calibration and testing of upland hillslope evolution models in a dated landscape banco bonito new mexico 1 in this study we tested upland hillslope evolution models and constrained the rates of regolith production colluvial transport and eolian deposition over geologic time scales in a dated volcanic landscape in northern new mexico using field measurements of regolith thickness geochemical analyses of regolith bedrock and regional dust numerical modeling of regolith production and transport and quantitative analyses of airborne light detection and ranging lidar digital elevation models dems within this volcanic landscape many topographically closed basins exist as a result of compressional folding and explosion pitting during eruption the landscape has evolved from an initial state of no regolith cover at 40 5 ka to its modern state which has highly weathered regolith ranging from 0 to 3 m with local thickness values controlled primarily by topographic position our models constrain the maximum rate of regolith production in the study area to be in the range of 0 02 to 0 12 m kyr 1 and the rate of colluvial transport per unit slope gradient to be in the range of 0 2 to 2 7 m 2 kyr 1 with higher values in areas with more aboveground biomass we conclude that a depth dependent colluvial transport model better predicts the observed spatial distribution of regolith thickness compared to a model that has no depth dependence this study adds to the database of estimates for rates of regolith production and transport in the western united states and shows how dated landscapes can be used to improve our understanding of the coevolution of landscapes and regolith cover

toward process based modeling of geochemical soil formation across diverse landforms a new mathematical framework we present a mathematical model that integrates geochemical and geomorphic processes responsible for soils elemental and mineralogical evolution on diverse landforms eroding to depositional to level grounds this new model combines a hillslope sediment mass balance and a soil geochemical mass balance we model soils as the sum of a physically disturbed zone pdz and the underlying physically undisturbed but chemically altered zone caz the model considers processes including the production of pdz weathering front propagation mineral specific dissolution colloidal translocation and colluvial transport thus this study serves to 1 review preexisting models of pedogenic processes and to 2 offer a framework to integrate the geochemical and geomorphic processes active in soils we further discuss the implications of our model in 1 scaling chemical weathering reactions from mineral grains to pedons to soil catenas 2 understanding the emergence of geochemical soil catenas and 3 coupling physical and chemical weathering processes

two dimensional nonlinear diffusive numerical simulation of geomorphic modifications to cinder cones the temporal evolution of simple landforms such as cinder cones by nonlinear diffusive processes is studied through the use of a new 2d numerical model using well established and accurate numerical mathematics and high resolution digital elevation models dems extending 1d profile nonlinear diffusion analyses used in cinder cone hillslope and fault scarp evolution studies we have implemented a 2d numerical model with a spatially and temporally varying sediment transport rate coefficient scaled nonlinearly by the ratio of local slope to critical slope the high accuracy and efficient numerical implementation are documented in the paper and the matlab toolkit developed is used to solve for the developmentof an initial 2d cone form first we examine the nonlinear transport rule and suggest a refinement that accounts explicitly for flux at threshold slopes we find that the maximum diffusion necessarily introduced in the numerical model to avoid infinite rates at the critical slope controls the final morphology especially approaching steady state secondly solving the landscape evolution problem in 2d enables a natural accounting for sediment flux convergence or divergence in the profile thirdly the boundary behavior of a given landscape element controls much of what happens in that domain and so we allow for arbitrary flux magnitude or elevation boundary conditions fourthly landscapes are heterogeneous in their surface cover and so we allow for spatially and temporally varying transport rate k and we permit an arbitrary vertical displacement field within the model domain to test the new formulation for the nonlinear term the effect of variable diffusivity k and the numerical schemes implemented we apply the model to cinder cones built on the flanks of mount etna in 2001 and 2002 2003 we explore the effects of dem resolution with data from the 2001 cone and the utility of spatially variable diffusivity to explain the variation in erosion measured by differencing repeat light detection and ranging lidar surveys gathered in 2004 and 2007 over the 2002 2003 cone complex copyright 2013 john wiley sons ltd

morphological analysis of the lake lahontan shoreline and beachfront fault scarps pershing county nevada abstract with the diffusion equation representation of landform evolution providing reference calculations quantitative comparisons between profiles of the high stand of lake lahontan presented here and profiles of the lake bonneville shoreline scarps analyzed elsewhere reveal that the two sets of scarps are nearly identical morphologically when care is exercised in the selection of profiles the lahontan high stand scarps are remarkably reproducible from one profile to the next highly suggestive evidence that the processes that have shaped and changed the shape of these landforms are correspondingly regular slope angle differences of only 2 are both discernible and interpretable features of these late quaternary landforms cut in weakly consolidated alluvium at a level of uncertainty of no more than 50 per cent the mass diffusivity of the lahontan high stand is the same as the lake bonneville shoreline 1 1 gkg 1 gkg 1 m 2 ka this result suggests that much can be learned about the ages of late quaternary fault scarps cut in weakly consolidated alluvium throughout the basin and range province from their morphology alone the beachfront fault scarps themselves truncated by lake lahontan in our study area are morphologically only slightly older 15 to 18 ka bp than the lahontan high stand 12 ka bp

fitting degradation of shoreline scarps by a nonlinear diffusion model the diffusion model of degradation of topographic features is a promising means by which vertical offsets on holocene faults might be dated in order to calibrate the method we have examined present day profiles of wave cut shoreline scarps of late pleistocene lakes bonneville and lahontan it may be assumed that these scarps were initially at least as steep as the angle of repose offsets range from 1 to 12 m and present slope angles range from 9 to 29 a parameter called apparent diffusion age defined as half the mean square horizontal extent of the slope function of each profile is plotted as a function of scarp offset the points show a clear trend of apparent age increasing nearly linearly with offset if linear diffusion held and scarps were initially vertical apparent diffusion age would be the same for all the shoreline profiles the increasing trend can only partly be explained by nonvertical initial scarp slope and therefore the rate of transport of material downslope must increase significantly faster than a linear law in the range of slopes spanned by the data the transport law must become linear at small slope to reduce scatter between profiles with varying ambient slopes the transport law adopted for the purpose of dating is k0 1 5s2 where s is local slope the transport coefficient k0 is correlated inversely with fan slope suggesting that there is a dependence on the particle size distribution a table is included that allows easy application of the model to scarps with simple initial shape

fluvial terrace riser degradation and determination of slip rates on strike slip faults an example from the kunlun fault china 1 the use of displaced fluvial terrace risers to determine slip rates along strike slip faults depends on knowing when risers become passive markers typically chronologic constraints from terrace deposits only place bounds on this age consequent slip rates may be highly uncertain along the kunlun fault in northeastern tibet we demonstrate that consideration of riser degradation can augment terrace chronology and improve the precision of slip rate estimates multiple offset risers and 14c age determinations from terrace treads yield a narrow range of slip rates of 4 5 0 5 m kyr at one site but permit a wide range of allowable rates 3 10 m kyr in an adjacent drainage using a locally calibrated sediment transport rate of 3 2 5 4 m2 ka we show that riser morphology at this latter site is consistent with degradation since abandonment of the upper terrace tread our analysis indicates that slip rates at this site are 5 2 m kyr

coevolution of nonlinear trends in vegetation soils and topography with elevation and slope aspect a case study in the sky islands of southern arizona 1 feedbacks among vegetation dynamics pedogenesis and topographic development affect the critical zone the living filter for earth s hydrologic biogeochemical and rock sediment cycles assessing the importance of such feedbacks which may be particularly pronounced in water limited systems remains a fundamental interdisciplinary challenge the sky islands of southern arizona offer an unusually well defined natural experiment involving such feedbacks because mean annual precipitation varies by a factor of five over distances of approximately 10 km in areas of similar rock type granite and tectonic history here we compile high resolution spatially distributed data for effective energy and mass transfer eemt the energy available to drive bedrock weathering above ground biomass soil thickness hillslope scale topographic relief and drainage density in two such mountain ranges santa catalina scm pinaleno pm strong correlations exist among vegetation soil topography variables which vary nonlinearly with elevation such that warm dry low elevation portions of these ranges are characterized by relatively low above ground biomass thin soils minimal soil organic matter steep slopes and high drainage densities conversely cooler wetter higher elevations have systematically higher biomass thicker organic rich soils gentler slopes and lower drainage densities to test if eco pedo geomorphic feedbacks drive this pattern we developed a landscape evolution model that couples pedogenesis and topographic development over geologic time scales with rates explicitly dependent on vegetation density the model self organizes into states similar to those observed in scm and pm our results highlight the potential importance of eco pedo geomorphic feedbacks mediated by soil thickness in water limited systems

computer simulation models of scoria cone degradation abstract long term erosional modifications of the relatively simple morphology of scoria cinder cones are ideally suited for study by field and computer simulation methods a series of temporally distinct cones in the san francisco and springerville volcanic fields of arizona provides the foundation for documenting the degradational evolution of scoria cones in a semi arid climate progressive changes due to erosion are illustrated by the systematic decrease with increasing age of various morphometric parameters including scoria cone height cone height width ratio hco wco crater depth width ratio and slope angle for example holocene latest pleistocene cones in the san francisco field have a mean hco wco value of 0 178 0 041 a mean maximum slope angle of 29 7 4 2 and a mean average slope angle of 26 4 7 3 whereas the group of pliocene cones have values of 0 077 0 024 20 5 5 8 and 8 7 2 7 respectively comparative morphology of scoria cones is a potentially useful dating tool for mapping volcanic fields in order to better understand the degradational modifications of these volcanic landforms we have developed a numerical approach to simulate the surficial processes responsible for the erosion of a typical scoria cone the simulation algorithm can apply either a linear diffusion equation model or a model with a nonlinear transport law using a finite difference formulation the simulation operates upon a three dimensional scoria cone input as a matrix of elevation values utilizing both field and model results the correlation between changing hco wco value cone age and computer time step was expressed graphically to derive comprehensive values of the transport or diffusion coefficient df for both volcanic fields for the san francisco volcanic field df had a calculated value of 21 4 m2 kyr for the linear model and 5 3 m kyr for the nonlinear model while for the springerville volcanic field df had a calculated value of 24 4 m2 kyr for the linear model and 6 3 m kyr for the nonlinear model

modification of wave cut and faulting controlled landforms from a casual observation that the form of degraded fault scarps resembles the error function this investigation proceeds through an elementary diffusion equation representation of landform evolution to the application of the resulting equations to the modern topography of scarplike landforms the morphologic observations can be analyzed either in the form of one or more cross strike elevation profiles or in the form of the slope offset plot a point plot of maximum scarp slope versus scarp offset working with either or both of these data representations for nine geologic structures which range in age from 3 to 400 ka b p and in offset from 1 to 50 m we apply analytical solutions for the vertical initial value scarp the vertical continuous offset scarp and the finite slope initial value scarp the model calculations are intrinsically ambiguous yielding as the final answer only the product t in the case of the initial value problem or the product a 1 in the case of the repeated faulting problem here t is the age of a single scarp forming event 2a is the vertical slip rate and is the mass diffusivity a single profile across three sea cliffs along the santa cruz california coast is analyzed as three separate initial value problems a reasonably constrained age for the sea cliff standing above the highway 1 platform returns 11 gkg 1 gkg 1 m2 ka with this we can date the two older sea cliffs in fact we do the converse age estimates for these two older sea cliffs based on a uniform rate of uplift both yield the same as for the lower sea cliff we treat a single profile of the raymond fault in pasadena san marino in terms of the repeated faulting problem for it the uplift rate of r crook and others yields 16 gkg the very substantial preexisting offset across the raymond fault must have been buried leveled some 230 ka b p when the modern topography began to form our analysis of the lake bonneville shoreline scarps reveals a dependence of t on 2a suggestive of nonlinear modification processes this appearance is treated with the finite slope initial value scarp model to determine 1 1 gkg for the lake bonneville shoreline scarps the suggestion of m n machette that approximately 100 000 year old meter high scarps are unobservable in weakly consolidated alluvial terranes of the basin and range and rio grande rift valley provinces can be formulated as 1 gkg the coincidence between this inequality and the lake bonneville shoreline is striking and it suggests that the value of 1 gkg may be generally applicable as a good first approximation to the modification of alluvial terranes within the semiarid regions of the western united states the lake bonneville shoreline is the basis for dating four sets of fault scarps in west central utah the drum mountains fault scarps can be modeled in several different circumstances but the most likely interpretation is that these fault scarps formed as the result of a single episode of normal faulting 3 6 to 5 7 ka b p the younger age is associated with quite low initial slope angles 25 the other three sets of fault scarps show no evidence for finite initial value slopes fault scarps along the eastern base of the fish springs range are very young 3 ka b p we estimate the age of fault scarps along the western flank of the oquirrh mountains to be 32 ka b p which meets the weak geologic constraint that they be older than the lake bonneville shoreline fault scarps along the northeastern margin of the sheeprock mountains are even older 53 ka b p an intriguing consequence of our single event analysis of these scarps is that an 11 5 m offset occurred in a single earthquake

complex deformation at shallow depth during the 30 october 2016 m w 6 5 norcia earthquake interference between tectonic and gravity processes the relation between slip at the near surface and at depth during earthquakes is still not fully resolved at the moment this deficiency leads to large uncertainties in the evaluation of the magnitude of past earthquakes based on surface observations which is the only accessible evidence for such events a better knowledge of the way slip distributes over distinct rupture strands within the first few kilometers from the surface would contribute greatly to reduce these uncertainties the 30 october 2016 mw6 5 norcia earthquake has been captured by a variety of geodetic techniques which provide access to the slip distribution both at depth and at the ground surface with an unprecedented level of detail for a normal faulting earthquake we first present coseismic surface offset measurements from correlation of optical satellite images of submetric resolution which are compared to field observations made shortly after the earthquake based on a joint inversion of optical data together with insar and gps data we then propose a rupture model that explains the observations both at far field and near field scales finally we explore different rupture geometries at shallow depth in an attempt to better explain the near field deformation i e within the first hundreds of meters around the fault observed at the surface despite the fact that the solution is not unique several lines of evidence suggest that gravity processes could be locally involved which interfere with the dominant tectonic processes

reinterpretation of the exposed record of the last two cycles of lake bonneville western united states a substantially modified history of the last two cycles of lake bonneville is proposed the bonneville lake cycle began prior to 26 000 yr b p the lake reached the bonneville shoreline about 16 000 yr b p poor dating control limits our knowledge of the timing of subsequent events lake level was maintained at the bonneville shoreline until about 15 000 yr b p or somewhat later when catastrophic downcutting of the outlet caused a rapid drop of 100 m the provo shoreline was formed as rates of isostatic uplift due to this unloading slowed by 13 000 yr b p the lake had fallen below the provo level and reached one close to that of great salt lake by 11 000 yr b p deposits of the little valley lake cycle are identified by their position below a marked unconformity and by amino acid ratios of their fossil gastropods the maximum level of the little valley lake was well below the bonneville shoreline based on degree of soil development and other evidence the little valley lake cycle may be equivalent in age to marine oxygenisotope stage 6 the proposed lake history has climatic implications for the region first because the fluctuations of lake bonneville and lake lahontan during the last cycle of each were apparently out of phase there may have been significant local differences in the timing and character of late pleistocene climate changes in the great basin second although the bonneville and little valley lake cycles were broadly synchronous with maximum episodes of glaciation environmental conditions necessary to generate large lakes did not exist during early wisconsin time

numerical and analytical models of cosmogenic radionuclide dynamics in landslide dominated drainage basins 1 in many tectonically active regions on earth landslides dominate sediment delivery to channels while cosmogenic radionuclides crn represent a valuable tool to document basin averaged erosion rates a better understanding of crn dynamics in these systems is required before erosion rates can be reliably inferred from crn concentrations the stochastic nature of landslides results in variability of crn concentrations in both alluvial and hillslope samples that is both difficult to document and poorly understood to guide sampling strategies we developed a 2 d plan view model to simulate the influence of landslides on crn dynamics we employ a sediment mixing model in which concentrations of crns from material eroded by both landslides and steady processes are combined to evaluate how best to infer erosion rates from crn concentrations this model is further used to test a new analytical solution for the distribution of crn concentrations on hillslopes in a landslide prone system results suggest that for landscapes dominated by deep 5 m landslides only large drainage basins 100 km2 provide consistently reliable estimates of erosion rates from crn concentrations for landscapes dominated by shallow landslides 0 7 2 m smaller basins can produce reliable estimates results further suggest that the distribution of concentrations from hillslope samples could be used to deduce the relative contribution of material derived from landslide and steady processes these findings underscore the need to consider carefully the sources of natural variability in sampling and analyzing crns if properly done the variability can reveal useful information about geomorphic processes in landslide prone areas

how long is a hillslope hillslope length is a fundamental attribute of landscapes intrinsically linked to drainage density landslide hazard biogeochemical cycling and hillslope sediment transport existing methods to estimate catchment average hillslope lengths include inversion of drainage density or identification of a break in slope area scaling where the hillslope domain transitions into the fluvial domain here we implement a technique which models flow from point sources on hilltops across pixels in a digital elevation model dem based on flow directions calculated using pixel aspect until reaching the channel network defined using recently developed channel extraction algorithms through comparisons between these measurement techniques we show that estimating hillslope length from plots of topographic slope versus drainage area or by inverting measures of drainage density systematically underestimates hillslope length in addition hillslope lengths estimated by slope area scaling breaks show large variations between catchments of similar morphology and area we then use hillslope length relief structure of landscapes to explore nature of sediment flux operating on a landscape distinct topographic forms are predicted for end member sediment flux laws which constrain sediment transport on hillslopes as being linearly or nonlinearly dependent on hillslope gradient because our method extracts hillslope profiles originating from every ridgetop pixel in a dem we show that the resulting population of hillslope length relief measurements can be used to differentiate between linear and nonlinear sediment transport laws in soil mantled landscapes we find that across a broad range of sites across the continental united states topography is consistent with a sediment flux law in which transport is nonlinearly proportional to topographic gradient

quantitative characterization and elevation estimation of lake lahontan shoreline terraces from high resolution digital elevation models the precision with which the elevation of a feature such as a terrace can be measured depends on the characterization of the noise contaminating the measurement a method for identification and extraction of terrace feature elevations is presented and the topographic noise due to erosion as well as measurement error is quantified high resolution digital elevation models dem are acquired at six wave cut volcanic bedrock terrace sites from around the highstand of paleo lake lahontan in the western great basin local dems which are tied to regional geodetic control were acquired using conventional total station rapid postprocessed and real time kinematic global positioning system methods the topographic signal is processed with derivative filters for geomorphic feature recognition and averaging for noise reduction results indicate that noise levels for identifiable features such as riser crest knickpoint and slope inflection point are statistically equivalent and on the order of 0 5 m standard deviation averaging within topographic bins spanning 50 m along terrace strike yields feature elevation estimates with standard errors on the order of 0 12 m the mean bench window elevation between the riser crest and knickpoint has the lowest standard error and is systematically related to water level propagation of surveying geoid estimation and terrace feature elevation estimation errors indicates that displacements on the order of 0 5 m may be resolved using these methods elevation estimate interpretation involves terrace development degradation and neotectonics but this new methodology has significant advantages in studies of neotectonic or geomorphic processes using local terrace elevation measurements

how well can hillslope evolution models explain topography simulating soil transport and production with high resolution topographic data the morphology of hillslopes is a direct refl ection of tectonic forcing and climatic and biologic processes that drive soil production mobilization and transport soil transport on hillslopes affects river incision by providing tools for channel abrasion and controls the distribution of sediment that infl uences aquatic habitat although numerous hillslope transport relationships have been proposed over the past 60 years a comprehensive analysis of model predictions for a real landscape has not been performed here we use high resolution topographic data obtained via airborne laser swath mapping alsm to simulate the long term evolution of oregon coast range hillslopes and test three published transport models and a new model that accounts for nonlinear depth and slopedependent transport analysis of one dimensional steady state solutions for these four models suggests that plots of gradient curvature may be diagnostic for distinguishing model predictions to evaluate two dimensional model predictions for our fi eld site we assumed local steady state erosion for a 72 000 m 2 sequence of hillslopes and valleys after calibrating each of the four models we imposed constant base level lowering for cells within the valley network simulated 500 000 yr of soil production and transport and determined which transport model best preserved morphologic patterns that describe the current landscape form models for which fl ux varies proportionally with hillslope gradient generated broadly convex hilltops inconsistent with the sharp crested steep sided slopes of our study site whereas the two nonlinear slope dependent models produced convex planar slopes consistent with current hillslope form our proposed nonlinear slope and depth dependent model accounts for how soil thickness controls the magnitude of biogenic disturbances that drive transport this model best preserved the current landscape form particularly the narrow sharply convex hilltops characteristic of the oregon coast range according to our formulation which provides an explicit linkage for relating the distribution of biota to hillslope processes the degree of hilltop convexity varies nonlinearly with the ratio of erosion rate to maximum soil production rate highlighting the profound infl uence of soil depth on hillslope evolution

dating quaternary fault scarps formed in alluvium using morphologic parameters abstract ages of fault scarps as well as those other types of transport limited slopes can be estimated by comparing their morphology with the morphology of scarps of known age age estimates are derived by fitting the scarp profiles to synthetic profiles generated using a diffusion equation or alternatively by classification using a linear discriminant function the usefulness of morphology derived age estimates depends on the relative importance of non age related morphologic variation data from more than 200 scarp profiles demonstrate that morphologic variation not related to scarp age can introduce significant uncertainties into morphology derived age estimates

hillslope and channel evolution in a marine terraced landscape santa cruz california a flight of marine terraces along the central california coastline provides a unique setting for the study of topographic evolution wavecut platforms mantled by 2 6 m of marine terrace cover deposits are separated by 10 50 m tall decaying sea cliffs paleocliff edges become more rounded with age yet the details of the profiles and frequent bedrock exposure on the upper slopes imply weathering limited transport five bedrock stream channels etched through the marine terrace sequence display one to three distinct convexities in their longitudinal profiles detailed hand level surveys of the hillslopes and of the stream channel longitudinal profiles constrain hillslope evolution and channel incision components of a numerical model of landscape evolution we account for regolith production as a function of regolith depth in accord with the field observation that hillslope processes are presently dominated by the activities of burrowing rodents the transport process is taken to be diffusive stream incision is assumed to be controlled by stream power for which we use the surrogate of local drainage area slope product best fits of the numerical model to field data imply hillslope diffusivity is 10 m2 kyr 1 regolith production rate on bare bedrock is 0 3 m kyr 1 and falls off rapidly with regolith cover and the constant controlling the efficiency of stream incision is 5 to 7 10 7m 1 kyr1

evaluating hillslope diffusion and terrace riser degradation in new zealand and idaho 1 the relationship of sediment flux to surface slope is a predominant control on the evolution of transport limited hillslopes although both linear and nonlinear sediment flux models have been proposed and widely debated this functional relationship remains one of the outstanding questions in geomorphology we examine degradation of fluvial terrace risers in new zealand and idaho in order to test the linear diffusion model and to better understand the relationship between sediment flux and slope we implement three techniques based on the linear diffusion model as well as a geometric scaling method that uses proportional relationships in riser geometry rather than a specific transport equation model to assess rates of degradation we show that techniques that utilize the riser midpoint slope as the primary metric of degradation as opposed to the full scarp profile offer the simplest and most reliable assessment of riser degradation our findings suggest that the linear diffusion model does not accurately describe terrace riser degradation except for low angle risers for which linear and nonlinear forms are indistinguishable results from the geometric scaling method show that degradation rates in both regions differ by a factor of two between equator and pole facing risers and that diffusion ages of idaho risers are approximately 2 times those of new zealand risers similar geometric trends in riser evolution from both regions reveal that terrace riser degradation is governed by a widely applicable relationship between sediment flux and slope

particle transport over rough hillslope surfaces by dry ravel experiments and simulations with implications for nonlocal sediment flux 1 past studies of hillslope evolution have typically assumed that soil creep processes are governed by a linear relationship between local hillslope angle and transport distance the assumption of linear diffusion has fallen out of favor because when coupled with an expression of mass continuity it yields unrealistic hillslope profiles as a consequence a better understanding of the mechanics of sediment transport is needed here we report results from a series of flume experiments performed to investigate sediment transport by dry ravel a common soil creep process in arid and semiarid environments we find that at gentle slopes transport distances follow distributions characteristic of local transport as gradients steepen a fraction of the particles begins to exhibit nonlocal transport and that fraction increases rapidly with slope a stochastic discrete element model that couples an effective friction term with a shock term reproduces the results from the flume experiments suggesting that it can be used to explore the nature of particle transport on rough surfaces the model predicts that exponential distributions of transport distances on gentle slopes evolve into quasi uniform distributions on steep slopes and the transition occurs as slopes approach the angle of repose our results support previous findings that the angle of repose represents a threshold between friction and inertial regimes in addition we propose that the angle of repose represents a fuzzy boundary between local and nonlocal transport

lifespan of mountain ranges scaled by feedbacks between landsliding and erosion by rivers an important challenge in geomorphology is the reconciliation of the high fluvial incision rates observed in tectonically active mountain ranges with the long term preservation of significant mountain range relief in ancient tectonically inactive orogenic belts river bedrock erosion and sediment transport are widely recognized to be the principal controls on the lifespan of mountain ranges but the factors controlling the rate of erosion and the reasons why they seem to vary significantly as a function of tectonic activity remain controversial here we use computational simulations to show that the key to understanding variations in the rate of erosion between tectonically active and inactive mountain ranges may relate to a bidirectional coupling between bedrock river incision and landslides whereas fluvial incision steepens surrounding hillslopes and increases landslide frequency landsliding affects fluvial erosion rates in two fundamentally distinct ways on the one hand large landslides overwhelm the river transport capacity and cause upstream build up of sediment that protects the river bed from further erosion on the other hand in delivering abrasive agents to the streams landslides help accelerate fluvial erosion our models illustrate how this coupling has fundamentally different implications for rates of fluvial incision in active and inactive mountain ranges the coupling therefore provides a plausible physical explanation for the preservation of significant mountain range relief in old orogenic belts up to several hundred million years after tectonic activity has effectively ceased

the influence of climate and microclimate aspect on soil creep efficiency cinder cone morphology and evolution along the eastern mediterranean golan heights although hillslope evolution has been subject to much investigation for more than a century the effect of climate on the morphology of soil mantled hillslopes remains poorly constrained in this study we perform numerical simulations of volcanic cinder cones in the golan heights eastern mediterranean to estimate soil transport efficiency across a significant north south gradient in mean annual precipitation 1100 to 500 mm we use the initial cinder cone morphology constrained by stratigraphy the modern hillslope form surveyed with sub meter accuracy and the eruption age based on 40ar 39ar chronology to predict the best fit value of the soil transport coefficient diffusivity based on a nonlinear transport model our results indicate that the best fit diffusivity k varies from 1 to 6 m2 ka 1 among the five cinder cones in our field area diffusivity k values vary systematically with precipitation and hillslope aspect specifically k is higher on south facing drier hillslopes and decreases with mean annual precipitation we interpret this climate dependency to reflect vegetation driven variations in apparent soil cohesion which increases with root network density and attenuation of rain splash and overland flow erosion which increases with vegetative ground cover to assess how vegetative root mass and ground cover vary with precipitation and aspect we quantified the spatial distribution of ndvi normalized difference vegetation index from aster satellite images and observed spatial variations that correlate with our calibrated values of k analysis of previously studied cinder cones in the usa can be used to extend our framework to arid domains this endeavor suggests a humped relationship between k and precipitation with maximum diffusivity at mean annual precipitation of 400 600 mm copyright 2017 john wiley sons ltd

effect of height and orientation microclimate on geomorphic degradation rates and processes late glacial terrace scarps in central idaho terrace scarps can serve as a nearly ideal natural laboratory for the study of the evolution of slopes this paper examines the effects of scarp size height and orientation microclimate by keeping constant variables such as age lithology and regional climate if a scarp degrades as a closed system and downslope movement is directly proportional to surface gradient the evolution of the scarp is modeled by the diffusion equation for a group of scarps of same age and known starting angle the diffusion equation model predicts the relation between maximum scarp angle and scarp height h late pleistocene terrace scarps now as steep as 33 25 as well as measured angles of repose for sand and gravel require a starting angle as steep as 33 5 for latest pleistocene idaho and utah scarps as h increases is gentler more degraded than modeled by the diffusion equation with a constant rate coefficient the degradation rate coefficient c increases tenfold with scarp height it should not change with scarp height if downslope movement is solely determined by surface gradient to the first power soil wash appears to be responsible for this departure from the diffusion equation model for transport rate by soil wash is a function of scarp size height south facing scarps are less vegetated and more degraded than north facing scarps for scarps 2 m high the degradation rate c on s facing scarps is 2 times that on n facing scarps for 10 m scarps it is 5 times the observed dependence of the rate coefficient c on scarp height can be removed by normalizing c to values for west facing scarps of the same height the residual c values calculated by this method correlate well with differences in incident solar radiation resulting from the different scarp orientations and maximum gradients this correlation demonstrates the importance of orientation on slope processes and their rates through the differences in freeze thaw cycles soil moisture and vegetative cover scarp morphology may be used to estimate age if one accounts for the effects of climate and for scarp height orientation and lithology for example using the dated bonneville shoreline scarps for calibration and comparing only scarps of equal height we estimate the drum mountains fault scarps to be 9 000 yr old this age is about twice that produced by previous diffusion equation calculations that have not accounted for the height as we have here but it is the same as independent geologic estimates of their age

inverting topography for landscape evolution model process representation 3 determining parameter ranges for select mature geomorphic transport laws and connecting changes in fluvial erodibility to changes in climate

structural evolution of orogenic wedges interplay between erosion and weak decollements orogenic wedges commonly display an inner wedge where crystalline units have been exhumed and an outer wedge formed by imbricated sedimentary units detached from the basement analog experiments have shown that similar structures can emerge naturally in the presence of weak decollements due to the interplay between erosion and deformation in this study we further investigate this hypothesis using two dimensional visco elasto plastic numerical models our experiments assume a basal and an intermediate decollement within the wedge experiments with a frictional strength of the basal decollement lower or equal to that of the intermediate decollement show a structural evolution of fold and thrust belts dominated by out of sequence thrusting conversely when the intermediate decollement is weaker than the basal decollement distinct outer and inner wedges are formed this process leads to episodic migration of midcrustal ramps tectonic underplating and antiformal stacking facilitated by erosion comparison between our models and the himalayan wedge suggests a low effective friction 0 10 which is probably due to dynamic weakening during large m8 himalayan earthquakes the deeper decollement along which the lower plate thrusts beneath the high himalaya must be a thermally activated ductile shear zone with an apparent friction of 0 18 fold and thrust belts worldwide exhibit various architectures in which different decollement levels might be activated thus our study provides a framework to help assess under which conditions a variety of structures observed in orogenic systems can arise

holocene temperature and precipitation variability on the central tibetan plateau revealed by multiple palaeo climatic proxy records from an alpine wetland sequence this study has reconstructed the holocene environmental history of central tibetan plateau a transitional area between monsoon dominated asia and westerlies dominated asia to examine the interplay between the two circulation systems and effects of other potential mechanisms on the temporal variability of holocene climatic conditions in the study area specifically this study has produced a twin record of palaeo hydrology and palaeo temperature from an alpine wetland sediment sequence using two sets of lipid based biomarker indices n alkanes and branched glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraethers bgdgts the results show that 1 the asian summer monsoon has supplied moisture that helped initiate the wetland habitat around 8000 cal yr bp about 2000 years later than locations along the southeastern edge of the plateau 2 a significant decline in moisture supply is evident since the medieval warm period 3 the westerlies have transmitted variability of the north atlantic climate to the study area resulting in periodic increases in evaporation and causing short term expansion or contraction of the wetland and 4 the palaeo air temperature change follows closely that of global sea level and sea surface temperature implying a link to global ice volume change throughout the holocene this study concludes that the holocene climate history of central tibetan plateau is a result of monsoonal moisture supply interacted with the westerlies variability while the palaeo temperature has followed changes in global ice volume during the present warm interglacial

scarp degraded by linear diffusion inverse solution for age under the assumption that landforms unaffected by drainage channels are degraded according to the linear diffusion equation a procedure is developed to invert a scarp profile to find its diffusion age diffusion age having dimension length 2 is the product of diffusivity times chronological age the second moment of scarp slope grows linearly with age this fact together with an assumption about initial scarp shape allows the inverse determination of diffusion age age found assuming a vertical initial scarp is termed apparent age any nonvertical initial scarp profile has a nonzero initial apparent age true diffusion age differs from apparent age by a fraction of scarp offset squared the inverse procedure applied to synthetic data yields the following rules of thumb evidence of initial scarp shape has been lost when apparent age reaches twice its initial value if a scarp is formed by two events the inversion gives their offset weighted mean age with an error that is a fraction of offset squared a scarp that appears to have been formed by one event may have been formed by two with an interval between them as large as apparent age after scarps of two fault traces have diffused to appear as one the error in inferred age may be as large as half the apparent age variation of apparent age along strike would indicate multiple fault traces the simplicity of scarp profile measurement and this inversion makes profile analysis attractive if linearity of the flow law time for a free face to be reduced to the angle of repose and variation of diffusivity with climate and material could be established profile analysis would become a reliable dating technique

evolution of undercut slopes on abandoned incised meanders in the eastern highland rim of tennessee usa abstract field surveys location for time reasoning and computer modeling were used to study the evolution of slopes on valley walls of abandoned bedrock meanders on the eastern highland rim tennessee hillslopes on the undercut slopes of cutoff incised meanders were ordered as to relative age by the height of their meander floors above the modern stream level the assumption is that the undercut slope is actively eroded by the stream until abandonment of the meander at which time the slope begins to evolve to a different form more advanced stages of evolution occur on walls of higher meanders that were abandoned earlier the most rapid change in this initial form is the elimination of a free face which occurs soon after the meander is abandoned in addition the hillslopes associated with even the lowest youngest cutoff meanders show somewhat gentler overall gradients than the actively undercut slopes hillslopes associated with meanders 3 to about 20 m above modern stream level maintain straight segments with angles showing only a slight decrease from the 36 38 associated with the lowest cutoffs overall angles decrease however as the straight segment becomes shorter the oldest slopes those on cutoffs 30 m or greater above modern stream level have developed into convex concave slopes with maximum slopes of 15 a hillslope evolution model based on previously published algorithms was used to simulate the transition of actively undercut hillslopes into hillslopes on abandoned meanders hillslope modeling is particularly useful in this setting if the valley incision rate is known an age can be estimated for the cutoff and hence for the hillslope alternatively if hillslope process rates are known a model age obtained for the hillslope can be used to estimate an incision rate even where both incision rates and hillslope process rates are poorly constrained as in the present setting modeling allows assumptions about specific rates to be evaluated by determining their implications for other rates for example for three cutoff meanders along one stream best fit criteria were used to select process rates for the model model ages of hillslopes were then obtained and compared with those calculated from a valley incision rate measured elsewhere in the same physiographic province for two of the hillslopes model ages were found to be much younger than those calculated from the incision rate in order to make the two ages agree unreasonably low process rates had to be used in the model thus implying that the incision rate probably underestimates the actual incision rate in this valley experimentation with heights of initial profiles again using best fit criteria suggests that since abandonment of the highest cutoff the plateau has been downwasting at a rate about one fourth that of the valley incision rate a finding in agreement with published rates of chemical denudation in the area

escarpment evolution on high elevation rifted margins insights derived from a surface processes model that combines diffusion advection and reaction experiments with a surface processes model of large scale 1 1000 km long term 1 100 m y erosional denudation are used to establish the controls on the evolution of a model escarpment that is related to the rifting of a continent the model describes changes in topographic form as a result of simultaneous short and long range mass transport representing hillslope diffusive processes and fluvial transport advection respectively fluvial entrainment is modeled as a first order kinetic reaction which reflects the credibility of the substrate and therefore the fluvial system is not necessarily carrying at capacity one dimensional and planform models demonstrate that the principal controls on the evolution of an initially steep model escarpment are 1 antecedent topography drainage 2 the timescale or equivalently a length scale in the fluvial entrainment reaction 3 the flexural response of the lithosphere to denudation and 4 the relative efficiencies of the short and long range transport processes when rainfall and substrate lithology are uniform a significant amount of discharge draining over the escarpment top causes it to degrade only when the top of the model escarpment coincides with a drainage divide can escarpment retreat occur for these conditions an additional requirement for retreat of a model escarpment without decline is a long reaction time scale for fluvial entrainment this corresponds to a substrate that is hard to detach by fluvial erosion and therefore to fluvial erosion that is not transport limited continuous backtilting of an escarpment due to flexural isostatic uplift in response to denudational unloading helps maintain the scarp top as a divide it is essential if the escarpment gradient is to be preserved during retreat in a uniform lithology low flexural rigidities promote steep and slowly retreating escarpments for given rainfall and substrate conditions the morphology of a retreating model escarpment is determined by the ratio of the short range diffusive and long range advective transport efficiencies a low ratio which is interpreted to correspond to a relatively arid climate and weathering limited conditions promotes steep sharp topped escarpments with straight main slopes and escarpment retreat occurs over a wide range of height scales a high ratio interpreted to correspond to a more humid temperate climate produces a convex upper slope and concave lower slope morphology and only major escarpments are predicted to preserve a high scarp gradient lithological contrasts in the model produce more complex morphologies and predict the formation of scarps crowned by an erosionally resistant caprock however resistant caprocks are not an essential requirement for model scarps to retreat we conclude that the inferred controls and model behavior are both consistent with the present day morphology of rifted continental margins and with modern conceptual models of landscape evolution

gopher bioturbation field evidence for non linear hillslope diffusion it has generally been assumed that diffusive sediment transport on soil mantled hillslopes is linearly dependent on hillslope gradient fieldwork was done near santa barbara california to develop a sediment transport equation for bioturbation by the pocket gopher thomomys bottae and to determine whether it supports linear diffusion the route taken by the sediment is divided into two parts a subsurface path followed by a surface path the first is the transport of soil through the burrow to the burrow opening the second is the discharge of sediment from the burrow opening onto the hillslope surface the total volumetric sediment flux as a function of hillslope gradient is found to be qs cm3 cm 1 a 1 176 dz dx 3 189 dz dx 2 68 dz dx 34 dz dx 0 4 this result does not support the use of linear diffusion for hillslopes where gopher bioturbation is the dominant mode of sediment transport a one dimensional hillslope evolution program was used to evolve hillslope profiles according to non linear and linear diffusion and to compare them to a typical hillslope the non linear case more closely resembles the actual profile with a convex cap at the divide leading into a straight midslope section copyright 2000 john wiley sons ltd

using hilltop curvature to derive the spatial distribution of erosion rates 1 erosion rates dictate the morphology of landscapes and therefore quantifying them is a critical part of many geomorphic studies methods to directly measure erosion rates are expensive and time consuming whereas topographic analysis facilitates prediction of erosion rates rapidly and over large spatial extents if hillslope sediment flux is nonlinearly dependent on slope then the curvature of hilltops will be linearly proportional to erosion rates in this contribution we develop new techniques to extract hilltop networks and sample their adjacent hillslopes in order to test the utility of hilltop curvature for estimating erosion rates using high resolution 1 m digital elevation data published and new cosmogenic radionuclide analyses in the feather river basin california suggest that erosion rates vary by over an order of magnitude 10 to 250 mm kyr 1 hilltop curvature increases with erosion rates allowing calibration of the hillslope sediment transport coefficient which controls the relationship between gradient and sediment flux having constraints on sediment transport efficiency allows estimation of erosion rates throughout the landscape by mapping the spatial distribution of hilltop curvature additionally we show that hilltop curvature continues to increase with rising erosion rates after gradient limited hillslopes have emerged hence hilltop curvature can potentially reflect higher erosion rates than can be predicted by hillslope gradient providing soil production on hilltops can keep pace with erosion finally hilltop curvature can be used to estimate erosion rates in landscapes undergoing a transient adjustment to changing boundary conditions if the response timescale of hillslopes is short relative to channels