Soils and geomorphic evolution of bedrock facets on a tectonically active mountain front, western Sangre de Cristo Mountains, New Mexico

Abstract Soil profiles, colluvial stratigraphy, and detailed hillslope morphology are key elements used for geomorphic interpretations of the form and long-term evolution of triangular facets on a 1200 m high, tectonically active mountain front. The facets are developed on Precambrian gneisses and Tertiary volcanic and plutonic rocks along a complexly segmented, active normal-fault zone in the Rio Grande rift of northern New Mexico. The detailed morphologies of 20− to 350 m high facets are defined by statistical and time-series analyses of 40 field transects that were keyed to observations of colluvium, bedrock, microtopography, and vegetation. The undissected parts of most facets are transport-limited hillslopes mantled with varying thicknesses (0.1 to > 1 m thick) of sand and gravel colluvium between generally sparse (≤10–30%) bedrock outcrops. Facet soils range from (a) thin (≤ 0.2 m) weakly developed soils with cumulic silty A or transitional A/B epipedons above Cox horizons in bedrock or colluvium, to (b) deep (≥0.5–1 m) moderately to strongly developed profiles containing thick cambic (Bw) and/or argillic (Bt) horizons that commonly extend into highly weathered saprolitic bedrock. The presence of strongly weathered profiles and thick colluvium suggests that rates of colluvial transport and hillslope erosion are less than or equal to rates of soil development over at least a large part of the Holocene. The catenary variation of soils and colluvium on selected facet transects indicate that the degree of soil development generally increases and the thickness of colluvium decreases upslope on most facets. This overall pattern is commonly disrupted on large facet hillslopes by irregular secondary soil variations linked to intermediate-scale (20–60 + m long) concave slope elements. These features are interpreted to reflect discontinuous transport and erosion of colluvium down-slope below bedrock outcrops. The degree of weathering in subsurface bedrock commonly increases more systematically upslope on most facets than colluvial soils. This pattern is consistent with an increase in age with height on these fault-generated facet hillslopes. The characteristic range of internal variation in soils and colluvial deposits on a given facet also varies greatly among facets with differing overall morphologies and external environments. Deep cumulic soils and thick colluvium occur consistently on steep (≥ 30°), high, and relatively undissected facets above the narrow central sections of fault segments. Much thinner and less weathered colluvium and soils overlie saprolitic bedrock at shallow depths on low, highly dissected, gently sloping (≤ 20°) facets above complex fault segment boundaries. Parametric and nonparametric analyses of variance indicate that these large-scale contrasts in facet morphology correlate primarily with a few facet subgroups related, in decreasing importance, to variations in range-front faulting, bedrock lithology, and piedmont dissection or aggradation. These factors are related to facet morphology, drainage evolution, and hillslope-soil stratigraphy in a general geomorphic model for fault-generated facets. In this model, segmentation-related changes in the geometry and/or rates of faulting most strongly affect facet size, slope gradient, the thickness of colluvium and soil development, and drainage patterns. Facets of varying heights have similar hillslope forms at the same position on the range front; these characteristic morphologies are established under prevailing tectonic and nontectonic conditions on facets as bedrock is initially exposed from beneath alluvial-covered fault scarps above a height threshold of 15–35 m.