we propose here a new thermokinematic model of the taiwan mountain belt reconciling existing kinematic thermometric and thermochronological constraints in this model shortening across the orogen is absorbed by slip on the most frontal faults of the foothills crustal thickening and exhumation are sustained by underplating beneath the easternmost portion of the wedge tananao complex tc where the uplift rate is estimated to 6 3 mm a 1 and beneath the westernmost internal region of the orogen hsueshan range units hr where the uplift rate is estimated to 4 2 mm a 1 our model suggests that the tc units experienced a synchronous evolution along strike despite the southward propagation of the collision it also indicates that they have reached a steady state in terms of cooling ages but not in terms of peak metamorphic temperatures exhumation of the hr units increases northward but has not yet reached an exhumational steady state presently frontal accretion accounts for less than 10 of the incoming flux of material into the orogen although there is indication that it was contributing substantially more 80 before 4 ma the incoming flux of material accreted beneath the tc significantly increased 1 5 ma ago our results also suggest that the flux of material accreted to the orogen corresponds to the top 7 km of the upper crust of the underthrust chinese margin this indicates that a significant amount 76 of the underthrust material has been subducted into the mantle probably because of the increase in density associated with metamorphism we also show that the density distribution resulting from metamorphism within the orogenic wedge explains well the topography and the gravity field by combining available geological data on the thermal and kinematic evolution of the wedge our study sheds new light onto mountain building processes in taiwan and allows for reappraising the initial structural architecture of the passive margin

upscaling from grain scale processes to alluviation in bedrock channels using a cellular automaton model 1 the presence of sediment cover in bedrock rivers inhibits saltation driven incision and so accurate predictions of the relationship between bedrock exposure fe and relative sediment flux sediment supply rate over capacity sediment transport rate qs qt are necessary to model incision and hence landscape evolution theoretical predictions of a linear or negative exponential form for this relationship are not consistent with laboratory data that instead demonstrate a range of different relationships here we use a cellular automaton ca model to establish how the relationship between fe and qs qt evolves from the dynamics of and interactions between individual sediment grains moving through a bedrock channel the key model parameter is the probability of grain entrainment which is altered as a function of the number of neighboring grains in order to reproduce the enhanced mobility of isolated grains on bedrock surfaces for each model run an equilibrium sediment cover is attained for a specified sediment input enabling the relationship between fe and qs qt to be established as well as both linear and exponential relationships model runs reproduce other relationships observed in laboratory experiments these other relationships require isolated grains to be more easily entrained than grains in sediment clusters which is consistent with field observations of grain mobility there is therefore a continuum of relationships between fe and qs qt the relationship that is most applicable to a particular reach will depend on the role of channel slope roughness and shear stress in controlling the entrainment of grains from bedrock and alluvial surfaces

on the initiation of subduction estimates of shear resistance associated with lithospheric thrusting and convergence represent lower bounds on the force necessary to promote trench formation three environments proposed as preferential sites of incipient subduction are investigated passive continental margins transform faults fracture zones and extinct ridges none of these are predicted to convert into subduction zones simply by the accumulation of local gravitational stresses subduction cannot initiate through the foundering of dense oceanic lithosphere immediately adjacent to passive continental margins the attempted subduction of buoyant material at a mature trench can result in large compressional forces in both subducting and overriding plates this is the only tectonic force sufficient to trigger the nucleation of a new subduction zone the ubiquitous distribution of transform faults and fracture zones combined with the common proximity of these features to mature subduction complexes suggests that they may represent the most likely sites of trench formation if they are even marginally weaker than normal oceanic lithosphere

mantle flow as a trigger for subduction initiation a missing element of the wilson cycle concept the classical wilson cycle concept describing repeated opening and closing of ocean basins hypothesizes spontaneous conversion of passive continental margins into subduction zones this process however is impeded by the high strength of passive margins and it has never occurred in cenozoic times here using thermomechanical models we show that additional forcing provided by mantle flow which is induced by neighboring subduction zones and midmantle slab remnants can convert a passive margin into a subduction zone models suggest that this is a long term process thus explaining the lack of cenozoic examples we speculate that new subduction zones may form in the next few tens of millions of years along the argentine passive margin and the u s east coast mantle suction force can similarly trigger subduction initiation along large oceanic fracture zones we propose that new subduction zones will preferentially originate where subduction zones were active in the past thus explaining the remarkable colocation of subduction zones during at least the last 400 myr

on the initiation of subduction zones analysis of the relation between intraplate stress fields and lithospheric rheology leads to greater insight into the role that initiation of subduction plays in the tectonic evolution of the lithosphere numerical model studies show that if after a short evolution of a passive margin time span a few tens of million years subduction has not yet started continued aging of the passive margin alone does not result in conditions more favorable for transformation into an active margin

influence of typhoons and earthquakes on rainfall induced landslides and suspended sediments discharge abstract the aim of this paper is to present data on the occurrence of landslides triggered by typhoon and earthquake events and to discuss the basic earthquake triggering mechanisms involved four events of typhoon and earthquake triggered landslides in the chenyoulan river catchment of central taiwan during 1996 to 2004 were studied in order to identify their controlling factors the landslides areas were measured by comparing aerial photos taken over the past 18 years and sediment discharge was counted at hydrometric stations investigation results demonstrate that hillslope geomaterials that had been disturbed by strong seismic shaking induced expansion of landslide areas during subsequent events analysis of normalized difference vegetation index ndvi also registered the changes of uncovered conditions on the hillslope caused by landsliding when flow discharge is lower than 100 m 3 s 1 post seismic sediment concentration is roughly four times higher than pre seismic concentration with the same flow discharge this fate indicates that the amount of sediment discharge at normal flow discharge is affected by supplied sediment volume which tends to increase with seismic activity

reduction of long term bedrock incision efficiency by short term alluvial cover intermittency fluctuations of the sediment volume stored in mountain channels are driven by stochastic variations of discharge and sediment supply and can inhibit bedrock incision if sediment thickness is too large here i study how this short term stochasticity propagates into the long term reduction of bedrock incision efficiency the cover effect at geological time scales i introduce a new numerical model that resolves sediment transport and bedrock incision at daily time scales and is run for thousands of years it incorporates 1 a transport threshold and daily stochastic variations in water discharge and sediment supply 2 a freely evolving channel width and slope and 3 an explicit treatment of alluvial thickness variations and corresponding bed incision reduction for typical mountain river conditions the model predicts that alluvial cover oscillates between complete and negligible incision reduction in this intermittent regime the long term cover effect is mainly set by the fraction of time spent in full cover and the present day extent of alluvial cover is not representative of long term dynamics the long term integrated cover effect law differs strongly from proposed theoretical and experimental models and it is controlled by sediment supply stochasticity rather than the details of cover development at the hydraulic time scale model results also suggest that steady state channel configuration always depends on sediment supply rate while being never limited by transport capacity or strictly detachment limited these results point out that discharge and sediment supply stochasticity should not be considered less important than the intricate details of incision laws to model long term bedrock channel dynamics

the partitioning of the total sediment load of a river into suspended load and bedload a review of empirical data the partitioning of the total sediment load of a river into suspended load and bedload is an important problem in fluvial geomorphology sedimentation engineering and sedimentology bedload transport rates are notoriously hard to measure and at many sites only suspended load data are available often the bedload fraction is estimated with rule of thumb methods such as maddock s table which are inadequately field tested here the partitioning of sediment load for the pitzbach is discussed an austrian mountain stream for which high temporal resolution data on both bedload and suspended load are available the available data show large scatter on all scales the fraction of the total load transported in suspension may vary between zero and one at the pitzbach while its average decreases with rising discharge i e bedload transport is more important during floods existing data on short and long term partitioning is reviewed and an empirical equation to estimate bedload transport rates from measured suspended load transport rates is suggested the partitioning averaged over a flood can vary strongly from event to event similar variations may occur in the year to year averages using published simultaneous short term field measurements of bedload and suspended load transport rates maddock s table is reviewed and updated long term average partitioning could be a function of the catchment geology the fraction of the catchment covered by glaciers and the extent of forest but the available data are insufficient to draw final conclusions at a given drainage area scatter is large but the data show a minimal fraction of sediment transported in suspended load which increases with increasing drainage area and with decreasing rock strength for gravel bed rivers whereby in large catchments the bedload fraction is insignificant at 1 for sand bed rivers the bedload fraction may be substantial 30 50 even for large catchments however available data are scarce and of varying quality long term partitioning varies widely among catchments and the available data are currently not sufficient to effectively discriminate control parameters

steepened channels upstream of knickpoints controls on relict landscape response 1 the morphology of a relict landscape provides important insight into erosion rates and processes prior to base level fall fluvial knickpoints are commonly thought to form a leak proof moving boundary between a rejuvenated landscape below and a relict landscape above we argue that fluvial rejuvenation may leak farther upstream depending on the rate and style of knickpoint migration the outer margin of a relict landscape should therefore be used with caution in tectonic geomorphology studies as channel steepening upstream of knickpoints could reduce the relict area we explore the response of the roan plateau to knickpoint retreat triggered by late cenozoic upper colorado river incision multiple knickpoints 100 m waterfalls separate a low relief upper landscape from incised canyons below two digital elevation model data sets 10 m u s geological survey and 1 m airborne laser swath mapping indicate steeper channels above waterfalls relative to concave channels farther upstream the steepened reaches are several kilometers long correspond to doubling of slope and exhibit channel narrowing and an increase in hillslope angle we compare two mechanisms for generating steepened reaches the first uses a recent model for erosion amplification due to flow acceleration at the waterfall lip the second acknowledges that waterfall lips may be limited to the outcrop of a resistant formation subtle structural warping of the stratigraphy can lead to lowering of the waterfall lip as it retreats thus lowering base level for upstream channels results of numerical modeling experiments suggest the latter mechanism is more consistent with our observations of long mildly steepened reaches

a demonstration of the importance of bedload transport for fluvial bedrock erosion and knickpoint propagation we provide field evidence for the role of bedload in driving fluvial incision and knickpoint propagation using aerial photographs field surveys and hydrological data we constrain the incision history of a bedrock gorge 1200 m long and up to 20 m deep cut by da an river in western taiwan this reach of the river experienced 10 m of uplift during the 1999 chi chi earthquake for five years following the earthquake bedload was prevented from entering the uplift zone the knickpoint was static and little incision took place bedload transport across the uplift zone resumed in 2004 initiating extremely rapid incision with 620 m of knickpoint propagation and up to 20 m of downcutting by 2008 this change highlights the relative inefficiency of suspended sediment and the dominant role of bedload as a tool for fluvial erosion and knickpoint propagation once bedload tools became available knickpoint propagation was influenced by geological structure lithology and drainage organization in particular a change in dip of the sandstone beds at the site caused a decrease of knickpoint propagation velocity copyright 2012 john wiley sons ltd

coseismic fold scarps and their kinematic behavior in the 1999 chi chi earthquake taiwan 1 discrete scarps that are created or reactivated during large earthquakes are a locus of concentrated hazard a number of the coseismic scarps activated in the 1999 chi chi earthquake are actually fold scarps which display several types of ground deformation characterized by localized folding and are distinct from classic fault scarps which form by a fault cutting the surface this paper documents and analyzes fold scarps that formed or reactivated in the 1999 chi chi taiwan earthquake our results show the chi chi fold scarps can be generally divided into two types 1 those associated with folding ahead of the tip of a blind thrust fault at shallow depths and 2 those associated with folding by kink band migration above fault bends at substantial depths ranging from 0 8 to 5 km the previously published trishear model can be applied to model the former type while a new curved hinge kink band migration model is provided to describe the behavior of the latter type a key feature of fold scarps of the second type is that hinge zones are typically wide 25 100 m relative to the displacement in a single earthquake 1 10 m which exerts a significant control on fold scarp morphology and evolution because the coseismic strains of both types of fold scarps display relatively wide deformation zones 10 100 m relative to fault scarps wider set back zones might be appropriate from a public policy point of view to alleviate the risk to structural damage and collapse resulting from permanent ground deformation

slab pull mantle convection and pangaean assembly and dispersal two global scale mantle convection cells presently exist on earth centred on upwelling zones in the south pacific ocean and northeast africa one cell panthalassan contains only oceanic plates the other pangaean contains all the continental plates they have remained fixed relative to one another for 400 ma a transverse rheic tethyian subduction system splits the pangaean cell poloidal plate motion in the oceanic cell reflects circumferential pull of panthalassan slabs but toroidal flow in the pangaean cell reflected by vortex type motion of continents toward the altaids of central east asia throughout the phanerozoic has resulted from the competing slab pull forces of both cells the combined slab pull effects from both cells also controlled pangaean assembly and dispersal assembly occurred during palaeozoic clockwise toroidal motion in the pangaean cell when gondwana was pulled into pangaea by the ne trending rheic subduction zone forming the appalachian variscide altaid chain pangaean dispersal occurred when the rheic trench re aligned in the jurassic to form the nw trending tethyside subduction system which pulled east gondwanan fragments in the opposite direction to form the cimmerian himalayan alpine chain this re alignment also generated a new set of indian mid ocean ridge systems which dissected east gondwana and facilitated breakup 100 200 myr long phanerozoic wilson cycles reflect rifting and northerly migration of gondwanan fragments across the pangaean cell into the rheic tethyian trench pangaean dispersal was amplified by retreat of the panthalassan slab away from europe and africa which generated mantle counterflow currents capable of pulling the americas westward to create the atlantic ocean thermal blanketing beneath pangaea and related hotspot activity were part of a complex feedback mechanism that established the breakup pattern but slab retreat is considered to have been the main driving force the size and longevity of the two cells organised and maintained by long lived slab pull forces favours deep mantle convection as the dominant circulation process during the phanerozoic

knickpoint initiation and distribution within fluvial networks 236 waterfalls in the waipaoa river north island new zealand if knickpoints transmit signals of base level fall in river networks then improvements in our understanding of their retreat rate and basin wide distribution helps constrain the transient response following perturbation many studies of knickpoint retreat focus on the response of trunk streams to base level fall here we examine the response of an entire fluvial network as recorded by 236 active knickpoints distributed within the waipaoa river on the north island of new zealand base level fall within the waipaoa catchment initiated 18 000 years ago in response to a climatically triggered and tectonically exacerbated pulse of incision using observations from field work aerial photo analysis and a digital elevation model dem we study the knickpoint positions within the network we find that 70 of the knickpoints are located at drainage areas between 1 10 5 m 2 and 1 10 6 m 2 and more than half are b1 km upstream of a large change in drainage area for the knickpoints b1 km upstream of large tributary junctions we find that the retreat distances were well correlated with the tributaries drainage areas in order to determine how a pulse of incision distributes itself throughout a fluvial network we develop two simple end member models and compare their behavior to the observed knickpoint distribution in the waipaoa in the first model we propose that a knickpoint initiated at the basin outlet retreats upstream and distributes the signal throughout the network at a rate that is a power law function of drainage area in the second model we propose that knickpoints form near a threshold drainage area below which channels cannot incise with the same efficiency as possible in downstream reaches though neither model addresses the along stream variability in substrate or knickpoint form the misfit between the modeled and the observed knickpoints along stream positions are surprisingly low b1 km 1 25 of the total stream length for knickpoints with drainage areas b1 10 6 m 2 large misfits up to 3 5 km are observed for knickpoints with present day drainage areas greater than 1 10 6 m 2 the large single step in channel elevation that characterizes knickpoints presently observed in tributaries of the waipaoa river may not characterize the base level fall signal that propagated through the trunk streams evidence for progressive rather than instantaneous incision in the trunk streams the knickpoints vicinities to tributary junctions and the equivalent success of the two end member models lead us to conclude that the present positions of the 236 observed knickpoints are largely a consequence of thresholds in channel incision at low drainage areas

the influence of bedrock geology on knickpoint development and channel bed degradation along downcutting streams in south central indiana geologic controls on knickpoint development and the mechanics of channel bed degradation were eluci dated by comparison of downcutting streams in south central indiana developed in lithologically homoge neous carbonate units and layered siliciclastic strata knickpoints formed in a single lithologic unit are stepped each step consists of a knickpoint face and tread the height of each step is equal to and controlled by bed thickness spatially knickpoints in homogeneous terrain are limited to jointed strata that dip 1 upstream or 2 downstream at angles less than the channel gradient knickpoints observed in lithologically layered strata are characterized by a single step in which resistant jointed rocks overlie and protect weaker units total knickpoint relief is influenced by thickness of the weaker strata knickpoints in layered siliciclastic strata are spatially limited to bedrock reaches produced by differential rates of channel incision knickpoint distribution is also influenced by joint

does decreasing paraglacial sediment supply slow knickpoint retreat in four rivers in western scotland for which there is a well constrained record of relative base level fall the rate of postglacial bedrock erosion is quantifi ed by measuring the concentration of in situ cosmogenic 10be on strath terraces downstream of headward retreating knickpoints along channel gradients in 10be exposure age show two distinct trends upstream younging and constant age which we interpret as diagnostic of knickpoint retreat and diffusive transport limited incision respectively we show that bedrock channel incision and regional formation of strath terraces began shortly after deglaciation ca 11 5 ka and that knickpoint retreat rates peaked in the early to mid holocene erosion rates have since decreased by two orders of magnitude converging in the late holocene to low rates independent of stream power per unit channel area we infer this regional slowing in postglacial knickpoint retreat to be the result of the depletion of paraglacial sediment supply over the holocene leading to a defi ciency in tools for bedrock erosion our results imply that episodes of major fl uvial erosion may be in tune with glacial cycles and that sediment depletion following glacial interglacial transitions may be an important cause of bedrock erosion rate variations in rivers draining glaciated landscapes

evidence for a large scale remnant of subducted lithosphere beneath fiji we combine spatial variations of p and s wave speeds 1000 fault plane solutions and 6600 well determined hypocenters to investigate the nature of subducted lithosphere and deep earthquakes beneath the tonga back arc we show that perplexing patterns in seismicity and fault plane solutions can be accounted for by the juxtaposition of a steep dipping wadati benioff zone and a subhorizontal remnant of slab that is no longer attached to the actively subducting lithosphere the detached slab may be from a previous episode of subduction along the fossil vitiaz trench about 5 to 8 million years ago the juxtaposition of slabs retains a large amount of subducted material in the transition zone of the mantle such a configuration if common in the past would allow the preservation of a primordial component in the lower mantle

field calibration of sediment flux dependent river incision 1 bed erosion and sediment transport are ubiquitous and linked processes in rivers erosion can either be modeled as a detachment limited function of the shear stress exerted by the flow on the bed or as a transport limited function of the sediment flux capacity of the flow these two models predict similar channel profiles when erosion rates are constant in space in time but starkly contrasting behavior in transient settings traditionally detachment limited models have been used for bedrock rivers whereas transport limited models have been used in alluvial settings in this study we demonstrate that rivers incising into a substrate of loose but very poorly sorted relict glacial sediment behave in a detachment limited manner we then develop a methodology by which to both test the appropriate incision model and constrain its form specifically we are able to tightly constrain how incision rates vary as a function of the ratio between sediment flux and sediment transport capacity in three rivers responding to deglaciation in the ladakh himalaya northwest india this represents the first field test of the so called tools and cover effect along individual rivers

field measurements of incision rates following bedrock exposure implications for process controls on the long profiles of valleys cut by rivers and debris flows until recently published rates of incision of bedrock valleys came from indirect dating of incised surfaces a small but growing literature based on direct measurement reports short term bedrock lowering at geologically unsustainable rates we report observations of bedrock lowering from erosion pins monitored over 1 7 yr in 10 valleys that cut indurated volcanic and sedimentary rocks in washington oregon california and taiwan most of these channels have historically been stripped of sediment their bedrock is exposed to bed load abrasion plucking and seasonal wetting and drying that comminutes hard intact rock into plates or equant fragments that are removed by higher fl ows consequent incision rates are proportional to the square of rock tensile strength in agreement with experimental results of others measured rates up to centimeters per year far exceed regional long term erosionrate estimates even for apparently minor sediment transport rates cultural artifacts on adjoining strath terraces in washington and taiwan indicate at least several decades of lowering at these extreme rates lacking sediment cover lithologies at these sites lower at rates that far exceed long term rock uplift rates this rate disparity makes it unlikely that the long profi les of these rivers are directly adjusted to either bedrock hardness or rock uplift rate in the manner predicted by the stream power law despite the observation that their profi les are well fi t by power law plots of drainage area vs slope we hypothesize that the threshold of motion of a thin sediment mantle rather than bedrock hardness or rock uplift rate controls channel slope in weak bedrock lithologies with tensile strengths below 3 5 mpa to illustrate this hypothesis and to provide an alternative interpretation for power law plots of area vs slope we combine shields threshold transport concept with measured hydraulic relationships and downstream fi ning rates in contrast to fl uvial reaches none of the hundreds of erosion pins we installed in steep valleys recently scoured to bedrock by debris fl ows indicate any postevent fl uvial lowering these results are consistent with episodic debris fl ows as the primary agent of bedrock lowering in the steepest parts of the channel network above 0 03 0 10 slope

knickpoint recession rate and catchment area the case of uplifted rivers in eastern scotland knickpoint behaviour is a key to understanding both the landscape responses to a base level fall and the corresponding sediment fluxes from rejuvenated catchments and must be accommodated in numerical models of large scale landscape evolution knickpoint recession in streams draining to glacio isostatically uplifted shorelines in eastern scotland is used to assess whether knickpoint recession is a function of discharge here represented by its surrogate catchment area knickpoints are identified using ds plots log slope versus log downstream distance a statistically significant power relationship is found between distance of headward recession and catchment area such knickpoint recession data may be used to determine the values of m and n in the stream power law e kamsn the data have too many uncertainties however to judge definitively whether they are consistent with m n 1 bedrock erosion is proportional to stream power and kps should be maintained and propagate headwards or m 0 3 n 0 7 bedrock incision is proportional to shear stress and kps do not propagate but degrade in place by rotation or replacement nonetheless the e scotland m and n values point to the dominance of catchment area discharge in determining knickpoint retreat rates and are therefore more consistent with the stream power law formulation in which bedrock erosion is proportional to stream power copyright 2005 john wiley sons ltd

dynamics of subduction initiation at preexisting fault zones we show that a new subduction zone can initiate at a preexisting dipping fault zone with reasonable plate forces consistent with what is observed in the western pacific the dynamics of subduction initiation within a viscoelastic medium has been systematically explored with the finite element method we investigate the compression of oceanic lithosphere with both force and velocity boundary conditions and track the thermal structure in which heat is transported by both advection and diffusion the viscosity of the medium is non newtonian and temperature dependent we also examine the influence of a perfectly plastic yield stress a new method to model the preexisting weak zone as a graded fault with remeshing is introduced the first 400 km of plate convergence is examined during which time there are profound changes in plate boundary dynamics initially topography across the plate boundary is characterized by over 1000 m of uplift close to the trench subsequently a bathymetric depression develops on the overriding plate with an initial subsidence rate of 125 m myr for a slab subducting at 2 cm yr tectonic subsidence of the overriding plate is primarily dependent upon the depth of slab penetration for a plate force of 4 10 12 n m subduction initiates even with a fault shear stress of 3 mpa the resistance most consistent with seismological observations however subduction will not initiate when this fault shear stress is 5 mpa our results are consistent with plate reconstructions which predict the initiation of subduction across preexisting weak zones within oceanic basins

dynamics of subduction initiation with different evolutionary pathways changes of plate motion may have induced subduction initiation si but the tectonic history of si is different from one subduction zone to another izu bonin mariana ibm si accompanied by strong backarc spreading and voluminous eruption of boninites contrasts with the aleutians which shows neither using finite element models we explore visco elasto plastic parameters and driving boundary conditions for si evolution with an imposed velocity we find three different evolutionary modes of si continuous without backarc spreading continuous with backarc spreading and a segmented mode with an increase in the coefficient of friction and a decrease in the rate of plastic weakening the amount of convergence needed for si increases from 20 to 220 km while the mode changes from segmented to continuous with backarc spreading and eventually to continuous without backarc spreading if the imposed velocity boundary condition is replaced with an imposed stress the amount of convergence needed for si is reduced and backarc spreading does not occur these geodynamic models provide a basis for understanding the divergent geological pathways of si first ibm evolution is consistent with subduction of an old strong plate with an imposed velocity which founders causing intense backarc spreading and boninitic volcanism second the new hebrides si is in the segmented mode due to its weak plate strength third the puysegur si is in the continuous without backarc spreading mode with no associated volcanic activities fourth the aleutians si has neither trench rollback nor backarc spreading because the slab is regulated by constant ridge push forces

climate driven bedrock incision in an active mountain belt measurements of fluvial bedrock incision were made with submillimeter precision in the east central range of taiwan where long term exhumation rates and precipitation driven river discharge are independently known they indicate that valley lowering is driven by relatively frequent flows of moderate intensity abrasion by suspended sediment is an important fluvial wear process and channel bed geometry and the presence of widely spaced planes of weakness in the rock mass influence erosion rate and style

experimental study of bedrock channel alluviation under varied sediment supply and hydraulic conditions 1 channel incision into bedrock plays a critical role in mountain landscape evolution a bed that is completely alluviated cannot undergo incision as a result incision driven by the collision of bedload grains and bedrock requires transport at below capacity conditions for example where the bed is partially covered by alluvium in a mechanistic model of bedrock incision it is important to have a formula describing the relationship between the bedload transport rate and the degree to which the bed is covered by sediment the purpose of this work is to understand the mechanisms underlying the degree of bed exposure in bedrock rivers by means of an experimental study a number of experiments with various hydraulic and morphological bed conditions were performed in order to characterize this model here we focus on planar bedrock beds with some roughness the results suggest that the sediment supply channel slope hydraulic bed roughness the degree of areal coverage and thickness of antecedent gravel in the channel as well as the presence of boulders in the channel are major factors controlling bedrock exposure for sufficiently low ratios of sediment supply to transport capacity it was found that bedrock roughness can play a role in determining the degree of bedrock exposure for higher sediment ratios on the other hand the composite roughness associated with grain roughness bars and or antidunes dominates so that the underlying bedrock roughness no longer affects the degree of exposure of the bed for lower bed slopes i e less than 0 015 based on our experimental setting bedrock exposure decreases more or less linearly with increasing values of the ratio of sediment supply rate to capacity rate for higher bed slopes i e more than 0 015 there is a range of lower values of the ratio of sediment supply rate to capacity rate where a bedrock surface becomes fully exposed without any alluvial deposit for a given bedrock roughness this range expands solely with increasing slope regardless of shear stress within the upper range of values of the ratio of sediment supply to capacity rate a linear relationship between the degree of bedrock exposure and this supply to capacity ratio still prevails the addition of model boulders can be viewed as very high hydraulic bed roughness to the channel has been found to suppress the overexposure of bedrock and so restore a linear relation between the degree of exposure and the ratio of sediment supply rate to capacity rate formulations for estimating bedrock exposure as a function of sediment supply to capacity ratio under different river channel characteristics are proposed a linear relation between the degree of alluvial cover and the ratio of sediment supply rate to capacity rate is a previously proposed model the present study expands the result for other cases including runaway alluviation some landscape evolution models assume an abrupt shift between fully exposed bedrock and complete alluviation whereas others assume the linear relation the present study shows that both formulations are valid under different settings of river characteristics

flood magnitude frequency and lithologic control on bedrock river incision in post orogenic terrain abstract mixed bedrock alluvial rivers bedrock channels lined with a discontinuous alluvial cover are key agents in the shaping of mountain belt topography by bedrock fluvial incision whereas much research focuses upon the erosional dynamics of such rivers in the context of rapidly uplifting orogenic landscapes the present study investigates river incision processes in a post orogenic cratonic landscape undergoing extremely low rates of incision the mobility of coarse bed materials up to 2 m diameter during late holocene palaeofloods of known magnitude and age is evaluated using step backwater flow modelling in conjunction with two selective entrainment equations a new approach for quantifying the formative flood magnitude in mixed bedrock alluvial rivers is described here based on the mobility of a key coarse fraction of the bed materials in this case the d84 size fraction a 350 m3 s formative flood fully mobilises the coarse alluvial cover with b 200 300 n m2 across the upper and lower gorge riffles peaking over 500 n m2 in the knickzone such floods have an annual exceedance probability much less than 10 2 and possibly as low as 10 3 the role of coarse alluvial cover in the gorge is discussed at two scales 1 modulation of bedrock exposure at the reach scale coupled with adjustment to channel width and gradient accommodates uniform incision across rocks of different erodibility in steady state fashion and 2 at the sub reach scale where coarse boulder deposits corresponding to b minima cap topographic convexities in the rock floor thereby restricting bedrock incision to rare large floods while recent studies postulate that decreasing uplift rates during post orogenic topographic decay might drive a shift to transport limited conditions in river networks observations here and elsewhere in post orogenic settings suggest to the contrary that extremely low erosion rates are maintained with substantial bedrock channel exposure although bed material mobility is known to be rate limiting for bedrock river incision under low sediment flux conditions exactly how a partial alluvial cover might be spatially distributed to either optimise or impede the rate of bedrock incision is open to speculation observations here suggest that the small volume of very stable bed materials lining sandy creek gorge is distributed so as to minimise the rate of bedrock fluvial incision over time

numerical modeling of fluvial strath terrace formation in response to oscillating climate many river systems in western north america retain a fluvial strath terrace rec ord of discontinuous downcutting into bedrock through the quaternary their importance lies in their use to interpret climatic events in the headwaters and to determine long term incision rates terrace formation has been ascribed to changes in sediment supply and or water discharge produced by late quaternary climatic fluctuations we use a one dimensional channel evolution model to explore whether temporal variations in sediment and water discharge can generate terrace sequences the model includes sediment transport vertical bedrock erosion limited by alluvial cover and lateral valley wall erosion we set limits on our modeling by using data collected from the terraced wind river basin two types of experiments were performed constant period sinusoidal input histories and variable period inputs scaled by the marine 18 o rec ord our simulations indicate that strath terrace formation requires input variability that produces a changing ratio of vertical to lateral erosion rates straths are cut when the channel floor is protected from erosion by sediment and are abandoned and terraces formed when incision can resume following sediment cover thinning high sediment supply promotes wide valley floors that are abandoned as sediment supply decreases in contrast wide valleys are promoted by low effective water discharge and are abandoned as discharge increases widening of the valley floors that become terraces occurs over many thousands of years the transition from valley widening to downcutting and terrace creation occurs in response to subtle input changes affecting local divergence of sediment transport capacity formation of terraces lags by several thousand years the input changes that cause their formation our results suggest that use of terrace ages to set limits on the timing of a specific event must be done with the knowledge that the system can take thousands of years to respond to a perturbation the incision rate calculated in the field from the lowest terrace in these systems will likely be higher than the rate calculated by using older terraces because the most recent fluvial response in the field is commonly downcutting associated with declining sediment input since the last glacial maximum this apparent increase in incision rates is observed in many river systems and should not necessarily be interpreted as a response to an increase in rock uplift rate

why is terrestrial subduction one sided subduction of the lithosphere at convergent plate boundaries takes place asymmetrically the subducted slab sinks downward while the overriding plate moves horizontally one sided subduction in contrast global mantle convection models generally predict downwelling of both plates at convergent margins two sided subduction we carried out two dimensional 2 d numerical experiments with a mineralogical thermomechanical viscoelastic plastic model to elucidate the cause of one sided subduction our experiments show that the stability intensity and mode of subduction depend mainly on slab strength and the amount of weak hydrated rocks present above the slab two sided subduction occurs at low slab strength sin 0 15 the weak interface is maintained by the release of fluids from the subducted oceanic crust as a consequence of metamorphism the resulting weak interplate zone localizes deformation at the interface and decouples the strong plates facilitating asymmetric plate movement our work suggests that high plate strength and the presence of water are major factors controlling the style of plate tectonics driven by self sustaining one sided subduction processes

what drives orogeny in the andes the andes the world9s second highest orogenic belt were generated by the cenozoic tectonic shortening of the south american plate margin overriding the subducting nazca plate we use a coupled thermomechanical numerical modeling technique to identify factors controlling the intensity of the tectonic shortening from the modeling we infer that the most important factor was accelerated westward drift of the south american plate changes in the subduction rate were less important other important factors are crustal structure of the overriding plate and shear coupling at the plates9 interface the model with a thick 40 45 km at 30 ma south american crust and relatively high friction coefficient 0 05 at the nazca south american interface generates 300 km of tectonic shortening during 30 35 m y and replicates the crustal structure and evolution of the high central andes the model with an initially thinner

a tensile flexural model for the initiation of subduction we argue that subduction may be initiated at passive continental margins without shortening the lithosphere overcoming the lithosphere s high compressive strength requires special circumstances and these make it difficult to explain the nearly complete recycling of old sea floor instead we present a model that predicts tensile decoupling of the continental and oceanic lithosphere passive rifting and foundering of the seafloor beneath material welling up in the rift this occurs because the lithosphere in a new ocean basin establishes mechanical continuity with the continent at a depth comparable to mid ocean ridges later subsidence at the margin is therefore inhibited by flexure which implies shear stresses that promote fault slip and tensile stresses necessary to balance the component of the plate s weight directed down the margin slope we show that this tension can more than offset ridge push in our model an important additional tension arises from basal shear tractions resisting the plate s motion away from the mid ocean ridge although these tractions cannot be evaluated with confidence slip on a high angle fault decouples the oceanic and continental lithosphere when shear stresses arising from flexure and the applied tension exceed the lithosphere s shear strength under these loads a passive rift then forms allowing a mantle column to rise to the height of mid ocean ridges over 3 km above the old seafloor and flow onto the surface in a gravity current this load flexes the plate downwards which enhances the flow and lets the old oceanic lithosphere founder this model is consistent with the presence of oceanic material in continental forearcs and the youth of ophiolites when they are obducted as both might be explained by rifting a margin and underthrusting the juvenile crust formed there boninites in ophiolite complexes and tectonites at their bases show depleted and hydrated geochemistries consistent with the melting of rifted mantle lithosphere that receives volatiles from foundering oceanic crust

new constraints on sediment flux dependent river incision implications for extracting tectonic signals from river profiles we present new field data from rivers draining across active normal faults that incise across the same lithology at the fault have been subjected to similar climatic regimes and tectonic settings and were perturbed by a well documented increase in fault slip rate ca 1 ma in spite of these similarities the rivers exhibit markedly different long profiles and patterns of catchment incision we use channel slope and hydraulic geometry data for each river to calculate bed shear stresses b and show that there is no simple relationship between peak b and the relative uplift rates across the faults u which differ by a factor of four the long term average sediment supply to each channel q s estimated from time averaged catchment erosion rates can explain the b versus u data if bedload modulates bedrock incision rate e in a strongly nonlinear way together these field data allow us for the first time to evaluate theoretical predictions of the role of sediment on river profile evolution and to quantify the magnitude of the effect in natural systems

closing the gap between regional and global travel time tomography recent global travel time tomography studies by zhou 1996 and van der hilst et al 1997 have been performed with cell parameterizations of the order of those frequently used in regional tomography studies i e with cell sizes of 1 2 these new global models constitute a considerable improvement over previous results that were obtained with rather coarse parameterizations 5 cells the inferred structures are however of larger scale than is usually obtained in regional models and it is not clear where and if individual cells are actually resolved this study aims at resolving lateral heterogeneity on scales as small as 0 6 in the upper mantle and 1 2 3 in the lower mantle this allows for the adequate mapping of expected small scale structures induced by for example lithosphere subduction deep mantle upwellings and mid ocean ridges there are three major contributions that allow for this advancement first we employ an irregular grid of nonoverlapping cells adapted to the heterogeneous sampling of the earth s mantle by seismic waves spakman and bijwaard 1998 second we exploit the global data set of engdahl et al 1998 which is a reprocessed version of the global data set of the international seismological centre their reprocessing included hypocenter redetermination and phase reidentification finally we combine all data used p pp and pwp phases into nearly 5 million ray bundles with a limited spatial extent such that averaging over large mantle volumes is prevented while the signal to noise ratio is improved in the approximate solution of the huge inverse problem we obtain a variance reduction of 57 1 synthetic sensitivity tests indicate horizontal resolution on the scale of the smallest cells 0 6 or 1 2 in the shallow parts of subduction zones decreasing to approximately 2 3 resolution in well sampled regions in the lower mantle vertical resolution can be worse up to several hundreds of kilometers in subduction zones with rays predominantly pointing along dip important features of the solution are as follows 100 200 km thick high velocity slabs beneath all major subduction zones sometimes flattening in the transition zone and sometimes directly penetrating into the lower mantle large high velocity anomalies in the lower mantle that have been attributed to subduction of the tethys ocean and the farallon plate and low velocity anomalies continuing across the 660 km discontinuity to hotspots at the surface under iceland east africa the canary islands yellowstone and the society islands our findings corroborate that the 660 km boundary may resist but not prevent present day large scale mass transfer from upper to lower mantle or vice versa this observation confirms the results of previous global mantle studies that employed coarser parameterizations

stochastic modeling of the cover effect and bedrock erosion 1 several important fluvial bedrock erosion processes are driven by the impact of bed load particles bed load transport rates fluctuate strongly in both nature and experiment and stochastic models of the transport processes have been put forward to describe this behavior in this paper i adapt a model based on a markov chain formulation to derive probability distributions for bed load transport rate over a rock bed only partly covered by sediment i propose a way to calculate the probability distribution of bed cover for given sediment supply using a combinatoric model and combine the two curves to calculate probability distributions for bed cover and erosion rate at constant hydraulics in the proposed model mean bed cover is an exponentially declining function of the number of particles in the control volume the model describes recently published experimental data well but at the moment it is not possible to finally discriminate between the exponential and the previously proposed linear model formulation distributions of erosion rate are fairly broad functions slightly skewed toward high erosion rates

evolving force balance during incipient subduction nearly half of all active subduction zones initiated during the cenozoic all subduction zones associated with active back arc extension have initiated since the eocene hinting that back arc extension may be intimately associated with an interval several tens of myr following subduction initiation that such a large proportion of subduction zones are young indicates that subduction initiation is a continuous process in which the net resisting force associated with forming a new subduction zone can be overcome during the normal evolution of plates subduction initiation is known to have occurred in a variety of tectonic settings old fracture zones transform faults and extinct spreading centers and through polarity reversal behind active subduction zones although occurring within different tectonic settings four known subduction initiation events izu bonin mariana ibm along a fracture zone tonga kermadec along an extinct subduction boundary new hebrides within a back arc and puysegur fiordland along a spreading center were typified by rapid uplift within the forearc followed by sudden subsidence other constraints corroborate the compressive nature of ibm and tonga kermadec during initiation using an explicit finite element method within a two dimensional domain we explore the evolving force balance during initiation in which elastic flexure viscous flow plastic failure and heat transport are all considered in order to tie theory with observation known tectonic settings of subduction initiation are used as initial and boundary conditions we systematically explore incipient compression of a homogeneous plate a former spreading center and a fracture zone the force balance is typified by a rapid growth in resisting force as the plate begins bending reaching a maximum value dependent on plate thickness but typically ranging from 2 to 3 1012 n m for cases that become self sustaining this is followed by a drop in stress once a shear zone extends through the plate the formation of a throughgoing fault is associated with rapid uplift on the hanging wall and subsidence on the footwall cumulative convergence not the rate of convergence is the dominant control on the force balance viscous tractions influence the force balance only if the viscosity of the asthenosphere is 1020 pa s and then only after plate failure following plate failure buoyancy of the oceanic crust leads to a linear increase with crustal thickness in the work required to initiate subduction the total work done is also influenced by the rate of lithospheric failure a self sustaining subduction zone does not form from a homogeneous plate a ridge placed under compression localizes subduction initiation but the resisting ridge push force is not nearly as large as the force required to bend the subducting plate the large initial bending resistance can be entirely eliminated in ridge models explaining the propensity for new subduction zones to form through polarity reversals a fracture zone fz placed in compression leads to subduction initiation with rapid extension of the overriding plate a fz must be underthrust by the older plate for 100 150 km before a transition from forced to self sustaining states is reached in fz models the change in force during transition is reflected by a shift from forearc uplift to subsidence subduction initiation is followed by trench retreat and back arc extension moderate resisting forces associated with modeled subduction initiation are consistent with the observed youth of pacific subduction zones the models provide an explanation for the compressive state of western pacific margins before and during subduction initiation including ibm and tonga kermadec in the eocene and the association of active back arcs with young subduction zones on the basis of our dynamic models and the relative poles of rotation between pacific and australia during the eocene we predict that the northern segment of the tonga kermadec convergent margin would have initiated earlier with a progressive southern migration of the transition between forced and self sustaining states

the influence of sediment cover variability on long term river incision rates an example from the peikang river central taiwan 1 this study explores the hypothesis that the relative frequency of rock exposure in the bed of an incising channel can have a first order impact on the long term average erosion rate the 1999 chi chi earthquake in central taiwan generated thousands of landslides along the middle reach of the peikang river sediment from these landslides produced widespread aggradation such that much of the river s bed remains shielded from active bedrock incision we present data that constrain the spatial and temporal variability of sediment cover for the peikang river because the river is undergoing spatially variable holocene bedrock incision 1 10 mm yr it offers a unique natural experiment to test the influence of intermittent sedimentation on long term incision rates published electrical resistivity surveys at seven locations along the river reveal median sediment depth values ranging from 1 9 to 11 5 m the sediment depth correlates inversely with long term incision rate and sediment transport capacity we interpret this as an indication that the frequency of bedrock exposure exerts a major influence on incision along the peikang river

recession rates of waterfalls in boso peninsula japan and a predictive equation rates of waterfall recession and major factors that influence the rate were studied using waterfalls in boso peninsula japan the mean rate of waterfall recession was estimated by determining the age and original location the principal factor in determining the rate of waterfall recession is the ratio of the erosive force of stream to the bedrock resistance this is expressed in terms of measurable variables which include the discharge drainage area and precipitation the width and height of the waterfall and the unconfined compressive strength of the bedrock an empirical equation connecting the force resistance ratios and the rates of waterfall recession is derived copyright 2003 john wiley sons ltd

cover effect in bedrock abrasion a new derivation and its implications for the modeling of bedrock channel morphology the sediment load of a bedrock river plays an important role in the fluvial incision process by providing tools for abrasion the tools effect and by covering and thereby protecting the bed the cover effect we derive a new formulation for the cover effect in which the fraction of exposed bed area falls exponentially with increasing sediment flux or decreasing transport capacity and explore its consequences for the model of bedrock abrasion by saltating bed load erosion rates predicted by the model are higher than those predicted by earlier models in a closed system the maximum erosion rate is predicted to occur when sediment supply is equal to transport capacity for a flat bed by optimizing the channel geometry to minimize the potential energy of the stream and using representative values for both discharge and grain size we derive equations for the geometry of a bedrock river and explore how predictions for width slope and bed cover vary as functions of drainage area rock uplift rate and rock strength the equations predict a dependence of channel width on drainage area similar to the relations using a simple shear stress incision law the slope area relationship is predicted to be concave up in a log log regime with a curvature dependent on uplift rate however this curvature does not deviate sufficiently from a straight line to allow discrimination between models using empirical data dependence of channel width and slope on rock uplift rate can be separated into two domains for low uplift rates channel geometry is largely insensitive to uplift rate due to a threshold effect at high uplift rates there is a power law dependence bed cover is predicted to increase progressively downstream and to increase with increasing uplift rate in our model the width to depth ratio is a function of both tectonic and climatic forcing this indicates that the scaling between channel width and bed slope is neither a unique indicator of tectonic forcing at steady state nor a signature of transience or steady state we conclude that sediment effects need to be taken into account when modeling bedrock channel morphology

transport slopes sediment cover and bedrock channel incision in the henry mountains utah 1 field data from channels in the henry mountains of utah demonstrate that abundant coarse sediment can inhibit fluvial incision into bedrock by armoring channel beds the cover effect we compare several small channels that share tributary junctions and have incised into the same sedimentary bedrock unit navajo sandstone but contain differing amounts of coarse diorite clasts owing to the spatial distribution of localized sediment sources bedrock channels that contain abundant clasts diorite rich have steeper longitudinal slopes than tributaries of these channels with smaller drainage areas and less sediment diorite poor the diorite poor tributaries have incised more deeply to lower average slopes and have more reach scale slope variability which may reflect bedrock properties longitudinal sediment sorting and incision at lower sediment supply diorite rich channels have less bedrock exposed and smoother longitudinal profiles than diorite poor channels we find that 1 coarse sediment can mantle bedrock channel beds and reduce the efficiency of incision validating the hypothesized cover effect in fluvial incision models 2 the channel slope needed to transport the sediment load can be larger than that needed to erode bedrock suggesting that the slope of incising bedrock channels can become adjusted to the sediment load 3 when abundant sediment is available transport capacity rather than thresholds of motion can be dominant in setting bedrock channel slope and 4 cover effects can be important even when moderate amounts of bedrock are exposed in channel beds

subduction initiation along the inherited weakness zone at the edge of a slab insights from numerical models summary a preexisting weakness zone in the lithosphere is required to initiate subduction here we focus on a new type of weakness zone a subduction transform edge propagator step fault which is inherited from a tear along the edge of a slab using coupled thermal mechanical models we show that step fault perpendicular convergence results in a dipping shear zone in any tectonic setting at a continental margin this shear zone dips towards the continent which is an excellent starting condition for ocean continent subduction if far field convergence persists step faults become new subduction boundaries the trench moves landward during the earliest stages of convergence when slab pull becomes a dominant driving force after 80 km convergence trench roll back commences the initial geometry and mechanical properties of the sub crustal step fault zone affect the results subduction initiation is facilitated by a wide 100 km and low viscosity weakness zone incipient subduction is easier for young oceanic lithosphere due to its lower flexural rigidity and is insensitive to the far field convergence rate as step faults are commonly associated with young oceanic lithosphere subduction initiation is thus relatively easy along them of particular interest are continent ocean margins where step faulting has occurred

subduction initiates at straight passive margins subduction initiation at straight passive margins can be investigated with two dimensional 2 d numerical models because the geometry is purely cylindrical however on earth straight margins rarely occur the construction of 3 d models is therefore critical in the modeling of spontaneous subduction initiation at realistic curved passive margins here we report on the results obtained from gravitationally driven 3 d thermomechanical numerical models using a visco plastic rheology and a passive margin with a single curved section in the middle the models show that the curvature angle can control subduction initiation the greater is the more difficult subduction initiation becomes the 3 d thermomechanical models provide an in depth physical understanding of the processes specifically we find that pressure gradients arising from density differences between oceanic and continental rocks drive subduction initiation and strongly influence the timing the main difference between straight cylindrical and curved margins is that the orientation of the pressure gradient in 3 d is no longer constant thus producing a horizontal along margin component of flow we thus conclude that the reason for the impedance of subduction initiation is the result of partitioning of the vertical velocity component into a horizontal component which therefore decreases the effective slab pull we infer that although favorable for subduction initiation in a 2 d model because the estimated force balance is adequate the pronounced curvature in the southeast brazilian margin is a likely explanation why subduction initiation is hampered there

evolution of vertical knickpoints waterfalls with resistant caprock insights from numerical modeling 1 vertical knickpoints waterfalls mark a prominent process transition zone whose governing mechanics is not represented by conventional stream power incision models we examine the evolution of vertical knickpoints with resistant caprock utilizing numerical simulations that explicitly represent 1 face failure mechanisms 2 flow acceleration and amplified erosion above a knickpoint lip 3 deposition and removal of coarse debris below the knickpoint and 4 base level lowering or tectonic uplift rates our model demonstrates that knickpoint retreat rate where the subcaprock is weak or vertically jointed and base level fall rates are steady is likely to become tied to downstream conditions and equal to the downstream incision rate divided by channel gradient mechanically this coupling occurs where the subcaprock reaches a threshold height for failure in shear or buckling or where the weathering rate of the subcaprock is higher than the downstream incision wave velocity vi ds the height of the subcaprock face can influence its gravitational stability and the knickpoint lateral erosion rate and lead to a feedback between downstream incision and retreat rate retreat rate can be lower than vi ds during transients which could be long 106 years and set by the weathering rate of the subcaprock or influenced by lag debris evacuation key variables other than discharge can be important in setting retreat rates these include base level lowering rate the rock strength of stratigraphic units downstream of the knickpoint and the size and flux of sediment contributed from above the knickpoint or from the canyon walls two types of oversteepened reaches can form in association with a vertical knickpoint 1 an upstream free fall induced oversteepened reach whose length is longer than the flow acceleration zone and 2 a downstream coarse debris induced oversteepened reach although the model was constructed with caprock type knickpoints in mind some of its elements and insights are also relevant to homogenous substrates

rapid formation of a modern bedrock canyon by a single flood event deep river canyons are thought to form slowly over geological time see for example ref 1 cut by moderate flows that reoccur every few years in contrast some of the most spectacular canyons on earth and mars were probably carved rapidly during ancient megaflood events quantification of the flood discharge duration and erosion mechanics that operated during such events is hampered because we lack modern analogues canyon lake gorge texas was carved in 2002 during a single catastrophic flood the event offers a rare opportunity to analyse canyon formation and test palaeo hydraulic reconstruction techniques under known topographic and hydraulic conditions here we use digital topographic models and visible near infrared aerial images from before and after the flood discharge measured during the event field measurements and sediment transport modelling to show that the flood moved metre sized boulders excavated 7 m of limestone and transformed a soil mantled valley into a bedrock canyon in just 3 days we find that canyon morphology is strongly dependent on rock type plucking of limestone blocks produced waterfalls inner channels and bedrock strath terraces whereas abrasion of cemented alluvium sculpted walls plunge pools and streamlined islands canyon formation was so rapid that erosion might have been limited by the ability of the flow to transport sediment we suggest that our results might improve hydraulic reconstructions of similar megafloods on earth and mars

bed load transport in bedrock rivers the role of sediment cover in grain entrainment translation and deposition 1 bedrock rivers exert a critical control over landscape evolution yet little is known about the sediment transport processes that affect their incision we present theoretical analyses and field data that demonstrate how grain entrainment translation and deposition are affected by the degree of sediment cover in a bedrock channel theoretical considerations of grain entrainment mechanics and sediment continuity each demonstrate that areas of exposed bedrock and thin sediment depths cause sediment transport to be size independent albeit excluding extreme grain sizes we report gravel and cobble magnetic tracer data from three rivers with contrasting sediment cover the bedrock river calder 20 cover the bedrock south fork eel river 80 and the alluvial allt dubhaig 100 these data sets show that 1 transport distances in the river calder are controlled by sediment patch location whereas in the other rivers transport distances are described by gamma distributions representing local dispersion 2 river calder transport distances are size independent across all recorded shear stresses whereas the other rivers display size selectivity 3 river calder tracers are entrained at a dimensionless shear stress of 0 038 which is relatively low compared to alluvial rivers and 4 virtual grain velocities in the river calder are higher than in a comparable reach of the allt dubhaig these contrasts result from differences in the thicknesses and spatial distribution of sediment in the three rivers and support the theoretical analysis sediment processes in bedrock rivers systematically vary along a continuum between bedrock and alluvial end members citation hodge r a t b hoey and l s sklar 2011 bed load transport in bedrock rivers the role of sediment cover in grain entrainment translation and deposition j geophys res 116 f04028 doi 10 1029 2011jf002032

experimental study of knickpoint and longitudinal profile evolution in cohesive homogeneous material a series of experiments were conducted in homogeneous bedrock to study knickpoint and longitudinal profile evolution knickpoints are created by successive drops in base level which simulate intermittent uplift channel morphology and flow characteristics vary systematically along a knickpoint reach as the knickpoint lip is approached width decreases but depth velocity and bottom shear stress increase as a result knickpoints are rapidly destroyed through the process of 1 knickpoint replacement and 2 subsequent knickpoint inclination knickpoint replacement consists of two morphologically distinct erosional reaches the knickpoint face below the knickpoint lip which decreases in slope and an incising reach above the knickpoint lip which increases in slope knickpoint replacement is a significant process in the evolution of knickpoints in homogeneous bedrock within experimental limits this study supports the notion that knickpoints do not undergo parallel head ward retreat in homogeneous bedrock given intermittent uplift except in those possible cases of extensive and pervasive bedrock jointing only the erosional sediment transport discontinuity above the knickpoint is developed in cohesive sediments below the knickpoint a steep bedrock channel slope low sediment load and rapid decrease in grain size of sediment load preclude development of the aggradational sediment transport discontinuity knickpoint evolution can be characterized by three general models parallel retreat replacement and inclination these models are based on the following criteria within the knickpoint reach 1 relationship between bottom shear stress 0 and critical shear stress needed to initiate motion c 2 nature of the bed load transport discontinuities and 3 spatial variability of bedrock resistance to fluvial erosion

experiments on upstream migrating erosional narrowing and widening of an incisional channel caused by dam removal 1 the present paper reports on a laboratory investigation of the erosion of a deltaic front induced by the removal of a dam we built a laboratory model of a dam and observed both the sedimentation in the reservoir due to the downstream propagation of a delta front and the erosion of the delta front during dam removal including measurement of channel morphology and flow field the experiments provide a detailed view of a phenomenon that has not been described in detail to date erosional narrowing after the sudden removal of a dam the flow incises into the reservoir deposit first rapidly and then more slowly during the initial period of rapid incision the width of the channel can in some circumstances undergo rapid and substantial narrowing all the while incorporating sediment from its sidewalls as the rate of incision slows the channel first stops narrowing and then enters a phase of slow widening this pattern of narrowing followed by widening tends to propagate upstream the minimum channel width attained at a cross section however increases with upstream distance from the dam while the period of erosional narrowing is very short the incision is so intense that large amounts of sediment are delivered downstream in a short period of time the process thus has practical implications in regard to the strategy of dam removal undistorted froude similitude is used to scale the results up to field dimensions

scotia sea regional tectonic evolution implications for mantle flow and palaeocirculation abstract the scotia sea and surrounding scotia arc have evolved over the past 40 ma by extension behind an east migrating subduction zone at the boundary between the south american sam and antarctic ant plates the considerable data set now available regional geology and geophysics earthquake seismology satellite altimetry global plate analyses suggest why east migrating subduction began what has been the driving force that has sustained it and what other processes have controlled the mode of back arc extension in the scotia sea a suite of six reconstructions has been developed based on this data set the reconstruction to 40 ma creates a compact cuspate continental connection between south america and the antarctic peninsula at the subducting pacific margin with fragments now dispersed around the scotia arc occupying positions within it compatible with their known geology the driving force has been subduction of south american ocean floor which began as a result of southward migration of the pole of south american antarctic plate rotation and a key modulator of back arc extension has been collision of ridge crest sections of the south american antarctic plate boundary with the east advancing trench cenozoic regional tectonic evolution has two other likely consequences which greatly increase its importance firstly this region saw the tectonic disruption of the final barrier to complete circum antarctic deep water flow that may have had a profound effect on palaeoclimate secondly it is possible that the rapid roll back of the hinge of subduction is related to shallow eastward flow in the sub lithospheric mantle both of these consequences are explored the reconstructions show that rapid roll back of the subduction hinge averaging 50 mm a over the last 40 ma with respect to the south american plate has been a feature of all of scotia sea evolution and provide a history of motion of several oceanic microplates most of which are now welded together within the scotia sea this will guide the location of seismometers and or dredge hauls to test the hypothesis of shallow mantle flow and help interpret the results the reconstructions also allow an assessment of the creation of deep water pathways that would have permitted the development of the present day antarctic circumpolar current acc an early miocene onset within the period 22 17 ma seems likely for the acc depending on the structure and palaeo elevation of davis bank and aurora bank sections of the north scotia ridge however the study shows there was a delay of one or more million years between initial provision of a deep water pathway and the major mid miocene change in global climate involving the general level of antarctic glaciation that may have been related if these changes were related then the delay suggests that other factors possibly rough elevated ocean floor but also non tectonic factors such as atmospheric co2 were important in determining palaeoclimate

how rivers react to large earthquakes evidence from central taiwan earthquakes and bedrock river incision are fundamental processes in the evolution of tectonically active landscapes yet little work has focused on understanding how a bedrock river responds to a single large earthquake data from the 1999 m w 7 6 chi chi earthquake in central taiwan show dramatic differences in river response that depend on the proximity to the rupture zone near the fault scarp vertical ground deformation intensifi es river incision on a time scale of years to decades while distal to the fault landslides induced by the earthquake mantle bedrock on the river bed with sediment impeding incision for decades to centuries as the material is evacuated this surprising spatial and temporal variability in bedrock incision caused by earthquakes has implications for the paleoseismic interpretation of bedrock terraces and for the evolution of tectonically active landscapes

dynamic adjustments in channel width in response to a forced diversion gower gulch death valley national park california we studied the 1941 diversion of furnace creek wash drainage area 439 km 2 into gower gulch 5 8 km 2 as an experiment in the transient response of a channel to a large change in water and sediment discharge we measured sequential changes in valley width using a time series of aerial photographs 1948 1995 airborne laser elevation data from 2005 and a field survey we found that the response of the system varied depending on the prediversion channel morphology and bedrock geology in two steep knickzone segments narrowing knickpoint retreat and bedrock incision dominated indicating a detachment limited response in the relatively low gradient main part of gower gulch widening dominated as the coarse postdiversion sediment load covered the channel bed this transport limited part of the system has undergone only modest incision and adjustments in gradient over long periods the lowering rate of gower gulch probably depends on knickpoint retreat but the present day response of this non steady state system is a hybrid of incision and narrowing in detachment limited reaches and widening in transport limited reaches this system demonstrates the importance of evolving channel geometry in setting the transient response of rivers to changes in forcing parameters

response of bedrock channel width to tectonic forcing insights from a numerical model theoretical considerations and comparison with field data the morphology of bedrock river channels is controlled by climatic and tectonic conditions and substrate properties knowledge of tectonic controls remains scarce this is partly due to slow tectonic rates and long response times of natural channels and partly due to the difficulty in isolating and constraining tectonic forcing conditions in the field to study the effect of tectonic forcing on channel geometry we have developed a numerical model of the cross sectional evolution of a detachment limited channel its predictions are matched by an analytical model based on the assumption of the minimization of potential energy expenditure using these models we illustrate how local tectonics can alter the observed width discharge scaling and discuss published field data in light of our findings except for one case the models fail to correctly describe field observations of well constrained cases this implies that the shear stress stream power family of models is too simple to describe the behavior of natural channels additional complexities such as sediment effects and discharge variability exert a strong control on channel morphology and need to be taken into account in the modeling of channel dynamics and steady state

passive margin evolution initiation of subduction and the wilson cycle we have constructed finite element models at various stages of passive margin evolution in which we have incorporated the system of forces acting on the margin depth dependent rheological properties and lateral variations across the margin we have studied the interrelations between age dependent forces geometry and rheology to decipher their net effect on the state of stress at passive margins lithospheric flexure induced by sediment loading dominates the state of stress at passive margins this study has shown that if after a short evolution of the margin time span a few tens of million years subduction has not yet started continued aging of the passive margin alone does not result in conditions more favourable for transformation into an active margin although much geological evidence is available in support of the key role small ocean basins play in orogeny and ophiolite emplacement evolutionary frameworks of the wilson cycle usually are cast in terms of opening and closing of wide ocean basins we propose a more limited role for large oceans in the wilson cycle concept

catastrophic initiation of subduction following forced convergence across fracture zones although the formation of subduction zones plays a central role in plate evolution the processes and geological settings that lead to the initiation of subduction are poorly understood using a visco elastoplastic model we show that a fracture zone could be converted into a self sustaining subduction zone after approximately 100 km of convergence modeled initiation is accompanied by rapid extension of the over riding plate and explains the inferred catastrophic boninitic volcanism associated with eocene initiation of the izu bonin mariana ibm subduction zone using global plate reconstructions we suggest that ibm nucleation was associated with a change in plate motion between 55 and 45 ma we estimate that the forces resisting ibm subduction initiation were substantially smaller than available driving forces

implications of sediment flux dependent river incision models for landscape evolution 1 developing a quantitative understanding of the factors that control the rate of river incision into bedrock is critical to studies of landscape evolution and the linkages between climate erosion and tectonics current models of long term river network incision differ significantly in their treatment of the role of sediment flux we analyze the implications of various sediment flux dependent incision models for large scale topography in an attempt 1 to identify quantifiable and diagnostic differences between models that could be detected from topographic data or from the transient responses of perturbed systems and 2 to explain the apparent ubiquity of mixed bedrock alluvial channels in active orogens although certain forms of the various models can be discarded as inconsistent with morphological data we find that the relative intrinsic concavity indices of detachment and transport limited systems defined herein largely dictate whether the various models can be tied to distinctive steady state morphologies preliminary data suggest that no such diagnostic differences may exist and other methods must be developed to test models accordingly we develop and explore differences in the scaling behavior of topographic relief and the extent of detachment versus transport limited channels as a function of rock uplift rate that may allow discrimination among various models further we explore potentially diagnostic differences in the rates and patterns of transient channel response to changes in rock uplift rate in addition to general differences between detachment and transport limited systems our analysis identifies an interesting hysteresis in landscape evolution hybrid channels at the threshold between detachment and transport limited conditions are expected to act as detachment limited systems in response to an increase in rock uplift rate or base level fall and as transport limited systems in response to a decrease in rock uplift rate especially during postorogenic topographic decline the analyses presented set the stage for field studies designed to test quantitatively the various river incision models that have been proposed

a modelling study of vertical surface displacements at convergent plate margins summary during the evolution of a subduction zone system variations are likely to occur in for example surface plate velocities and buoyancy of the subducting lithosphere we quantify vertical surface displacements at convergent plate margins resulting from such imposed variations for this purpose we use a 2 d numerical model in which the lithospheric plates have an effective elastic thickness we first define a model in which the subducting plate is driven by its negative buoyancy and a velocity at its surface side boundary its equilibrium topography after around 2 myr is the reference level for examination of surface displacements resulting from variations in buoyancy velocity of the surface plates friction along the interplate contact and subduction zone roll back we find that a decrease increase in buoyancy of the subducting material leads to a deepening uplift of the plate margins an increase in friction along the subduction fault deepens the overriding plate margin subduction zone roll back due to sinking of the negatively buoyant subducting plate induces subsidence of the overriding plate margin this subsidence is reduced when roll back takes place in a land locked basin setting trench retreat forced by the motion of the overriding plate is characterized by higher topography of the overriding plate margin than the case of retreat due to the sinking of the negatively buoyant slab in the first case in plane stress in the back arc region is compressive while it is tensional for roll back due to the sinking of the slab we conclude that vertical surface displacements during ongoing subduction may reach a magnitude of a few kilometres on the overriding and subducting plate margins

variation in chemical composition of oil field brines with depth in northern louisiana and southern arkansas implications for mechanisms and rates of mass transport and diagenetic reaction abstract abstract dickey 1966 1968 has pointed out that there is a nearly linear increase in total dissolved solids tds content with depth in oil field waters in areas of northern louisiana and southern arkansas similar relations exist in portions of east central louisiana and central mississippi a re examination of brine analyses in the region shows that these linear increases in tds are primarily the result of linear increases in na and cl concentrations with depth other dissolved components such as mg ca sr ba hco3 so4 and trace constituents can show more complex variations in concentration with depth it is proposed here that the linear gradients for na and cl reflect the on going steady state mass transport of these constituents upward from thousands of feet of depth to the near surface na and cl concentrations at depths exceeding 8 000 to 10 000 ft 2438 to 3048 m are maintained at constant high levels by the subsurface dissolution of halite low dissolved salt concentrations are maintained at the near surface by recharge of meteoric waters the types of mass transport processes which could produce such nearly linear profiles are limited to molecular diffusion thermal diffusion soret effect and eddy diffusion preliminary estimates of fluxes and mass transport velocities which could result from these processes suggest sodium and chloride ions could be migrating upward at velocities approaching a centimeter per year non linear but systematic variations in the concentrations of other components with depth may reflect the presence of local stratigraphic sources and sinks of material zones of depletion of dissolved calcium for example may represent areas of active precipitation of calcite if the mass transport coefficients for these non conservative components can be estimated then limits can be put on the absolute rates of on going diagenetic processes of considerable interest is the possibility that dissolved or entrained hydrocarbons are also involved in active vertical migration the systematic study of brine chemistry promises to provide important clues to the understanding of processes and rates of fluid migration and hydrocarbon migration in the region