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1.
Progressive rock‐fall failures in natural rock slopes are common in many environments, but often elude detailed quantitative documentation and analysis. Here we present high‐resolution photography, video, and laser scanning data that document spatial and temporal patterns of a 15‐month‐long sequence of at least 14 rock falls from the Rhombus Wall, a sheeted granitic cliff in Yosemite Valley, California. The rock‐fall sequence began on 26 August 2009 with a small failure at the tip of an overhanging rock slab. Several hours later, a series of five rock falls totaling 736 m3 progressed upward along a sheeting joint behind the overhanging slab. Over the next 3 weeks, audible cracking occurred on the Rhombus Wall, suggesting crack propagation, while visual monitoring revealed opening of a sheeting joint adjacent to the previous failure surface. On 14 September 2009 a 110 m3 slab detached along this sheeting joint. Additional rock falls between 30 August and 20 November 2010, totaling 187 m3, radiated outward from the initial failure area along cliff (sub)parallel sheeting joints. We suggest that these progressive failures might have been related to stress redistributions accompanying propagation of sheeting joints behind the cliff face. Mechanical analyses indicate that tensile stresses should occur perpendicular to the cliff face and open sheeting joints, and that sheeting joints should propagate parallel to a cliff face from areas of stress concentrations. The analyses also account for how sheeting joints can propagate to lengths many times greater than their depths behind cliff faces. We posit that as a region of failure spreads across a cliff face, stress concentrations along its margin will spread with it, promoting further crack propagation and rock falls. Published in 2012. This article is a US Government work and is in the public domain in the USA.  相似文献   

2.
Development of a notch at the base of a cliff reduces cliff stability and often induces a collapse. Pleistocene limestone coastal cliffs of elevation 5?m in Kuro‐shima, Ryukyu Islands, have a prominent notch with a depth of 3–4?m at their bases. Around these coastal cliffs, collapses different from previous studies of cliff collapses in the Ryukyu Islands were found; collapses in Kuro‐shima have a horizontal failure surface. The horizontal failure surface, situated at the height of the failure surface corresponding to the retreat point of the notch, is bounded by vertical joints cutting the whole cliff and the reef flat in front of the cliff. Two types of horizontal failure surface were found, triangular and quadrangular; the distinction appears to depend on the angle between the vertical joints and the front face of the cliff. Prior to collapse, these cliffs appear to have been separated from the adjacent cliffs by the development of vertical joints. Consequently, a cliff that will collapse can be identified in advance; cliff instability is strongly dependent on the development of a notch. To study the effect of notch development on cliff collapse, the notch depth at which collapse occurs was calculated using stability analysis. Instability of a cliff increases with notch depth; collapse occurs at the horizontal failure surface when the ratio of the notch depth to the seaward length of the cliff is approximately 0·5–0·7 for a triangular failure surface, and 0·7–0·9 for a quadrangular failure surface. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.  相似文献   

3.
Correct and precise age determination of prehistorical catastrophic rock‐slope failures prerequisites any hypotheses relating this type of mass wasting to past climatic regimes or palaeo‐seismic records. Despite good exposure, easy accessibility and a long tradition of absolute dating, the age of the 230 million m3 carbonate‐lithic Tschirgant rock avalanche event of the Eastern Alps (Austria) still is relatively poorly constrained. We herein review the age of mass‐wasting based on a total of 17 absolute ages produced with three different methods (14C, 36Cl, 234U/230Th). Chlorine‐36 (36Cl) cosmogenic surface exposure dating of five boulders of the rock avalanche deposit indicates a mean event age of 3.06 ± 0.62 ka. Uranium‐234/thorium‐230 (234U/230Th) dating of soda‐straw stalactites formed in microcaves beneath boulders indicate mean precipitation ages of three individual soda straws at 3.20 ± 0.26 ka, 3.04 ± 0.10 ka and 2.81 ± 0.15 ka; notwithstanding potential internal errors, these ages provide an ‘older‐than’ (ante quam) proxy for mass‐wasting. Based on radiocarbon ages (nine sites) only, it was previously suggested that the present rock avalanche deposit represents two successive failures (3.75 ± 0.19 ka bp , 3.15 ± 0.19 ka bp ). There is, however, no evidence for two events neither in surface outcrops nor in LiDAR derived imagery and drill logs. The temporal distribution of all absolute ages (14C, 36Cl, 234U/230Th) also does not necessarily indicate two successive events but suggest that a single catastrophic mass‐wasting took place between 3.4 and 2.4 ka bp . Taking into account the maximum age boundary given by reinterpreted radiocarbon datings and the minimum U/Th‐ages of calcite precipitations within the rock avalanche deposits, a most probable event age of 3.01 ± 0.10 ka bp can be proposed. Our results underscore the difficulty to accurately date catastrophic rock slope failures, but also the potential to increase the accuracy of age determination by combining methods. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.  相似文献   

4.
Influence of rock mass strength on the erosion rate of alpine cliffs   总被引:1,自引:0,他引:1  
Collapse of cliff faces by rockfall is a primary mode of bedrock erosion in alpine environments and exerts a first‐order control on the morphologic development of these landscapes. In this work we investigate the influence of rock mass strength on the retreat rate of alpine cliffs. To quantify rockwall competence we employed the Slope Mass Rating (SMR) geomechanical strength index, a metric that combines numerous factors contributing to the strength of a rock mass. The magnitude of cliff retreat was calculated by estimating the volume of talus at the toe of each rockwall and projecting that material back on to the cliff face, while accounting for the loss of production area as talus buries the base of the wall. Selecting sites within basins swept clean by advancing Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) glaciers allowed us to estimate the time period over which talus accumulation occurred (i.e. the production time). Dividing the magnitude of normal cliff retreat by the production time, we calculated recession rates for each site. Our study area included a portion of the Sierra Nevada between Yosemite National Park and Lake Tahoe. Rockwall recession rates determined for 40 alpine cliffs in this region range from 0·02 to 1·22 mm/year, with an average value of 0·28 mm/year. We found good correlation between rockwall recession rate and SMR which is best characterized by an exponential decrease in erosion rate with increasing rock mass strength. Analysis of the individual components of the SMR reveals that joint orientation (with respect to the cliff face) is the most important parameter affecting the rockwall erosion rate. The complete SMR score, however, best synthesizes the lithologic variables that contribute to the strength and erodibility of these rock slopes. Our data reveal no strong independent correlations between rockwall retreat rate and topographic attributes such as elevation, aspect, or slope angle. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.  相似文献   

5.
In this study, we explored the spatial and temporal relations between boulders and their original in-situ locations on sandstone bedrock cliffs. This was accomplished by combining field observations with dating methods using cosmogenic isotopes (10Be and 14C) and optically stimulated luminescence (OSL). Our conclusions bear both on the landscape evolution and cliff retreat process in the hyperarid region of Timna and on the methodology of estimating exposure ages using cosmogenic isotopes.

We recognize three discrete rock fall events, at 31 ka, 15 ka, and 4 ka. In this hyperarid region, the most plausible triggering mechanism for rock fall events is strong ground acceleration caused by earthquakes generated by the nearby Dead Sea fault (DSF). Our record, however, under represents the regional earthquake record implying that ongoing development of detachment cracks prior to the triggering event might be slower than the earthquake cycle.

Cliff retreat rates calculated using the timing of rock fall events and estimated thickness of rock removed in each event range between 0.14 m ky− 1 and 2 m ky− 1. When only full cycles are considered, we derive a more realistic range of 0.4 m ky− 1 to 0.7 m ky− 1. These rates are an order of magnitude faster than the calculated rate of surface lowering in the area. We conclude that sandstone cliffs at Timna retreat through episodic rock fall events that preserve the sharp, imposing, landscape characteristic to this region and that ongoing weathering of the cliff faces is minor.

A 10%–20% difference in the 10Be concentrations in samples from matching boulder and cliff faces that have identical exposure histories and are located only a few meters apart indicates that cosmogenic nuclide production rates are sensitive to shielding and vary spatially over short distances. However, uncertainties associated with age calculations yielded boulder and matching cliff face ages that are similar within 1 σ . The use of external constraints in the form of field relations and OSL dating helped to establish each pair's age. The agreement between calculated 14C and 10Be ages indicates that the accumulation of 10Be at depth by the capture of slow deep-penetrating muons was properly accounted for in the study.  相似文献   


6.
Erosion of hard‐rock coastal cliffs is understood to be caused by a combination of both marine and sub‐aerial processes. Beach morphology, tidal elevation and significant wave heights, especially under extreme storm conditions, can lead to variability in wave energy flux to the cliff‐toe. Wave and water level measurements in the nearshore under energetic conditions are difficult to obtain and in situ observations are rare. Here we use monthly cliff‐face volume changes detected using terrestrial laser scanning alongside beach morphological changes and modelled nearshore hydrodynamics to examine how exposed cliffs respond to changes in extreme wave conditions and beach morphology. The measurements cover the North Atlantic storms of 2013 to 2014 and consider two exposed stretches of coastline (Porthleven and Godrevy, UK) with contrasting beach morphology fronting the cliffs; a flat dissipative sandy beach at Godrevy and a steep reflective gravel beach at Porthleven. Beach slope and the elevation of the beach–cliff junction were found to influence the frequency of cliff inundation and the power of wave–cliff impacts. Numerical modelling (XBeach‐G) showed that under highly energetic wave conditions, i.e. those that occurred in the North Atlantic during winter 2013–2014, with Hs = 5.5 m (dissipative site) and 8 m (reflective site), the combination of greater wave height and steeper beach at the reflective site led to amplified wave run‐up, subjecting these cliffs to waves over four times as powerful as those impacting the cliffs at the dissipative site (39 kWm‐1 compared with 9 kWm‐1). This study highlighted the sensitivity of cliff erosion to extreme wave conditions, where the majority (over 90% of the annual value) of cliff‐face erosion ensued during the winter. The significance of these short‐term erosion rates in the context of long‐term retreat illustrates the importance of incorporating short‐term beach and wave dynamics into geomorphological studies of coastal cliff change. © 2017 The Authors. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.  相似文献   

7.
The actively deformed foreland of eastern Qilian Shan (mountains) contains well‐preserved geomorphic features such as erosion surfaces, river terraces and tectonically uplifted alluvial fans, providing suitable archives for research on regional tectonic activities and palaeoclimatic changes. These geomorphic surfaces are well dated by using a combination of magnetostratigraphy, electron spin resonance, thermoluminescence, infra‐red stimulated luminescence, radiocarbon dating, and correlation with the well‐established loess–palaeosol sequences of China. Our results show that the erosion surface formed about 1·4 Ma ago, and the age of river terraces is 1·24 Ma, 820–860 ka, 780 ka, 420–440 ka, 230–250 ka, 140 ka, 60 ka and 10 ka, respectively. Valley incision rates of c. 0·09–0·25 m ka?1 have been identified. The repetitive stratigraphic and geomorphic pattern of these terraces indicates the fluvial sedimentation–incision cycles are tightly associated with the 100‐ka glacial–interglacial climatic cycles. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.  相似文献   

8.
Sea cliff morphology and erosion rates are modulated by several factors, including rock control that reflects both lithology and rock structure. Erosion is anticipated to preferentially exploit ‘fractures’, broadly meant as any discontinuity in an otherwise continuous medium, where the rock mass is weakest. Unpicking the direct control of such fractures on the spatial and temporal pattern of erosion remains, however, challenging. To analyse how such fractures control erosion, we monitored the evolution of a 400 m-long stretch of highly structured sedimentary cliffs in Socoa, Basque Country, France. The rock is known as the Socoa flysch formation. This formation combines decimetre-thick turbidites composed of repeat triplets of medium to strong calcareous sandstone, laminated siltstones and argillaceous marls. The sequence plunges at 45° into the sea with a shore-parallel strike. The cliffs are cross-cut by two normal and reverse fault families, with 10–100 m alongshore spacing, with primary and secondary strata-bound fractures perpendicular to the bedding, which combined delimit the cliff rock mass into discrete blocks that are exploited by the erosion process. Erosion, and sometimes plucking, of such beds and blocks on the cliff face was monitored using ground-based structure-from-motion (SfM) photogrammetry, over the course of 5.7 years between 2011 and 2017. To compare with longer time change, cliff-top retreat rate was assessed using SfM-orthorectified archive aerial photographs spanning 1954–2008. We show that the 13,250 m2 cliff face released 4500 blocks exceeding 1.45 × 10−3 m3, removing a total volume of 170 m3. This equates to an average cliff erosion rate of 3.4 mm/year, which is slightly slower than the 54-year-long local cliff-top retreat (10.8 ± 1.8 mm/year). The vertical distribution of erosion reflects the height of sea water inundation, where the maximum erosion intensity occurs ca. 2 m above high spring-tide water level. Alongshore, the distribution of rockfall scars is concentrated along bed edges bounding cross-cutting faults; the extent of block detachment is controlled by secondary tectonic joints, which may extend through several beds locally sharing similar mechanical strength; and rockfall depth is always a multiple of bed thickness. Over the longer term, we explain block detachment and resultant cliff collapse as a cycle. Erosion nucleates on readily exploitable fractures but elsewhere, the sea only meets defect-free medium-strong to strong rock slabs offering few morphological features for exploitation. Structurally delimited blocks are quarried, and with sufficient time, carve semi-elliptic scars reaching progressively deeper strata to be eroded. Lateral propagation of erosion is directed along mechanical weaknesses in the bedding, and large episodic collapses affect the overhanging slabs via sliding on the weak marl beds. Collapse geometry is confined to one or several triplets of turbidite beds, but never reaches deeper into the cliff than the eroded depth at the foot. We contend that this fracture-limited model of sea-cliff erosion, inferred from the Socoa site dynamics and its peculiar sets of fractures, applies more broadly to other fractured cliff contexts, albeit with site-specific geometries. The initiation of erosion, the propagation of incremental block release and the ultimate full failure of the cliff, have each been shown to be fundamentally directly controlled by structure, which remains a vital control in understanding how cliffed coasts have changed in the past and will change in the future.  相似文献   

9.
The summit plateau of The Storr (719 m) in northern Skye is mantled by a sheet of aeolian sediment up to 2·9 m thick, covering an area of 33 000 m2 with a volume of 41 000 m3. The deposits are of massive, poorly sorted sand with significant components of silt and fine gravel, and contain clasts up to 109 mm in length. The thickness and coarseness of the deposits decline westwards and northwards away from the highest cliffs, implying that the sediment comprises particles dislodged from rockwalls and blown upwards in an accelerating vertical or near-vertical airflow, settling through a lower-velocity flow onto the plateau surface where they are trapped by vegetation. Radiocarbon dating of soils buried under and within the deposits suggests that accumulation began after 7·2–6·9 calendar ka BP but before 5·6–5·3 calendar ka BP , and was probably initiated by exposure of the present rockwall by a massive landslide at c. 6·5 ± 0·5 calendar ka BP . Pollen analyses of buried organic horizons suggest that a vegetation mat dominated by grasses and sedges was present throughout the period of sediment deposition. Sediment accumulation over much of the plateau averaged 10–20 mm per century throughout the late Holocene, but reached c. 60 mm per century in the area of the thickest deposits. The volume of the deposits implies the removal of 420–480 mm of rock (averaged over the face) during the late Holocene, and suggests that small-scale granular disaggregation and release of small clasts constitute a major component of rockwall retreat under present conditions. The origin of the Storr deposits suggests that plateau-top aeolian sediments on other Scottish mountains accumulated in a similar way, but have been eroded and redeposited on lee slopes following breakage of vegetation cover. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.  相似文献   

10.
The caldera of Santorini is a composite structure with a subsidence history extending over 100 ka or more. Geomorphological mapping shows that the present-day caldera wall is a complex assemblage of cliff surfaces of different ages, and that collapse at Santorini has repeatedly exhumed earlier caldera cliffs and unconformities. Cliffs bounding the southern, southeastern and northwestern rims of the caldera are morphologically fresh and probably formed during or soon after the Minoan eruption in the late Bronze Age. The well-scalloped shape of these cliffs is attributed to large-scale rotational landslip around the margins of the Minoan caldera. The deposit from one landslip is preserved subaerially. Minoan landslips in southeast santorini detached along the basement unconformity, exposing a cliff of the prevolcanic island. The caldera wall in the north, northeast and east preserves evidence for three generations of cliff: those of Minoan age and two earlier generations of caldera wall. The two early calderas can be dated relative to a well-established statigraphy of lavas and tuffs. The presence of in situ Minoan tephra plastered onto the present-day caldera wall provides evidence that these ancient caldera cliffs had already been exhumed prior to the Minoan eruption. Field relationships permit reconstruction of the physiography of Bronze-Age Santorini immediately before the Minoan eruption. The reconstruction differs from some previously published versions and is believed to be the most accurate to date. Bronze-Age Sa ntorini had a large flooded caldera formed 21 ka ago. This caldera must have acted as an excellent harbour for the Bronze-Age inhabitants of the island. The 3.6 ka Minoan eruption deepened and widened the extant caldera. The volume of Minoan collapse (25 km3) is in good agreement with published estimates for the volume of discharged magma if between 5 and 8 km3 of Minoan ignimbrite ponded as intracaldera tuff.  相似文献   

11.
We analyzed a combination of airborne and terrestrial LiDAR, high‐resolution photography, seismic, and acoustic data in order to gain insights into the initiation, dynamics, and talus deposition of a complex rock fall. A large (46 700 m3) rock fall originated from near Ahwiyah Point in eastern Yosemite Valley and fell a total of 730 m to the valley floor on 28 March 2009. Analyses of remote sensing, seismic, and acoustic data were integrated to reconstruct the rock fall, which consisted of (1) the triggering of a 25 400 m3 rock block in an area of intersecting and sometimes highly weathered joint planes, (2) the sliding and subsequent ballistic trajectory of the block from a steeply dipping ledge, (3) dislodging of additional rock from the cliff surface from beneath the rock fall source area, (4) a mid‐cliff ledge impact that detached a volume of rock nearly equivalent in volume to the initial block, (5) sliding of the deteriorating rock mass down the remainder of the cliff, and (6) final impact at the base of the cliff that remobilized the existing talus downward and outward and produced an airblast that knocked down hundreds of trees. The depositional geomorphology indicates that the porosity of the fresh talus is significantly lower than that expected for typical blocky talus slopes, likely because the rock debris from this event was pulverized into smaller, more poorly sorted fragments and densified via dynamic compaction when compared to less energetic, fragmental‐type rock falls. These results suggest that accumulation of individual rock‐fall boulders tends to steepen talus slopes, whereas large, energetic rock falls tend to flatten them. Detachment and impact signals were recorded by seismic and acoustic instruments and highlight the potential use of this type of instrumentation for generalized rock fall monitoring, while LiDAR and photography data were able to quantify the cliff geometry, rock fall volume, source and impact locations, and geomorphological changes to the cliff and talus. Published in 2012. This article is a US Government work and is in the public domain in the USA.  相似文献   

12.
Moraines that dam proglacial lakes pose an increasing hazard to communities in the Andes and other mountain ranges. The moraines are prone to failure through collapse, overtopping by lake waters or the effect of displacement waves resulting from ice and rock avalanches. Resulting floods have led to the loss of thousands of lives in the Cordillera Blanca mountains of Peru alone in the last 100 years. On 22 April 2002 a rock avalanche occurred immediately to the south‐west of Laguna Safuna Alta, in the Cordillera Blanca. The geomorphic evidence for the nature, magnitude and consequences of this event was investigated in August 2002. Field mapping indicated that the avalanche deposited 8–20 × 106 m3 of rock into the lake and onto the surface of the frontal region of Glaciar Pucajirca, which flows into the lake. Repeated bathymetric surveying indicated that ~5 × 106 m3 of this material was deposited directly into the lake. The immediate effect of this event was to create a displacement wave that gained in height as it travelled along the lake basin, overtopping the impounding moraine at the lake's northern end. To achieve overtopping, the maximum wave height must have been greater than 100 m. This, and subsequent seiche waves, caused extensive erosion of both the proximal and distal faces of the impounding terminal moraine. Further deep gullying of the distal face of this moraine resulted from the supply of pressurized water to the face via a relief overflow tunnel constructed in 1978. Two‐dimensional, steady‐state analysis of the stability of the post‐avalanche moraine rampart indicates that its proximal face remains susceptible to major large‐scale rotational failure. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.  相似文献   

13.
Rock avalanche is one of the most notable geological disasters in the mountain areas, such as the southeastern Tibetan Plateau. A typical one therein is the Luanshibao (LSB) rock avalanche that occurred in the Maoyaba basin. This rock avalanche has attracted a great deal of attentions, as it has a potential threat to the construction of Sichuan-Tibet Railway. It has been widely accepted that the LSB rock avalanche was caused by a seismic event. However, it is still an open question as to the timing of the earthquake-triggered rock avalanche. Here, we report twenty new 10Be exposure-ages obtained from the deposition zone. These tightly clustered exposure-ages, combined with geomorphic evidence, indicate that the LSB rock avalanche occurred during the mid-Holocene, possibly at 5.2 ± 0.2 ka. A comparison between the timing of rock avalanche and seismic events suggests a close correlation of the LSB rock avalanche with recurrent earthquakes around ∼5 ka BP. Such a correlation is well supported by the view from previous studies.  相似文献   

14.
Cosmogenic 10Be concentrations in exposed bedrock surfaces and alluvial sediment in the northern Flinders Ranges reveal surprisingly high erosion rates for a supposedly ancient and stable landscape. Bedrock erosion rates increase with decreasing elevation in the Yudnamutana Catchment, from summit surfaces (13·96 ± 1·29 and 14·38 ± 1·40 m Myr?1), to hillslopes (17·61 ± 2·21 to 29·24 ± 4·38 m Myr?1), to valley bottoms (53·19 ± 7·26 to 227·95 ± 21·39 m Myr?1), indicating late Quaternary increases to topographic relief. Minimum cliff retreat rates (9·30 ± 3·60 to 24·54 ± 8·53 m Myr?1) indicate that even the most resistant parts of cliff faces have undergone significant late Quaternary erosion. However, erosion rates from visibly weathered and varnished tors protruding from steep bedrock hillslopes (4·17 ± 0·42 to 14·00 ± 1·97 m Myr?1) indicate that bedrock may locally weather at rates equivalent to, or even slower than, summit surfaces. 10Be concentrations in contemporary alluvial sediment indicate catchment‐averaged erosion at a rate dominated by more rapid erosion (22·79 ± 2·78 m Myr?1), consistent with an average rate from individual hillslope point measurements. Late Cenozoic relief production in the Yudnamutana Catchment resulted from (1) tectonic uplift at rates of 30–160 m Myr?1 due to range‐front reverse faulting, which maintained steep river gradients and uplifted summit surfaces, and (2) climate change, which episodically increased both in situ bedrock weathering rates and frequency–magnitude distributions of large magnitude floods, leading to increased incision rates. These results provide quantitative evidence that the Australian landscape is, in places, considerably more dynamic than commonly perceived. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.  相似文献   

15.
Research indicates that the aeolianite (Kurkar) cliffs along the Israeli Mediterranean coastline have continuously retreated eastward during the last few decades. There seems to be no dispute among Earth scientists regarding the general trend of cliff retreat. However the majority of papers displaying cliff retreat rates are based upon comparison of aerial photographs. Their lack of advanced geometric measurement methods causes a high margin of error. Public attention is focused upon the Beit‐Yannay coastal cliff since private homes are located along the southern section of the cliff crest. The current research compares the historic location of the cliff crest edge at Beit‐Yannay as observed in a series of aerial photographs taken during the period 1918–2000. Quantitative measurement methods included applications of satellite geodesy and digital photogrammetry and mapping. Research results offer quantitative, consecutive and highly accurate data regarding retreat rates over a relatively long period of 82 years. It is concluded that: 1. Annual average cliff retreat rates of the cliff crest is 20 cm/year. 2. Categorization of the study time span reveals periods displaying varying retreat rates such as 27 cm/year during 1918–1946, 21 cm/year during 1946–1973 and 10 cm/year during 1973–2000. 3. Maximum retreat distances of the cliff crest, over the study period were found to be approximately 25 m along the northern, lowest section of the cliff. Minimum distances of 11 m were identi?ed at the highest, southern section of the cliff. 4. The eolianite (Kurkar) cliffs along the Israeli Mediterranean coast throughout the 20th century have been an important source of sediment, contributing approximately 24 × 106 m3 of sediments to the sediment balance of Israeli beaches. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.  相似文献   

16.
The determination of sediment storage is a critical parameter in sediment budget analyses. But, in many sediment budget studies the quantification of magnitude and time‐scale of sediment storage is still the weakest part and often relies on crude estimations only, especially in large drainage basins (>100 km2). We present a new approach to storage quantification in a meso‐scale alpine catchment of the Swiss Alps (Turtmann Valley, 110 km2). The quantification of depositional volumes was performed by combining geophysical surveys and geographic information system (GIS) modelling techniques. Mean thickness values of each landform type calculated from these data was used to estimate the sediment volume in the hanging valleys and the trough slopes. Sediment volume of the remaining subsystems was determined by modelling an assumed parabolic bedrock surface using digital elevation model (DEM) data. A total sediment volume of 781·3×106–1005·7×106 m3 is deposited in the Turtmann Valley. Over 60% of this volume is stored in the 13 hanging valleys. Moraine landforms contain over 60% of the deposits in the hanging valleys followed by sediment stored on slopes (20%) and rock glaciers (15%). For the first time, a detailed quantification of different storage types was achieved in a catchment of this size. Sediment volumes have been used to calculate mean denudation rates for the different processes ranging from 0·1 to 2·6 mm/a based on a time span of 10 ka. As the quantification approach includes a number of assumptions and various sources of error the values given represent the order of magnitude of sediment storage that has to be expected in a catchment of this size. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.  相似文献   

17.
Deposits of late‐Holocene beach sand buried conifer forests episodically emerge on beaches of the Oregon coast. Simultaneously, sand dunes buried late‐Holocene forests growing on marine terraces landward of the beaches. Dune ramps, up to 60 m in elevation, connected the beach and dune deposits. The average age of wood samples from stumps rooted on the shore platforms is 3·07 ± 1·45 ka. The average age of wood and charcoal samples embedded in forest soil on the marine terraces is 3·27 ± 1·46 ka. Between 1994 and 2006, winter storm waves exposed more than 4·5 km2 of late‐Holocene forest soil on shore platforms at 19 localities. Rooted stumps without soil were uncovered at an additional 14 localities. Once exposed, wave action eroded the soil rapidly (one to two years). The intact forest soil and roots on the shore platforms must have been nearly continuously buried, protected and preserved prior to recent exposure. The late‐Holocene buried forest provides the basis for a conceptual model of coastal evolution. A three stage reversal of erosion and sand supply must have occurred: (1) wave erosion switched to seaward advancement of forests, (2) forest growth and soil development switched to burial beneath beach and dune sand and (3) burial and preservation switched to wave erosion, truncation of dune ramps and landward retreat of sea cliffs. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.  相似文献   

18.
A wide range of sedimentological and geomorphological field research depends on the availability of accurate and detailed depositional age models. Although exposure dating techniques such as cosmogenic nuclide and luminescence dating are now widely available, they remain expensive and time‐consuming, and this frequently limits the density of age constraints and the resolutions of age models for many study areas. We present a simple and effective, field‐based approach for extending and correlating existing age models to un‐dated surfaces. In Owens Valley, California, we make use of detailed beryllium‐10 (10Be) chronologies reported for four different alluvial fan systems, to precisely calibrate the rate at which weathering fractures are enlarged in granitic surface boulders. We show that these fractures have widened at a time‐integrated rate of 1.05 ± 0.03 mm ka?1 for at least 140 ka at this location, and this relationship can be represented by a linear regression that makes them ideal chronometers for surface dating. Our analysis offers a new approach to refining the uncertainties of both surface erosion rate and cosmogenic age estimates at this location. Ultimately, we integrate our observations to devise a robust age calibration for clast fracture widths in Owens Valley, and we demonstrate its application by estimating the ages of 27 additional local fan surfaces. We present an updated and extended stratigraphy for eight Sierra Nevada fan systems in total, with exceptional age control. This novel approach to dating sedimentary surfaces is inexpensive and easily applied in the field, and has the potential to significantly increase the temporal and spatial density of age constraints available for a particular study area. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.  相似文献   

19.
Long-period strain seismogram recorded at Pasadena is used to determine the focal process of the 1960 Chilean earthquake. Synthetic seismograms computed for various fault models are matched with the observed strain seismogram to determine the fault parameters. A low-angle (~ 10°) thrust model with rupture length of 800 km and rupture velocity of 3.5 km/sec is consistent with the observed Rayleigh/Love wave ratio and the radiation asymmetry. A seismic moment of 2.7 · 1030 dyn · cm is obtained for the main shock. This value, together with the estimated fault area of 1.6 · 105 km2, gives an average dislocation of 24 m. The strain seismogram clearly shows unusually long-period (300–600 sec) wave arriving at the P time of a large foreshock which occurred about 15 minutes before the main shock, suggesting a large slow deformation in the epicentral area prior to the major failure. A simple dislocation model shows that a dislocation of 30 m, having a time constant of 300–600 sec, over a fault plane of 800 × 200 km2 is required to explain this precursory displacement. The entire focal process may be envisaged in terms of a large-scale deformation which started rather gradually and eventually triggered the foreshocks and the “main” shock. This mechanism may explain the large premonitory deformations documented, but not recorded instrumentally, for several Japanese earthquakes. The moments of the main shock and the precursor add to 6 · 1030 dyn · cm which is large enough to affect the earth's polar motion.  相似文献   

20.
Three numerical models of cliff failure have been developed, based on analyses of rockfalls along the 22 km Liassic coastline of the Glamorgan Heritage Coast, U.K. Detailed field investigation of the bucklandi (limestone dominated) and angulata (mudstone dominated) Lias series at four locations confirm the veracity of the models. Translation failure was correctly predicted at the mainly limestone buttressed cliff sites in the bucklandi and at locations where the angulata series formed a high proportion of the cliff mass. Toppling was predicted for vertical and overhanging cliffs with basal undercutting. The factor of safety reduces as the ratio of undercutting depth (d) to tension fracture distance (D) from the cliff face increases. Instability can be triggered by thrust forces generated by wave/tide impact, freeze/thaw and expansion/contraction associated with clay infill. Thrust forces can be modest, ranging from 1·7 to 2·7 MN m2, but can exceed the cross-joint strength as weathering proceeds.  相似文献   

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