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

a mass failure model for the initial degradation of fault scarps with application to the 1959 scarps at hebgen lake montana abstract calculation of earthquake scarp ages from scarp morphology usually assumes that scarp materials reach their angle of repose immediately after a rupture however observations of the 1959 hebgen lake montana earthquake scarp and similar features worldwide confirm that scarps require a finite period of mass failure to reach the initial conditions for hillslope diffusion so the age of features less than 1000 yr old cannot be accurately estimated with methods based only on the linear diffusion equation we apply a numerical model of this interval of mass failure degradation to vertical initial angle scarps from the 1959 rupture at hebgen lake montana the mass failure rate coefficient r m ranges from 1 0 10 2 to 1 2 10 1 m yr 1 for young scarps at hebgen lake and nine other locations and has little or no dependence on climate conditions such as annual temperature range or average rainfall including an interval of mass failure gives more accurate age estimates where a scarp age is of the same order as the characteristic mass failure relaxation time of 10 1000 yr

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

the relationship between catchment and hillslope properties implications of a catchment evolution model abstract a recently proposed model of catchment evolution is used as the basis to study the relationships between catchment and hillslope properties the results highlight the interaction of the large scale and small scale features of the landscape tectonic uplift influences the catchment gradient in turn influencing the hillslope gradient and thus the drainage density but equally the hillslope ad channel gradients are related by sediment transport continuity so that catchment gradient is influenced by hillslope gradient neither the hillslope nor the channel network can be studied independently of the other catchment gradients are explicitly related to regional climatic and geologic conditions hillslope gradient and lenght are related via runoff and soil erosional properties if hillslope gradient is known then hillslope lenght and drainage density can be determined in turn drainage density can also be related to catchment scale properties via drainage density it is then possible to obtain an explicit relationship between hillslope length and catchment gradient and area lingking the basin s small and large scale features

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

analysis of scarp profiles evaluation of errors in morphologic dating morphologic analysis of scarp degradation can be used quantitatively to determine relative ages of different scarps formed in cohesionless materials under the same climatic conditions scarps of tectonic origin as well as wavecut or rivercut terraces can be treated as topographic impulses that are attenuated by surface erosional processes this morphological evolution can be modelled as the convolution of the initial shape with erosion or degradation function whose width increases with time such modeling applies well to scarps less than 10m high formed in unconsolidated fanglomerates to a good approximation the degradation function is gaussian with a variance measuring the degree of rounding of the initial shape this geometric parameter can be called the degradation coefficient a synthetic experiment shows that the degradation coefficient can be obtained by least squares fitting of profiles levelled perpendicular to the scarp gravitational collapse of the free face is accounted for by assuming initial scarp slopes at the angle of repose of the cohesionless materials 30 35 uncertainties in the measured profiles result in an uncertainty in degradation coefficient that can be evaluated graphically because the degradation coefficient is sensitive to the regional slope and to three dimensional processes gullying loess accumulation stream incision etc a reliable and accurate determination of degradation coefficient requires several long profiles across the same scarp the linear diffusion model of scarp degradation is a gaussian model in which the degradation coefficient is proportional to numerical age in that case absolute dating requires only determination of the propotionality constant called the mass diffusivity constant for holocene scarps a few meters high in loose alluvium under arid climatic conditions mass diffusivity constants generally range between 1 and 6 m 2 kyr morphologic analysis is a reliable method to compare ages of different scarps in a given area and it can provide approximate absolute ages of holocene scarplike landforms

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

sediment transport by dry ravel 1 dry ravel is a general term that describes the rolling bouncing and sliding of individual particles down a slope and is a dominant hillslope sediment transport process in steep arid and semiarid landscapes during fires particles can be mobilized by the collapse of sediment wedges that have accumulated behind vegetation on a daily basis particles may be mobilized by bioturbation and by small landslides experiments on a dry ravel flume indicate that a basic expression of the momentum equation predicts the distance traveled by particles propelled down a rough surface this equation is further elaborated to produce a nonlinear slope dependent transport equation for dry ravel that represents the rate at which sediment crosses a contour width of slope sediment traps installed on two hillslope transects near santa barbara california measured the flux from dry ravel initiated by bioturbation and the data support the form of the equation additionally a physical model based on the infinite slope stability analysis is proposed for the initiation of dry ravel by landsliding the analytical result from this model is supported by experiments and field data reported by others

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

morphologic dating of fault scarps using airborne laser swath mapping alsm data 1 models of fault scarp morphology have been previously used to infer the relative age of different fault scarps in a fault zone using labor intensive ground surveying we present a method for automatically extracting scarp morphologic ages within high resolution digital topography scarp degradation is modeled as a diffusive mass transport process in the across scarp direction the second derivative of the modeled degraded fault scarp was normalized to yield the best fitting in a least squared sense scarp height at each point and the signal to noise ratio identified those areas containing scarp like topography we applied this method to three areas along the san andreas fault and found correspondence between the mapped geometry of the fault and that extracted by our analysis this suggests that the spatial distribution of scarp ages may be revealed by such an analysis allowing the recent temporal development of a fault zone to be imaged along its length

morphologic dating of slowly evolving scarps using a diffusive analogue morphologic dating techniques that have been applied successfully in arid and semi arid areas are also suitable for slowly evolving scarps that are usually found in temperate climate environments two approaches based on diffusion to relate the present day shape of a scarp to its age are used here the first assumes a model of scarp degradation based on a diffusive process d method the second evaluates the state of scarp degradation using the slope distribution along a topographic profile sd method based on an anthropic scarp of known age we have obtained a mass diffusivity close to 1 5 m ka a reasonable value for areas characterized by a continuous vegetation cover and a temperate climate we show that the sd method requires an age correction since it does not take into account the earliest stage for which the mid height point is not yet affected by erosion however only the sd method reveals that at several profiles a later scarp reactivation event has occurred such information can be important when trying to identity the recent geological or environmental events that have affected a region

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

using chemical tracers in hillslope soils to estimate the importance of chemical denudation under conditions of downslope sediment transport 1 we present a model of hillslope soils that couples the evolution of topography soil thickness and the concentration of constituent soil phases defined as unique components of the soil with collective mass equal to the total soil mass the model includes both sediment transport and chemical denudation a simplified two phase model is developed the two phases are a chemically immobile phase which has far lower solubility than the bulk soil and is not removed through chemical weathering for example zircon grains and a chemically mobile phase that may be removed from the system through chemical weathering chemical denudation rates in hillslope soils can be measured using the concentration of immobile elements but the enrichment of these immobile elements is influenced by spatial variations in chemical denudation rates and spatial variations in the chemical composition of a soil s parent material these considerations cloud the use of elemental depletion factors and cosmogenic nuclide based total denudation rates used to identify the relationship between physical erosion and chemical weathering if these techniques do not account for downslope sediment transport on hillslopes where chemical denudation rates vary in space estimates of chemical denudation using techniques that do not account for downslope sediment transport and spatial variations in chemical denudation rates may be adequate where the chemical denudation rate is a significant fraction of the total denudation rate but are inadequate in regions where chemical weathering rates are small compared to the total denudation rate we also examine relationships between transient mechanical and chemical denudation rates soil particle residence times may affect chemical weathering rates and the relationship between total landscape lowering rates and soil particle residence times can thus be quantified

block controlled hillslope form and persistence of topography in rocky landscapes rocky hillslopes dotted with boulder sized blocks and covered by a thin nonuniform soil are common in both steep landscapes and arid environments on earth as well as on other planets while the evolution of soil mantled convex upward hillslopes in uniform lithology is reasonably well understood the influence of heterogeneous lithology and geologic structure on hillslope form and evolution has yet to be properly addressed landscapes developed in layered sedimentary rocks feature sharp edged landforms such as mesas and hogbacks that exhibit steep linear to concave upward ramps with scattered blocks calved from resistant rock layers overlying softer strata here we show that blocks can control the persistence of topography and the form and evolution of hillslopes in these landscapes we present a numerical model demonstrating that incorporation of feedbacks between block release interruption of soil creep by blocks and sporadic downslope movement of blocks are necessary and sufficient to capture the morphology and evolution of these landscapes numerical results are reproduced by a simple analytical solution that predicts steady state concave hillslope form and average slope angle from block size and spacing our results illuminate previously unrecognized hillslope feedbacks advancing our understanding of the geomorphology of rocky hillslopes on a landscape scale our findings establish a quantitative method to address the migration of sharp edges and the persistence of topography in layered landscapes

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

nonequilibrium geomorphic processes and deterministic chaos abstract disequilibrium is a common if not dominant condition in geomorphology and other environmental sciences because disequilibrium in a system implies a time lag time steps and time delays in simple deterministic equations may reflect process and such equations have been shown to result in chaos after examining some models of hillslope and catchment development we present an oversimplified model of a hillslope in which we calculate the elevation of a point at time t 1 as a function we consider both linear and nonlinear terms of the difference in elevation between it and the next uphill and downhill points at time t we show how this simple hillslope model will not produce chaos under one set of limiting conditions that do not include nonlinearity but without proof we note that in most conditions the hillslope mode is so similar to other models in which chaos arises because of disequilibrium that chaotic behavior is a likely possibility a formulation wherein the time step is in a weathering and or erosion coefficient rather than the elevation is also proposed

morphologic dating of scarps formed by repeated slip events along the san andreas fault carrizo plain california morphologic dating of fault scarps determines late cenozoic fault activity by comparing observed topographic profiles with those determined using a calibrated hillslope development model we postulate that the material transport rate along the profile is a function only of local slope and is transport limited morphologic dating of hillslopes bounded by continuously dropping boundaries or cut by continuously slipping faults is used to determine the material transport rate constant the time since the downdrop was initiated or the fault began to slip we calibrated the hillslope development model on the southwest facing scarp southeast of wallace creek along the san andreas fault saf in the carrizo plain california the scarp has been exposed by right lateral offset of a southeast sloping shutter ridge located on the southwest side of the saf and by vertical offset related to secondary deformation we assume that all the observed offset occurs after initial exposure of the scarp by passage of the shutter ridge forward modeling of profile development yielded a mass diffusivity of 8 6 0 8 m2 kyr 1 normal fault slip rates were determined for two graben bounding faults in the northern elkhorn hills in the southeastern carrizo plain by applying the calibrated to the degradation of the scarps to determine the scarp age one fault scarp began to form about 12 kyr ago and the other about 63 kyr ago those ages and estimates of the dip slip along the faults result in slip rates of 1 2 mm yr 1

late pleistocene catchment wide denudation patterns across the european alps abstract we compile detrital 10be concentrations of alpine rivers representing the denudation rates pattern for 375 catchments across the entire european alps using a homogeneized framework we employ state of the art techniques for inverting in situ 10be concentrations into denudation rates from our compilation we find that i while lithologic properties and precipitation runoff do influence erosion mechanisms and rates at the scale of individual catchments and in some specific alpine regions such controls do not directly stand for the entire alps ii as also previously suggested catchment wide denudation rates across the entire european alps closely follow first order alpine topographic metrics at the scale of individual catchments or selected alpine sub regions however in addition to previous local scale studies conducted in the european alps our large scale compilation highlights a functional relationship between catchment wide denudation and mean catchment slope angle catchment wide denudation positively correlates with mean catchment slope up to a threshold angle 25 30 above this threshold any correlation between catchment wide denudation and slope as well as other catchment metrics breaks apart we can reconcile these systematic patterns by proposing a regional erosion model based on diffusive transport laws for catchments located below the slope threshold angle in oversteepened catchments situated above threshold slopes erosion is stochastic in nature as glacial carving likely caused a partial decoupling between hillslope and fluvial domains with complex topographic relationships and sediment connectivity patterns finally we identify a first order positive relationship between modern geodetic rock uplift and catchment wide denudation for the european alps the observed spatial pattern is highly variable and possibly reflects the surface response to deep geodynamic mechanisms prevailing in the different alpine regions we conclude that today s topography and geomorphic features of the entire alps are the result of a millenial scale geomorphic response to past glacial processes and active rock uplift highlighting a link between external and internal drivers for mountain erosion

controls of initial topography on temporal and spatial patterns of glacial erosion abstract here we investigate the influence of initial pre glacial topography on spatial and temporal patterns of glacial erosion using numerical surface process modelling including a higher order ice sheet model first we consider glacier dynamics when simulating glaciation in two real landscapes representing plateau type topography southeast australia and characteristic steady state fluvial topography southern taiwan we find that the different initial landscape configurations result in distinctly different ice configurations and patterns of basal sliding the sliding patterns are controlled by ice configuration and the resulting basal shear stresses and by the thermal properties at the base of the ice we then investigate how these characteristic patterns of basal sliding control glacial erosion and long term landscape evolution using synthetic representations of the two landscapes the two landscape configurations result in markedly different spatial and temporal patterns of glacial erosion however the resulting landscapes may have similar morphology irrespective of initial landscapes and glacial erosion patterns being significantly different the numerical experiments also suggest that in addition to basal temperature basal shear stress is important in restricting long term glacial erosion which is relevant for the preservation of landforms during glaciations specifically pre glacial landforms may be eroded although they are initially protected by cold based ice when the ice configuration promotes significant basal shear stress glacial erosion at the edge of a plateau like landscape in contrast pre glacial landforms may be preserved irrespective of the ice being warm based when low gradients in the ice surface act to limit basal shear stress

the gisp2 δ18o climate record of the past 16 500 years and the role of the sun ocean and volcanoes measured 18o 16o ratios from the greenland ice sheet project 2 gisp2 ice core extending back to 16 500 cal yr b p provide a continuous record of climate change since the last glaciation high resolution annual 18o 16o results were obtained for most of the current millennium a d 818 1985 and record the medieval warm period the little ice age and a distinct 11 yr 18o 16o cycle volcanic aerosols depress central greenland annual temperature 1 5 c maximally and annual 18o 16o for about 4 yr after each major eruptive event on a bidecadal to millennial time scale the contribution of solar variability to holocene greenlandic temperature change is 0 4 c the role of thermohaline circulation change on climate problematic during the holocene is more distinct for the 16 500 10 000 cal yr b p interval analogous to 14c age calibration terminology we express time in calibrated cal yr b p a d 1950 0 cal yr b p the oldest dryas bolling older dryas allerod younger dryas sequence appears in great detail bidecadal variance in 18o 16o but not necessarily in temperature is enhanced during the last phase of lateglacial time and the younger dryas interval suggesting switches of air mass transport between jet stream branches the branched system is nearly instantaneously replaced at the beginning of the bolling and holocene at 14 670 and 11 650 cal yr b p respectively by an atmospheric circulation system in which 18o 16o and annual accumulation initially track each other closely thermodynamic considerations of the accumulation rate temperature relationship can be used to evaluate the 18 o 16o temperature relationship the gisp2 ice layer count years of major gisp2 climate transitions also support the use of coral 14c ages for age calibration

late quaternary paleoseismology of the southern steens fault zone northern nevada the 192 km long steens fault zone is the most prominent normal fault system in the northern basin and range province of western north america we use trench mapping and radiometric dating to estimate displacements and timing of the last three surface rupturing earthquakes e1 e3 on the southern part of the fault south of denio nevada coseismic displacements range from 1 1 to 2 2 0 5 m and radiometric ages indicate earthquake times of 11 5 2 0 ka e3 6 1 0 5 ka e2 and 4 6 1 0 ka e1 these data yield recurrence intervals of 5 4 2 1 k y between e3 and e2 1 5 1 1 k y between e2 and e1 and an elapsed time of 4 6 1 0 k y since e1 the recurrence data yield variable interval slip rates between 0 2 0 22 and 1 5 2 3 mm yr but slip rates averaged over the past 18 k y 0 24 0 06 mm year are similar to long term 8 5 12 5 ma slip rates 0 2 0 1 mm yr measured a few kilometers to the north we infer from the lack of significant topographic relief across the fault in bog hot valley that the fault zone is propagating southward and may now be connected with a fault at the northwestern end of the pine forest range displacements documented in the trench and a rupture length of 37 km indicate a history of three latest quaternary earthquakes with magnitudes of m 6 6 7 1 on the southern part of the steens fault zone

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

nonlinear slope dependent sediment transport in cinder cone evolution sediment flux on transport limited hillslopes is well known to vary nonlinearly with slope diverging as the angle of stability is approached to date however no study has validated the precise form of the nonlinear slope dependent transport model over geologic time scales in a non steady state landform in this paper we show how cinder cones can be used to validate the nonlinear transport model using lathrop wells cinder cone in nye county nevada as a type example cinder cones are well suited for this purpose because they can be radiometrically dated and their angles of stability can be constrained by measurement of subsurface contacts between primary fallout and overlying colluvial deposits reworked from upslope forward model results with a generalized nonlinear transport model characterized by diffusivity and nonlinear exponent n show that the evolution of the cone rim and base are most sensitive to while the cone midpoint is most sensitive to n analyses of the full cone shape therefore permit the two model parameters to be independently inferred if the cone age and angle of stability are independently known results for lathrop wells imply that n 2 in the generalized nonlinear transport model which is consistent with roering et al 9s 1999 widely used form of that model

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

transient deterministic shallow landslide modeling requirements for susceptibility and hazard assessments in a gis framework abstract application of transient deterministic shallow landslide models over broad regions for hazard and susceptibility assessments requires information on rainfall topography and the distribution and properties of hillside materials we survey techniques for generating the spatial and temporal input data for such models and present an example using a transient deterministic model that combines an analytic solution to assess the pore pressure response to rainfall infiltration with an infinite slope stability calculation pore pressures and factors of safety are computed on a cell by cell basis and can be displayed or manipulated in a grid based gis input data are high resolution 1 8 m topographic information derived from lidar data and simple descriptions of initial pore pressure distribution and boundary conditions for a study area north of seattle washington rainfall information is taken from a previously defined empirical rainfall intensity duration threshold and material strength and hydraulic properties were measured both in the field and laboratory results are tested by comparison with a shallow landslide inventory comparison of results with those from static infinite slope stability analyses assuming fixed water table heights shows that the spatial prediction of shallow landslide susceptibility is improved using the transient analyses moreover results can be depicted in terms of the rainfall intensity and duration known to trigger shallow landslides in the study area

sediment disentrainment and the concept of local versus nonlocal transport on hillslopes 1 a local formulation of the sediment flux on a hillslope describes the flux as a unique function of local hillslope conditions at any contour position x whereas a nonlocal formulation must take into account nonlocal upslope or downslope conditions that influence the flux at x local formulations are reasonable when particle motions involve small length scales associated with localized bioturbation of the soil column or with proximal surface transport such as rain splash nonlocal formulations may be more appropriate in steeplands where patchy intermittent motions involve large travel distances mostly over the surface once sediment motions are initiated the disentrainment process determines the distribution of particle travel distances which in turn forms the basis of nonlocal formulations that involve a convolution of hillslope surface conditions for example the land surface slope the kernel in the convolution integral which weights the effect of land surface conditions e g slope at all positions upslope or downslope of x derives from the formulation of the disentrainment rate and characterizes whether particle travel distances depend on conditions at the position where motions originate or vary as particles experience changing surface conditions during their downslope motions if hillslope properties controlling transport e g surface slope are defined or measured at a specified resolution then motions smaller than this resolution cannot be attributed to these properties resolved at a smaller scale in essence the relative importance of local and nonlocal transport depends on the scale of particle motions compared to the relevant scale of hillslope properties that drive transport

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

slope grain size and roughness controls on dry sediment transport and storage on steep hillslopes existing hillslope sediment transport models developed for low relief soil mantled landscapes are poorly suited to explain the coupling between steep rocky hillslopes and headwater channels here we address this knowledge gap using a series of field and numerical experiments to inform a particle based model of sediment transport by dry ravel a mechanism of granular transport characteristic of steep hillslopes we find that particle travel distance increases as a function of the ratio of particle diameter to fine scale 1 m topographic variability associated with rocky landscapes applying a 2 d dry ravel routing model to lidar derived surface topography we show how spatial patterns of local and nonlocal transport control connectivity between hillslopes and steep headwater channels that generate debris flows through failure of ravel filled channels following wildfire our results corroborate field observations of a patchy transition from soil mantled to bedrock landscapes and suggest that there is a dynamic interplay between sediment storage roughness grain sorting and transport even on hillslopes that well exceed the angle of repose

topographic evolution and morphology of surfaces evolving in response to coupled fluvial and hillslope sediment transport 1 this paper quantifies how the ratio of sediment transport on hillslopes to sediment transport in channels influences surface and channel network morphologies and the dynamics of topographic evolution this problem is investigated by development and investigation of a simple deterministic model incorporating mass balance of sediment and runoff coupled with a law combining dispersive and concentrative sediment transport processes our analysis includes the identification of a new nondimensional parameter de that is a function of rainfall system size rock type and hydraulic regime and that is a measure of the relative importance of fluvial and hillslope sediment transport we show that de has an important influence on the surface morphology e g total exposed surface area and interface width which reflects surface roughness and relief channel network form e g channel sinuosity channel spacing and timescale of surface evolution surface and channel network morphologies are also strongly influenced by the overall surface slope relative to the magnitude of initial topographic roughness topographic evolution occurs in distinct phases of relief growth and decay the transition between which is controlled by a saturation phenomenon related to the growth of spatial correlations the scaling behavior of simulated topography with respect to both time and space is obtained and is shown to be independent of de roughness exponents are found to be independent of de but dependent on the magnitude of initial roughness interface width is shown to grow and decay as a logarithm of time

crater degradation on the lunar maria topographic diffusion and the rate of erosion on the moon landscape evolution on the moon is dominated by impact cratering in the post maria period in this study we mapped 800 m to 5 km diameter craters on 30 of the lunar maria and extracted their topographic profiles from digital terrain models created using the kaguya terrain camera we then characterized the degradation of these craters using a topographic diffusion model because craters have a well understood initial morphometry these data provide insight into erosion on the moon and the topographic diffusivity of the lunar surface as a function of time the average diffusivity we calculate over the past 3 ga is 5 5 m2 myr with this diffusivity after 3 ga a 1 km diameter crater is reduced to approximately 52 of its initial depth and a 300 m diameter crater is reduced to only 7 of its initial depth and craters smaller than 200 300 m are degraded beyond recognition our results also allow estimation of the age of individual craters on the basis of their degradation state provide a constraint on the age of mare units and enable modeling of how lunar terrain evolves as a function of its topography

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

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

responses of soil mantled hillslopes to transient channel incision rates 1 channel incision drives hillslope morphology in humid soil mantled landscapes when channel incision rates change numerous hillslope soil properties e g erosion rates soil thickness and soil production adjust in response to this change here we investigate the timescales of adjustment of hillslope soil properties when channel incision rates change in time an idealized soil mantled hillslope linear sediment flux law and soil density equal to bedrock density is investigated and the transient evolution of this hillslope is determined analytically this analysis reveals two dominant adjustment timescales the longer of these two timescales determines the rate at which the entire hillslope adjusts to a change in channel incision rates and is proportional to 4 2 2d where is the length of the hillslope and d is the sediment diffusivity numerical simulations are then used to examine responses of hillslopes that involve nonlinear behavior e g hillslopes that experience nonlinear sediment transport or have soil thicknesses that respond to the soil production function using these numerical models we show that the ratio between the soil density s and the density of the soil parent material can alter the long term response of the hillslope such that the characteristic timescale becomes 4 2 2d s in addition we show that the adjustments of the soil erosion rate the soil production rate and the soil thickness have different characteristic response timescales hillslopes that experience sediment flux that is proportional to the depth slope product respond on longer timescales than hillslopes that experience a linear sediment flux law when channel incision rates increase we illustrate how the spatial pattern of hillslope response to changes in channel incision rates can be used to constrain either channel incision histories or hillslope response timescales if the hillslope response timescale is known the pattern of hillslope disturbance can be used to constrain the celerity of a incision wave as it moves upstream through a channel if the channel incision history is known the hillslope response timescale may be evaluated on the basis of the spatial pattern of hillslope disturbance

detection of transience in eroding landscapes past variations in climate and tectonics have led to spatially and temporally varying erosion rates across many landscapes in this contribution i examine methods for detecting and quantifying the nature and timing of transience in eroding landscapes at a single location cosmogenic nuclides can detect the instantaneous removal of material or acceleration of erosion rates over millennial timescales using paired nuclides detection is possible only if one of the nuclides has a significantly shorter half life than the other currently the only practical way of doing this is to use cosmogenic in situ carbon 14 14c alongside a longer lived nuclide such as beryllium 10 10be hillslope information can complement or be used in lieu of cosmogenic information in soil mantled landscapes increased erosion rates can be detected for millennia after the increase by comparing relief and ridgetop curvature this technique will work as long as the final erosion rate is greater than twice the initial rate on a landscape scale transience may be detected based upon disequilibria in channel profiles or ridgetops but transience can be sensitive to the nature of transient forcing where forcing is periodic landscapes display differing behavior if forcing is driven by changes in base level lowering rates versus changes in the efficiency of either channel or hillslope erosion e g driven by climate change oscillations in base level lowering lead to basin averaged erosion rates that reflect a long term average erosion rate despite strong spatial heterogeneity in local erosion rates this averaging is reflected in 10be concentrations in stream sediments changes in hillslope sediment transport coefficients can lead to large fluctuations in basin averaged erosion rates which again are reflected in 10be concentrations the variability of erosion rates in landscapes where both the sediment transport and channel erodibility coefficients vary is dominated by changes to the hillslope transport coefficient copyright 2016 john wiley sons ltd

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

climate as main factor controlling the sequence development of two pleistocene alluvial fans in the vienna basin eastern austria a numerical modelling approach abstract tectonics climate base level and source lithology are the main controlling factors on alluvial fan development and evolution in this study a numerical model approach was used to investigate climate induced aggradation and degradation cycles the influence of tectonic subsidence and the impact of an axial main river on austria s largest pleistocene alluvial fan setting the mitterndorf basin eastern austria a simulation time frame of 25 ka was applied climatic variations were mainly modelled through variations in sediment supply whereas the impact of subsidence was modelled through variations in slip rates along faults incision and aggradation tendencies of the axial main river were modelled by rising or lowering of the water level the sequence development and geometry of mitterndorf basin s alluvial fans are mainly controlled by pleistocene climate oscillations cold periods generally led to a decrease in vegetation cover and to an increase of periglacial weathering processes which is associated with abundant sediment release and aggradation on fan surface in contrast decreasing sediment supply and increasing precipitation during warmer periods led to fan degradation our models indicate that the alluvial fan development is primarily affected by the distinct sediment supply pulses during phases of short climatic perturbations subsidence becomes the determining factor again when models approach a steady state behaviour similarly the impact of the axial main river becomes more important during simulated warm periods when sediment release to the drainage basin is low the overall basin slope additionally controls the evolution of fan and drainage variations in sediment supply and subsidence do also significantly control the long term evolution of the drainage network during simulated warm periods and thus control the sequence preservation potential of fans and therefore its long term sequence evolution

impact of historic land use change on sediment delivery to a chesapeake bay subestuarine delta historic land use in the chesapeake bay drainage basin induced large fluxes of fluvial sediment to subestuarine tributaries stratigraphic and palaeoecologic analyses of deltaic deposits may be used to infer changes on the landscape but are not sufficient to quantify past sediment supply when viewed as an inverse boundary value problem reconstruction of the sediment supply function may be achieved by combining deltaic sedimentation chronologies with an equation governing delta progradation we propose that the diffusion equation is appropriate for simulating delta progradation and obtaining the sediment supply function provided a suitable diffusion constant d can be determined three new methods for estimating d are presented for the case of estuarine deltas when the inverse boundary value technique was applied to otter point creek a tidal freshwater delta at the head of bush river in upper chesapeake bay d values ranged from 3763 to 6199 m2 a 1 delta growth simulations showed a 1740 1760 initial pulse a 1760 1780 erosive redistributive interval a 1780 1920 growth period and a 1920 present erosive redistributive era coupling of simulated delta elevations with an empirical plant habitat predictive equation allowed for comparison of predicted versus actual relative habitat areas also the model yielded reconstructed watershed erosion rates and stream suspended sediment concentrations that could be useful for development of water quality regulations copyright 2001 john wiley sons ltd

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

evolution of the santa cruz mountains california through tectonic growth and geomorphic decay i describe a strategy for modeling a specific large scale topographic feature that recognizes the discrepancy between tectonic and geomorphic scales and allows for important feedbacks between these processes in the geomorphic model the largest channel in each 4 4 km cell is explicitly treated the channel incision being driven by a stream power rule hillslopes internal to each cell respond rapidly to incision of the local channel prompting their treatment in the model as steady state forms i present analytic expressions for the local relief which is controlled by the local channel incision rate and rate constants associated with the dominant hillslope process either diffusive or landsliding initial conditions include any preexisting topography and a lightly etched a channel network the model is illustrated using the santa cruz mountains california i show that an earlier hypothesis that the santa cruz mountains are due to advection of topography past an uplift source related to a restraining bend in the san andreas fault remains viable when more specific geomorphic processes are considered the local tectonics are represented by crustal thickening necessitated by conservation of mass in the bend right lateral translation of crust with respect to the bend and flexural response to the distributed load the model produces reasonable geographic and statistical distributions of topography using rates of tectonic and geomorphic processes that are within the range of those measured locally this argues that this restraining bend is a long lived feature of the san andreas fault the slightly higher crest and shorter length of the southern santa cruz mountains may potentially be explained by slightly faster slip of the crust west of the fault with respect to the bend than of that to the east deflection is minimal beneath these relatively small mountains disallowing the interesting feedback of erosionally driven uplift the predicted pattern of exhumation could be used to guide the search for fission track sites that could aid in the testing of the model

active tectonics in southern xinjiang china analysis of terrace riser and normal fault scarp degradation along the hotan qira fault system the northern piedmont of the western kunlun mountains xinjiang china is marked at its easternmost extremity south of the hotan qira oases by a set of normal faults trending n50e for nearly 70 km conspicuous on landsat and spot images these faults follow the southeastern border of a deep flexural basin and may be related to the subsidence of the tarim platform loaded by the western kunlun northward overthrust the hotan qira normal fault system vertically offsets the piedmont slope by 70 m highest fault scarps reach 20 m and often display evidence for recent reactivations about 2 m high successive stream entrenchments in uplifted footwalls have formed inset terraces we have leveled topographic profiles across fault scarps and transverse abandoned terrace risers the state of degradation of each terrace edge has been characterized by a degradation coefficient derived by comparison with analytical erosion models edges of highest abandoned terraces yield a degradation coefficient of 33 4 m 2 profiles of cumulative fault scarps have been analyzed in a similar way using synthetic profiles generated with a simple incremental fault scarp model the analysis shows that 1 rate of fault slip remained essentially constant since the aggradation of the piedmont surface and 2 the occurrence of inset terraces was synchronous at all studied sites suggesting a climate driven terrace formation observation of glacial and periglacial geomorphic features along the northern front of the western kunlun range indicates that the qira glaciofluvial fan emplaced after the last glacial maximum during the retreat of the kunlun glaciers 12 22 ka the age of the most developed inset terrace in uplifted valleys is inferred to be 10 3 ka coeval with humid climate pulses of the last deglaciation the mass diffusivity constant k t being time b p in the hotan region is determined to be 3 3 1 4 m 2 10 3 years consistent with other estimates in similar climatic and geologic environments of western china these results imply a minimum rate for the tarim subsidence of 3 5 2 mm yr if western kunlun overthrusts the tarim platform on a crustal ramp dipping 40 45 to the south it would absorb at least 4 5 3 mm yr of convergence between western tibet and tarim

cascade model for fluvial geomorphology summary erosional landscapes are generally scale invariant and fractal spectral studies provide quantitative confirmation of this statement linear theories of erosion will not generate scale invariant topography in order to explain the fractal behaviour of landscapes we have introduced a modified fourier series that is the basis for a renormalization approach we have introduced a non linear dynamical model for the decay of the modified fourier series coefficients that yield a fractal spectra we argue that a physical basis for our approach is that a fractal or nearly fractal distribution of storms floods continually renews erosional features on all scales

modeling the shape and evolution of normal fault facets facets formed along the footwalls of active normal fault blocks display a variety of longitudinal profile forms with variations in gradient shape degree of soil cover and presence or absence of a slope break at the fault trace we show that a two dimensional process oriented cellular automaton model of facet profile evolution can account for the observed morphologic diversity the model uses two dimensionless parameters to represent fault slip progressive rock weathering and downslope colluvial soil transport driven by gravity and stochastic disturbance events the parameters represent rock weathering and soil disturbance rates respectively scaled by fault slip rate both can be derived from field estimated rate coefficients in the model s transport limited regime slope gradient depends on the ratio of disturbance to slip rate with a maximum that represents the angle of repose for colluvium in this regime facet evolution is consistent with nonlinear diffusion models of soil mantled hillslope evolution under the weathering limited regime bedrock becomes partly exposed but microtopography helps trap some colluvium even when facet gradient exceeds the threshold angle whereas the model predicts a continuous gradient from footwall to colluvial wedge under transport limited behavior fully weathering limited facets tend to develop a slope break between footwall and basal colluvium as a result of reduced transport efficiency on the rocky footwall slope to the extent that the model provides a reasonable analogy for natural facets its behavior suggests that facet profile morphology can provide useful constraints on relative potential rates of rock weathering soil disturbance and fault slip

integration of geochemical mass balance with sediment transport to calculate rates of soil chemical weathering and transport on hillslopes 1 we developed a process oriented hillslope soil mass balance model that integrates chemical and physical processes within hillslope soils the model explicitly factors that soil chemical weathering at any hillslope position is related to the flux of soil eroded from upslope as well as soil production from underlying bedrock the model was merged with measurements of soil elemental chemistry and cosmogenic radionuclide based saprolite to soil conversion rates along a 50 m transect of a semiarid granodiorite hillslope in the southeastern australian highlands inverse modeling results in the simultaneous quantification of the rates of soil chemical weathering and soil transport as a function of hillslope position soil chemical weathering rates per land surface area systematically varied along the transect from losses of 0 035 kg m 2 yr 1 on the ridge to gains of 0 035 kg m 2 yr 1 at the lowest slope position the mass loss via soil chemical weathering would have been overestimated by 40 if the impact of soil transport on soil chemistry was ignored the chemical mobility of elements combined with biological nutrient demand controlled the spatial redistribution of individual elements p and ca were preferentially retained relative to si al and fe within the hillslope base the calculated soil transport rate is linearly related to the product of soil thickness and slope gradient instead of slope alone soil residence time was determined by calculating the time length for a 3 dimensional box volume 1 m2 surface area soil thickness to be entirely removed by mass flux of soil transport 4 ka on the ridge to 0 9 ka at the hillslope base these soil residence times combined with soil chemical weathering rates indicate that a 1 m2 area of soil loses 1 800 kg via chemical weathering while passing through the upslope portion of the hillslope but that it regains 90 kg probably via clay precipitation and biological retention of cations during its passage through the lower segments of the transect this study provides a previously unrecognized linkage between physical soil transport and soil chemical weathering that have implications for hillslope evolution as well as biogeochemistry

evolution of the bonneville shoreline scarp in west central utah comparison of scarp analysis methods and implications for the diffusion model of hillslope evolution abstract wave cut pluvial shoreline scarps are ideal natural experiments in hillslope evolution because the ages of these scarps are often precisely known and because they form with a range of heights alluvial textures and microclimates i e orientation previous work using midpoint slope methods on pluvial scarps in the basin and range concluded that scarp evolution is nonlinear and microclimatically controlled the purpose of this study was to further examine the influence of scarp height texture and microclimate in an attempt to calibrate a nonlinear model of scarp evolution to do this over 150 profiles of the bonneville shoreline in the adjacent snake and tule valleys west central utah were collected and analyzed by fitting the entire scarp profile to diffusion equation solutions taking into account uncertainty in the initial scarp angle in contrast to previous studies this analysis revealed no evidence for nonlinearity or microclimatic control to understand the reason for this discrepancy we undertook a systematic study of the accuracy of each scarp analysis method the midpoint slope inverse method was found to yield biased results with systematically higher diffusion ages for young tall scarps the slope offset method is unbiased but has limited resolution because it requires many scarp profiles to yield a single diffusion age a method that incorporates the full scarp profile and uncertainty in the initial scarp angle was found to be the most accurate technique the application of the full scarp method to the bonneville shoreline supports the use of a linear diffusion model for scarps up to 20 m in height scarp orientation had no discernable effect on diffusivity values soil texture was found to have a weak but significant inverse relationship with diffusivity values

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

influence of lithology on hillslope morphology and response to tectonic forcing in the northern sierra nevada of california 1 many geomorphic studies assume that bedrock geology is not a first order control on landscape form in order to isolate drivers of geomorphic change e g climate or tectonics yet underlying geology may influence the efficacy of soil production and sediment transport on hillslopes we performed quantitative analysis of lidar digital terrain models to examine the topographic form of hillslopes in two distinct lithologies in the feather river catchment in northern california a granodiorite pluton and metamorphosed volcanics the two sites separated by 2 km and spanning similar elevations were assumed to have similar climatic histories and are experiencing a transience in landscape evolution characterized by a propagating incision wave in response to accelerated surface uplift c 5 ma responding to increased incision rates hillslopes in granodiorite tend to have morphology similar to model predictions for steady state hillslopes suggesting that they adjust rapidly to keep pace with the incision wave by contrast hillslopes in metavolcanics exhibit high gradients but lower hilltop curvature indicative of ongoing transient adjustment to incision we used existing erosion rate data and the curvature of hilltops proximal to the main channels where hillslopes have most likely adjusted to accelerated erosion rates to demonstrate that the sediment transport coefficient is higher in granodiorite 8 8 m2 ka 1 than in metavolcanics 4 8 m2 ka 1 hillslopes in both lithologies get shorter i e drainage density increases with increasing erosion rates

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

the long term stability of engineered landforms of the ranger uranium mine northern territory australia application of a catchment evolution model there is a need to assess the long term stability of engineered landforms associated with the rehabilitation of ranger uranium mine northern territory australia as it is a requirement that mill tailings must be contained for periods in excess of 1000 years the geomorphic model siberia is calibrated on hydrologic and erosion data collected by a combination of monitoring and rainfall simulation experiments on the waste rock dumps of ranger preliminary analysis of ranger s preferred above grade option suggests that erosion of the order of 7 to 8 m will occur on the structure in a period of 1000 years this depth of erosion may be sufficient to compromise the integrity of containment it is shown that siberia has significant advantages over steady state erosion models suggestions are made for the design that will enhance the stability of the structure and extend the structural life of the containment 1998 john wiley sons ltd

erosion as a driving mechanism of intracontinental mountain growth in nature mountains can grow and remain as localized tectonic features over long periods of time 10 m y by contrast according to current knowledge of lithospheric rheology and neglecting surface processes any intracontinental range with a width that exceeds that which can be supported by the strength of the lithosphere should collapse within a few tens of millions of years for example assuming a quartz dominated crustal rheology the relief of a range initially 3 km high and 300 400 km wide is reduced by half in about 15 m y as a result of lateral spreading of its crustal root we suggest that surface processes might actually prevent such a subsurface collapse removal of material from topographic heights and deposition in the foreland oppose spreading of the crustal root and could eventually drive a net influx of material toward the orogeny we performed a set of numerical experiments in order to validate this hypothesis a section of a lithosphere with a brittle elasto ductile rheology initially loaded by a mountain range is submitted to horizontal shortening and to surface processes if erosion is intense material is removed more rapidly than it can be supplied by crustal thickening below the range and the topography is rapidly smoothed for example a feature 3 km high and 300 400 km wide is halved in height in about 15 m y for an erosion coefficient k 10 3 m 2 yr the erosion rate is of the order of a few 0 1 mm yr this regime might be called erosional collapse if erosion is not active enough the crustal root spreads out laterally and subsurface collapse occurs in the third intermediate regime removal of the material by erosion is dynamically compensated by isostatic rebound and inward flow in the lower crust so that the range can grow in this mountain growth regime the range evolves toward a characteristic graded shape that primarily depends on the erosion law the erosion rate may be high e g 0 5 0 9 mm yr close to the rate of tectonic uplift e g 0 7 1 1 mm yr and few times higher than the rate of topographic uplift 0 15 0 2 mm yr these experiments show that surface processes can favor localized crustal shortening and participate in the development of an intracontinental mountain surface processes must therefore be taken into account in the interpretation and modeling of long term deformation of continental lithosphere conversely the mechanical response of the lithosphere must be accounted for when large scale topographic features are interpreted and modeled in terms of geomorphologic processes

from divots to swales hillslope sediment transport across divers length scales 1 in soil mantled steeplands soil motions associated with creep ravel rain splash soil slips tree throw and rodent activity are patchy and intermittent and involve widely varying travel distances to describe the collective effect of these motions we formulate a nonlocal expression for the soil flux this probabilistic formulation involves upslope and downslope convolutions of land surface geometry to characterize motions in both directions notably accommodating the bidirectional dispersal of material on gentle slopes as well as mostly downslope dispersal on steeper slopes and it distinguishes between the mobilization of soil material and the effect of surface slope in giving a downslope bias to the dispersal of mobilized material the formulation separates dispersal associated with intermittent surface motions from the slower bulk behavior associated with small scale bioturbation and similar dilational processes operating mostly within the soil column with a uniform rate of mobilization of soil material the nearly parabolic form of a hillslope profile at steady state resembles a diffusive behavior with a slope dependent rate of mobilization the steady state hillslope profile takes on a nonparabolic form where land surface elevation varies with downslope distance x as xa with a 3 2 consistent with field observations and where the flux increases nonlinearly with increasing slope the convolution description of the soil flux when substituted into a suitable expression of conservation yields a nonlinear fokker planck equation and can be mapped to discrete particle models of hillslope behavior and descriptions of soil grain transport by rain splash as a stochastic advection dispersion process

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

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

fault slip rates and initiation age based on diffusion equation modeling wasatch fault zone and eastern great basin models of the evolution of fault scarp morphology provide time elapsed since slip initiated on a faulted surface and may therefore provide more accurate estimates of slip rate than the rate calculated by dividing scarp offset by the age of the ruptured surface to accomplish this task linear and nonlinear models of sediment transport are calibrated from the morphology of lake bonneville shoreline scarps and fault scarps formed by multiple surface rupturing earthquakes along the wasatch fault zone wfz profile modeling of scarps formed by several events distributed through time is done using a constant slip rate csr solution and yields a value of a 1 2 slip rate diffusivity time elapsed since slip initiated on a fault is determined by establishing a value for and measuring total scarp offset csr nonlinear modeling 0 2 8 1 1 m2 kyr wfz of faults along the west slope of the oquirrh mountains indicates a slip rate of 0 1 mm yr since 50 to 65 ka which is corroborated by cosmogenic dating 10be 26al age 75 ka the slip rate along the west flank of the stansbury mountains varies from 0 04 to 0 2 mm yr for time frames of 10 to 100 ka with the most recent rupture on the northern portion of the fault zone 10 ka scarp analysis of the southern end of the nephi segment wfz suggests either temporal clustering or variable slip rate as indicated by differences in the short term 1 3 mm yr for 4 3 ka versus long term 0 4 mm yr for 70 ka slip rates

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

results from a new model of river basin evolution this paper briefly describes a model of the erosional development of catchments and their channel networks the model differentiates between the dominant transport processes in hillslope and channels the development of channels and hillslopes occurs in an integrated manner as a function of physically observable mechanisms the growth of a river basin is qualitatively described the model concepts are used to study the basin during periods of growth transient periods as well as during dynamic equilibrium this leads to hypotheses about the relationship between slopes relief tectonic uplift erodability runoff and catchment area it is shown that the model leads to very reasonable and desirable behaviour of hillslopes during retreat and degradation

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

tidally driven processes leading to near field turbulence in a channel at the crest of the mendocino escarpment abstractin situ observations of tidally driven turbulence were obtained in a small channel that transects the crest of the mendocino ridge a site of mixed diurnal and semidiurnal tides diurnal tides are subinertial at this latitude and once per day a trapped tide leads to large flows through the channel giving rise to tidal excursion lengths comparable to the width of the ridge crest during these times energetic turbulence is observed in the channel with overturns spanning almost half of the full water depth a high resolution nonhydrostatic 2 5 dimensional simulation is used to interpret the observations in terms of the advection of a breaking tidal lee wave that extends from the ridge crest to the surface and the subsequent development of a hydraulic jump on the flanks of the ridge modeled dissipation rates show that turbulence is strongest on the flanks of the ridge and that local dissipation accounts for 28 of the energy converted from the barotropic tide into baroclinic motion

active tectonic studies in the united states 1987 1990 the techniques and instrumentation used in active tectonic studies are discussed and recent results are reviewed it is suggested that a critical mass of data on several particular regions has been accumulated making possible critical debates and attempts to assess earthquake hazards particular attention is given to studies of the pacific northwest region basin and range deformation studies and distributed deformation and hidden earthquake sources also included is a comprehensive bibliography for the period

lateral migration of hillcrests in response to channel incision in soil mantled landscapes 1 we investigate lateral migration of hillcrests in response to vertical offsets or transient incision rates of channels bordering these hillcrests in soil mantled landscapes for hillslopes undergoing sediment transport that is linearly proportional to the slope the hillcrest offset distance is one quarter of the ratio of the vertical offset between the channels to the relief of the symmetric hillslope if channels are downcutting at different rates the speed of hillcrest migration will depend on the ratio of the downcutting rates and the density ratio which is the ratio of the bulk density of the bedrock to the bulk density of the soil the density ratio plays a fundamental role in determining the transient response of the hillcrest lower density ratios lead to faster transient responses to changes in channel downcutting rates other parameters that affect the transient response of the hillcrest are the magnitude of transient differences in downcutting between the two channels the time averaged incision rate and a ratio of the elevation of the hillslope to a length that characterizes the decay in soil production with increasing soil thickness different parameters will be important for different sediment flux laws the profile of soil thickness reacts to transient changes in downcutting at a different rate than surface topography hillslopes experiencing transient channel downcutting may have surface topography that is symmetric about the hillcrest but will at the same time have a soil thickness profile that is asymmetric

process based model linking pocket gopher thomomys bottae activity to sediment transport and soil thickness burrowing organisms assist in shaping earth surfaces and are simultaneously affected by the environment they inhabit however a conceptual framework is not yet available to describe this feedback we introduce a model that connects the population density of soil burrowing animals to sediment transport via energy the model combined with avail able data from california hillslopes where soil erosion is driven by pocket gophers thom omys bottae suggests that a gopher annually expends 9 kj of energy or 1 of re ported burrowing energy expenditure in generating sediment transport the model is used to evaluate the case that gophers prefer to populate thicker soils the results suggest that this behavior may drastically dampen the spatial and temporal variations of soil thickness and gopher populations implying that burrowing organisms may create landscapes dis tinct from those affected by abiotic processes

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