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1.
Recovery in soil properties and processes after sand burial in the Tengger Desert, northern China, was documented at five different-aged revegetated sites (1956, 1964, 1973, 1982, and 1991) and at a reference site with native vegetation, which had never been damaged by sand burial and was enclosed for grazing. The proportions of silt and clay, depth of topsoil and biological soil crusts, and concentrations of soil organic C, K, total N and total P increased with years since revegetation. Most characteristics of topsoil (0–5 cm) characteristics had recovered to 60% of those measured at the reference site by 50 years after sand-binding vegetation had been established. Exceptions were electrical conductivity and contents of sand, silt, CaCO3 and organic C, which recovered to 20–40% of the values at the reference site. The difference in annual recovery rates of soil properties between the two most recently revegetated sites (0–14 years) was greater than the difference between the two oldest revegetated sites (43–50 years). Best-fit asymptote models showed that the estimated times for the soil properties in the 50-year-old site to reach the same levels as in the reference site (i.e. an undisturbed, native steppified desert ecosystem) would be between 23 and 245 years, but for some properties even maximum recovery after > 50 years still fell significantly short of the level at the reference site. These results suggest that soil recovery is a slow process in an extremely arid desert environment, and therefore the conservation of soil habitat is a crucial issue for land managers.  相似文献   

2.
In the Mediterranean area, forest fires have become a first-order environmental problem. Increased fire frequency progressively reduces ecosystem recovery periods. The fire season, usually followed by torrential rains in autumn, intensifies erosion processes and increases desertification risk. In this work, the effect of repeated experimental fires on soil response to water erosion is studied in the Permanent Field Station of La Concordia, Valencia, Spain. In nine 80 m2 plots (20 m long × 4 m wide), all runoff and sediment produced were measured after each rainfall event. In 1995, two fire treatments with the addition of different biomass amounts were applied. Three plots were burned with high fire intensity, three with moderate intensity, and three were unburned to be used as control. In 2003, the plots with the fire treatments were burned again with low fire intensities. During the 8-year interval between fires, plots remained undisturbed, allowing regeneration of the vegetation–soil system. Results obtained during the first 5 months after both fire experiments show the high vulnerability of the soil to erosion after a repeated fire. For the burned plots, runoff rates increased three times more than those of 1995, and soil losses increased almost twice. The highest sediment yield (514 g m− 2) was measured in 2003, in the plots of the moderate fire intensity treatment, which yielded only 231 g m− 2 of sediment during the corresponding period in 1995. Runoff yield from the control plots did not show significant temporal changes, while soil losses decreased from 5 g m− 2 in the first post-fire period to 0.7 g m− 2 in the second one.  相似文献   

3.
Low-temperature apatite (U–Th)/He (AHe) thermochronology on vertical transects of leucogranite stocks and 10Be terrestrial cosmogenic nuclide (TCN) surface exposure dating on strath terraces in the Lahul Himalaya provide a first approximation of long-term (104–106 years) exhumation rates for the High Himalayan Crystalline Series (HHCS) for northern India. The AHe ages show that exhumation of the HHCS in Lahul from shallow crustal levels to the surface was ~ 1–2 mm/a and occurred during the past ~ 2.5 Ma. Bedrock exhumation in Lahul fits into a regional pattern in the HHCS of low-temperature thermochronometers yielding Plio-Pleistocene ages. Surface exposure ages of strath terraces along the Chandra River range from ~ 3.5 to 0.2 ka. Two sites along the Chandra River show a correlation between TCN age and height above the river level yielding maximum incision rates of 12 and 5.5 mm/a. Comparison of our AHe and surface exposure ages from Lahul with thermochronometry data from the fastest uplifting region at the western end of the Himalaya, the Nanga Parbat syntaxis, illustrates that there are contrasting regions in the High Himalaya where longer term (105–107 years) erosion and exhumation of bedrock substantially differ even though Holocene rates of fluvial incision are comparable. These data imply that the orogen's indenting corners are regions where focused denudation has been stable since the mid-Pliocene. However, away from these localized areas where there is a potent coupling of tectonic and surface processes that produce rapid uplift and denudation, Plio-Pleistocene erosion and exhumation can be characterized by disequilibrium, where longer term rates are relatively slower and shorter term fluvial erosion is highly variable over time and distance. The surface exposure age data reflect differential incision along the length of the Chandra River over millennial time frames, illustrate the variances that are possible in Himalayan river incision, and highlight the complexity of Himalayan environments.  相似文献   

4.
徐杰  宁远英 《中国沙漠》2010,30(4):824-830
通过对科尔沁沙地放牧后封育样地和放牧样地生物结皮生物量的研究,探讨了不同样地生物结皮生物量的变化规律及其与环境因子的相互关系。结果表明,封育样地藓类和藻类植物的生物量显著高于放牧样地;在封育样地内,轻度、中度放牧封育区显著高于重度放牧封育区（P＜0.05）。封育样地生物结皮的土壤微生物量碳、氮含量高于放牧样地,并且各样区藓结皮土壤微生物量碳、氮含量显著高于藻结皮（P＜0.05）。在封育样地内表现为轻度、中度放牧封育区土壤微生物量碳、氮含量较高,重度放牧封育区含量较低,体现出不同强度放牧封育停牧后对土壤微生物量碳、氮影响的滞后效应。藻类植物的生物量与结皮厚度、有机质含量和粉黏粒呈极显著正相关（P＜0.01）,与细沙呈显著正相关（P＜0.05）,与粗沙呈极显著负相关（P＜0.01）。藓类植物的生物量与结皮厚度、有机质含量、粉黏粒呈显著正相关（P＜0.05）,与粗沙呈负相关,但不显著。藻类植物的生物量与土壤因子之间的相关性更为密切。  相似文献   

5.
Jose Luis Antinao  John Gosse   《Geomorphology》2009,104(3-4):117-133
The distribution and age of large (> 0.1 km2) Pliocene to recent rockslides in the Chilean Cordillera Principal (32–34.5 S), the Southern Central Andes, has been analyzed to determine the rockslide triggering mechanisms and impact on regional landscape evolution. Most of the rockslides appear in the western Cordillera Principal and cluster along major geological structures. Variographic analyses show spatial correlation between rockslides, geological structures and shallow seismicity. A relative chronosequence was calibrated with existing 14C and 40Ar/39Ar dates and new cosmogenic nuclide exposure ages for selected rockslides. Rockslide-induced sediment yield was estimated with empirical relations for rockslide area distributions. Throughout the Quaternary, rockslides have delivered sediment to streams at rates equivalent to denudation rates of 0.10 ±0.06 mm a− 1, while estimates using short term (20 a) seismicity records are 0.3− 0.2+ 0.6 mm a− 1. The estimates of sediment transfer and the spatial distribution of rockslides reflect a landscape in which tectonic and geological controls on denudation are more significant than climate.  相似文献   

6.
Increases in runoff and erosion after wildfires are often attributed to the development of hydrophobic soils. The potential for increased overland flow depends on the spatial contiguity of the hydrophobicity as well as its overall strength, but there is limited information on the spatial variability of soil hydrophobicity. We conducted spatially intensive hydrophobicity measurements in 225 m2 and 1 m2 plots in forested areas of Montana and Colorado burned at moderate to high severity, and in unburned control plots. Both the burned and unburned 225 m2 plots contained 10–23 hydrophobic soil patches in which hydrophobicity was strongest at the surface and declined rapidly with depth. The hydrophobic patches were closer together and up to 3 times larger in the burned plots. Consequently, 19% to 76% of the burned plots were hydrophobic compared to just 11% of the unburned plots. In five of the six burned plots, the patches were not laterally connected, suggesting that in most cases Hortonian overland flow generated from hydrophobic patches will infiltrate near its point of origin. The 1 m2 plots were smaller than most of the hydrophobic patches, so they did not capture the spatial characteristics of soil hydrophobicity. Characterization of the spatial variability of soil hydrophobicity should be based on measurements conducted at  1 m intervals across areas of > 100 m2. Due to the patchiness of soil hydrophobicity at the 100 to 101 meter scale, overland flow measurements in small ( 1 m2) plots may overestimate the magnitude and variability of runoff from burned catchments.  相似文献   

7.
Gully erosion is commonly associated with agricultural landscapes where vegetation clearance and farming practices increase runoff, leading to fluvial incision. However, gully erosion can also occur in forests that have undergone some form of disturbance, either natural or resulting from human impacts. This paper reports on recent gully development within areas of undisturbed indigenous forest as a result of a high magnitude rainfall event on the East Coast of New Zealand's North Island. This region, through a combination of crushed and sheared rock types, steep topography, and tectonic and climatic setting, has high natural rates of erosion, exacerbated by European deforestation in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.Sequential air photographs, spanning a 58 year period between 1939 and 1997 were used to classify and document the growth and recovery of gully systems in the 14.1 km2 headwaters of the Mangaoporo catchment. Following a severe cyclone in 1988, with a rainfall of 535 mm, there were 21 active gully systems within the indigenous forest. On photography prior to 1988 only four gully systems were present. During this period there were 8 major rainfall events (150–250 mm). Despite further 5 rainfall events of 150–250 mm between 1988 and 1997 all gully systems showed signs of recovery, with a combined reduction in active area of 37%. The nature and location of these features is strongly influenced by lithology (orientation of jointing and bedding), and to a topographic threshold defined by catchment slope and catchment area.  相似文献   

8.
Biological soil crusts (cyanobacteria, mosses and lichens collectively) perform essential ecosystem services, including carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) fixation. Climate and land-use change are converting later successional soil crusts to early successional soil crusts with lower C and N fixation rates. To quantify the effect of such conversions on C and N dynamics in desert ecosystems we seasonally measured diurnal fixation rates in different biological soil crusts. We classified plots on the Colorado Plateau (Canyonlands) and Chihuahuan Desert (Jornada) as early (Microcoleus) or later successional (Nostoc/Scytonema or Placidium/Collema) and measured photosynthesis (Pn), nitrogenase activity (NA), and chlorophyll fluorescence (Fv/Fm) on metabolically active (moist) soil crusts. Later successional crusts typically had greater Pn, averaging 1.2–1.3-fold higher daily C fixation in Canyonlands and 2.4–2.8-fold higher in the Jornada. Later successional crusts also had greater NA, averaging 1.3–7.5-fold higher daily N fixation in Canyonlands and 1.3–25.0-fold higher in the Jornada. Mean daily Fv/Fm was also greater in later successional Canyonlands crusts during winter, and Jornada crusts during all seasons except summer. Together these findings indicate conversion of soil crusts back to early successional stages results in large reductions of C and N inputs into these ecosystems.  相似文献   

9.
Short-term changes in Eastern Mediterranean precipitation affecting flow regime were documented in Nahal Oren, a 35 km2 ephemeral stream in Mt. Carmel, a 500 m high mountain ridge located at the NW coast of Israel. The rainy winter of the Mediterranean type climate (Csa) in Mt. Carmel is characterized by average annual rainfall of 550 mm at the coastal plain to 750 mm at the highest elevation while the summer is hot and dry. Stream flow generates after accumulated rainfall of 120–150 mm while “large floods”, defined as flows with peak discharge of > 5 m3 s− 1 and/or > 150,000 m3 in volume, are generated in response to rainfall of over 100 mm. Hence, large floods in Nahal Oren stream occur not earlier than December. Precipitation and flow data were divided into two sub-periods: 1957–1969 and 1991–2003 and compared to each other. The results indicate a clear increase in the frequency of large floods, their magnitudes and volumes during the second period with no parallel change in the annual precipitation. Similarly, an increase in storm rainfall–runoff ratio from < 5% to > 15% and a decrease in the threshold rainfall for channel flow by 16–25% were documented. These short-term variations in flooding behavior are explained by the clear decrease in the length of the rainy season and by the resulting significant shortening in the duration of the dry-spells. The increase in the number of large rainfall events and the large floods in each hydrological year together with the increasing number of years with no floods indicate strengthening of their uncertainty of behavior.  相似文献   

10.
In this study, an attempt has been made to evaluate the temporal variations in specific stream power and the total energy available for geomorphic work during the monsoon season for the Tapi River, in central India. Continuous daily discharge data (1978–1990), hydraulic geometry equations and the relationship between discharge and water surface slope were used to compute the daily specific stream power (ω) for the Savkheda gauging site in the lower Tapi Basin. The total amount of energy generated by all the monsoon flows was estimated by integrating the area under the ω-graph derived for the monsoon season.The analyses of the 13-year daily discharge data reveal that the average and maximum ω values range from 4–20 W m− 2, and 22–964 W m− 2 respectively. Specific stream power duration curve derived for the site shows that for 25% of the time the power per unit area is > 10 W m− 2. Furthermore, unit stream power was found to be above the Williams' [Williams, G.P., 1983. Paleohydrological methods and some examples from Swedish fluvial environments. I. Cobble and boulder deposits. Geografiska Annaler 65A, 227–243.] threshold of pebble-movement (1.5 W m− 2), cobble-movement (16 W m− 2) and boulder-movement (90 W m− 2) for 71%, 15% and 2% of the time, respectively. Computations further indicate that the total amount of energy generated by the flows during the monsoon season is in the range of 37 MJ (deficit monsoon years) to 256 MJ (excess monsoon and/or flood years). Large floods have one-third share in the total monsoon energy expenditure. In the absence of appropriate data on the yearwise geomorphic effects, the geomorphic work was evaluated in terms of the total suspended sediment load transported. The total monsoon sediment load is strongly related to the total monsoon energy. The results of the study indicate that the average flow competence and capacity are remarkably higher during wetter monsoon seasons and flood years than during the shorter and drier monsoon seasons.The present analyses demonstrate that the flows are geomorphically effective for a greater part of the monsoon season, except during the deficient monsoon years, and there is little doubt that large-magnitude floods are effective agents of geomorphic change in monsoonal rivers.  相似文献   

11.
The landscape evolution in Neogene intramontane basins is a result of the interaction of climatic, lithologic, and tectonic factors. When sedimentation ceases and a basin enters an erosional stage, estimating erosion rates across the entire basin can offer a good view of landscape evolution. In this work, the erosion rates in the Guadix–Baza basin have been calculated based on a volumetric estimate of sediment loss by river erosion since the Late Pleistocene. To do so, the distribution of a glacis surface at ca. 43 kyr, characterised by a calcrete layer that caps the basin infilling, has been reconstructed. To support this age, new radiometric data of the glacis are presented. The volume of sediment loss by water erosion has been calculated for the entire basin by comparing the reconstructed geomorphic surface and the present-day topography. The resulting erosion rates vary between 4.28 and 6.57 m3 ha− 1 yr− 1, and are the consequence of the interaction of climatic, lithologic, topographic, and tectonic factors. Individual erosion rates for the Guadix and Baza sub-basins (11.80 m3 ha− 1 yr− 1 and 1.77 m3 ha− 1 yr− 1 respectively) suggest different stages of drainage pattern evolution in the two sub-basins. We attribute the lower values obtained in the Baza sub-basin to the down-throw of this sub-basin caused by very recent activity along the Baza fault.  相似文献   

12.
James C. Knox   《Geomorphology》2006,79(3-4):286
Understanding the time scales and pathways for response and recovery of rivers and floodplains to episodic changes in erosion and sedimentation has been a long standing issue in fluvial geomorphology. Floodplains are an important component of watershed systems because they affect downstream storage and delivery of overbank flood waters, and they also serve as sources and temporary sinks for sediments and toxic substances delivered by river systems. Here, 14C and 137Cs isotopic dating methods are used along with ages of culturally related phenomena associated with mining and agriculture to determine rates of sedimentation and morphologic change for a reach of the upper Mississippi River and adjacent tributaries in southwestern Wisconsin and northwestern Illinois. The most important environmental change that influenced fluvial activity in this region during last 10,000 years involved the conversion of a late Holocene mosaic of prairie and forest to a landscape dominated by cropland and pastureland associated with Euro-American settlement. Results presented herein for the Upper Mississippi Valley (UMV) show that the shift from pre-agriculture, natural land cover to landscape dominance by agricultural land use of the last 175–200 years typically increased rates and magnitudes of floodplain sedimentation by at least an order of magnitude. Accelerated overbank flooding led to increased bank heights on tributary streams and, in turn, contributed to more frequent deep flows of high energy. These high energy flows subsequently promoted bank erosion and lateral channel migration, and the formation of a historical meander belt whose alluvial surface constitutes a new historical floodplain inset against the earlier historical floodplain. The new historical floodplain serves as a “flume-like” channel that provides efficient downstream transport of water and sediment associated with moderate and large magnitude floods. Floodplains on lower tributaries, however, continue to experience rates of overbank sedimentation that are of anomalously high magnitude given improved land cover and land conservation since about 1950. This lower valley anomaly is explained by minimal development of historical (agriculture period) meander belts because of relatively low stream power in these channel and floodplain reaches of relatively low gradient. In general, long-term pre-agriculture rates of vertical accretion between about 10,000 and 200 years ago averaged about 0.2 mm yr− 1 in tributary watersheds smaller than about 700 km2 and about 0.9 mm yr− 1 on the floodplain of the upper Mississippi River where the contributing watershed area increases to about 170,000 km2. On the other hand, rates of historical vertical accretion during the period of agricultural dominance of the last 200 years average between 2 and 20 mm yr− 1, with short episodes of even higher rates during times of particularly poor land conservation practices. Significant hydrologic effects of mining and agricultural started by the 1820s and became widespread in the study region by the mid-19th century. The hydrologic and geomorphic influences of mining were relatively minor compared to those related to agriculture. High resolution dating of floodplain vertical accretion deposits shows that large floods have frequently provided major increments of sedimentation on floodplains of tributaries and the main valley upper Mississippi River. The relative importance of large floods as contributors to floodplain vertical accretion is noteworthy because global atmospheric circulation models indicate that the main channel upper Mississippi River should experience increased frequencies of extreme hydrologic events, including large floods, with anticipated continued global warming. Instrumental and stratigraphic records show that, coincident with global warming, a shift to more frequent large floods occurred since 1950 on the upper Mississippi River, and these floods generally contributed high magnitudes of floodplain sedimentation.  相似文献   

13.
生物土壤结皮对荒漠昆虫多样性的影响   总被引：10，自引：6，他引：4  
生物土壤结皮广泛分布在干旱半干旱地区与寒区荒漠,是荒漠生态系统的主要组成和景观特征之一,其重要性已被大量的研究报道所证实。然而,关于生物土壤结皮与昆虫种类多样性之间关系的研究却很少。本文以腾格里沙漠东南缘的沙坡头地区半固定沙丘柠条－油蒿群落和固定沙丘柠条－油蒿群落为观测样地,选择具有不同类型生物土壤结皮分布的植被群落为观测样方。昆虫的调查采用100 m×100 m的样方,利用样筐和网捕法收集昆虫,记录昆虫数量,采集标本在室内进行鉴定。结果表明:与无结皮覆盖的植被区相比,生物土壤结皮在地表的覆盖显著地增加了昆虫的多样性和种的丰富度,其中以苔藓和地衣为主的结皮覆盖的植被样方中昆虫种的多样性和丰富度显著地高于以蓝藻和藻类为主的结皮样方。生物土壤结皮对荒漠昆虫多样性的贡献可能是由于稳定了土表、改善了植被系统中的土壤环境,为昆虫,特别是幼虫阶段提供相对适宜的土壤生境或部分食物来源。  相似文献   

14.
Beach–dune seasonal elevation changes, aeolian sand transport measurements, bathymetric surveys and shoreline evolution assessments were used to investigate annual and seasonal patterns of dune development on Sfântu Gheorghe beach, the Danube delta coast, from 1997 to 2004. Dune volume increased consistently (1.96 m3 m− 1 y− 1 to 5.1 m3 m− 1 y− 1) over this 7-year period with higher rates in the southward (downdrift) direction. Dune aggradation is periodically limited by storms, each of which marks a new evolutionary phase of the beach–dune system. As a consequence of the variable beach morphology and vegetation density during a year, foredune growth occurs during the April–December interval while between December and April a slightly erosive tendency is present. The pattern of erosion and deposition shown by the topographical surveys is in good agreement with the sand transport measurements and demonstrates the presence of a vigorous sand flux over the foredunes which is 20–50% smaller than on the beach. This high sand flux, due to low precipitation and sparse vegetation cover, creates an aerodynamically efficient morphology on the seaward dune slope. The seaward dune face accretes during low to medium onshore winds (5.5–12 m s− 1) and erodes during high winds (> 12 m s− 1).  相似文献   

15.
The “La Clapière” area (Tinée valley, Alpes Maritimes, France) is a typical large, complex, unstable rock slope affected by Deep Seated Gravitational Slope Deformations (DGSD) with tension cracks, scarps, and a 60 × 106 m3 rock slide at the slope foot that is currently active. The slope surface displacements since 10 ka were estimated from 10Be ages of slope gravitational features and from morpho-structural analyses. It appears that tensile cracks with a strike perpendicular to the main orientation of the slope were first triggered by the gravitational reactivation of pre-existing tectonic faults in the slope. A progressive shearing of the cracks then occurred until the failure of a large rock mass at the foot of the slope. By comparing apertures, variations and changes in direction between cracks of different ages, three phases of slope surface displacement were identified: 1) an initial slow slope deformation, spreading from the foot to the top, characterized by an average displacement rate of 4 mm yr− 1, from 10–5.6 ka BP; 2) an increase in the average displacement rate from 13 to 30 mm yr− 1 from the foot to the middle of the slope, until 3.6 ka BP; and 3) development of a large failure at the foot of the slope with fast displacement rates exceeding 80 mm yr− 1 for the last 50 years. The main finding of this study is that such a large fractured slope destabilization had a very slow displacement rate for thousands of years but was followed by a recent acceleration. The results obtained agree with several previous studies, indicating that in-situ monitoring of creep of a fractured rock slope may be useful for predicting the time and place of a rapid failure.  相似文献   

16.
Gully erosion is an important environmental hazard in the black soil region of northeastern China. It is a primary sediment source in the region which needs appropriate soil conservation practices. Gully incision in rolling hills typical of this region was monitored using real-time kinematic GPS to assess the rates of gully development and the resultant sediment production. From 2002 to 2005, gully heads in the study area retreated between 15.4 and 33.5 m, giving an average retreat rate of 8.4 m yr− 1. Field measurements showed that total sediment production due to gully erosion during the three years ranged between 257 and 1854 m3 yr− 1, which is equivalent to 326 to 2355 t yr− 1, with gully-head retreat accounting for 0 to 21.7% (4.4% in average). The sediment delivery ratio was especially high during the summer rainy season (56% in average). Sediment production by ephemeral gullies and permanent gullies was 1.5 times greater than that from surface erosion. Gully heads retreated faster in the spring freeze–thaw period than in the summer. The stage of gully development could be identified based on short-term changes in the gully erosion rate.  相似文献   

17.
Field experiments were conducted in Nellis Dunes Recreational Area (Clark County, Nevada, USA) to investigate emission of dust produced by off-road driving. Experiments were carried out with three types of vehicles: 4-wheelers (quads), dirt bikes (motorcycles) and dune buggies, on 17 soil types characteristic for a desert environment. Tests were done at various driving speeds, and emissions were measured for a large number of grain size fractions. This paper reports the results for two size fractions of emissions: PM10 (particles < 10 μm) and PM60 (particles < 60 μm). The latter was considered in this study to be sufficiently representative of the total suspendable fraction (TSP). Off-road driving was found to be a significant source of dust. However, the amounts varied greatly with the type of soil and the characteristics of the top layer. Models predicting emission of dust by off-road driving should thus consider a number of soil parameters and not just one key parameter. Vehicle type and driving speed are additional parameters that affect emission. In general, 4-wheelers produce more dust than dune buggies, and dune buggies, more than dirt bikes. Higher speeds also result in higher emissions. Dust emitted by off-road driving is less coarse than the parent sediment on the road surface. Off-road driving thus results in a progressive coarsening of the top layer. Exceptions to this are silty surfaces with no, or almost no, vegetation. For such surfaces no substantial differences were observed between the grain size distribution of road dust and emitted dust. Typical emission values for off-road driving on dry desert soils are: for sandy areas, 30–40 g km− 1 (PM10) and 150–250 g km− 1 (TSP); for silty areas, 100–200 g km− 1 (PM10) and 600–2000 g km− 1 (TSP); for drainages, 30–40 g km− 1 (PM10) and 100–400 g km− 1 (TSP); and for mixed terrain, 60–100 g km− 1 (PM10) and 300–800 g km− 1 (TSP). These values are for the types of vehicles tested in this study and do not refer to cars or trucks, which produce significantly more dust.  相似文献   

18.
Muddy floods, i.e. runoff from cultivated areas carrying large quantities of soil, are frequent and widespread in the European loess belt. They are mainly generated in dry zero-order valleys and are nowadays considered as the most likely process transferring material eroded from cultivated hillslopes during the Holocene to the flood plain. The huge costs of muddy flood damages justify the urgent installation of control measures. In the framework of the ‘Soil Erosion Decree’ of the Belgian Flemish region, a 12 ha-grassed waterway and three earthen dams have been installed between 2002–2004 in the thalweg of a 300-ha cultivated dry valley in the Belgian loess belt. The measures served their purpose by preventing any muddy flood in the downstream village, despite the occurrence of several extreme rainfall events (with a maximum return period of 150 years). The catchment has been intensively monitored from 2005–2007 and 39 runoff events were recorded in that period. Peak discharge (per ha) was reduced by 69% between the upstream and the downstream extremities of the grassed waterway (GWW). Furthermore, runoff was buffered for 5–12 h behind the dams, and the lag time at the outlet of the catchment was thereby increased by 75%. Reinfiltration was also observed within the waterway, runoff coefficients decreasing by a mean of 50% between both extremities of the GWW. Sediment discharge was also reduced by 93% between the GWW's inflow and the outlet. Before the installation of the control measures, specific sediment yield (SSY) of the catchment reached 3.5 t ha− 1 yr− 1 and an ephemeral gully was observed nearly each year in the catchment. Since the control measures have been installed, no (ephemeral) gully has developed and the SSY of the catchment dropped to a mean of 0.5 t ha− 1 yr− 1. Hence, sediment transfer from the cultivated dry valley to the alluvial plain should dramatically decrease. Total cost of the control measures that are built for a 20 year-period is very low (126 € ha− 1) compared to the mean damage cost associated with muddy floods in the study area (54 € ha− 1 yr− 1). Similar measures should therefore be installed to protect other flooded villages of the Belgian loess belt and comparable environments.  相似文献   

19.
Distinct rock fragment displacements occur on the ambas, or structurally determined stepped mountains of the Northern Ethiopian Highlands. This paper describes the rock fragment detachment from cliffs by rockfall, quantifies its annual rate, and identifies factors controlling rock fragment movement on the scree slopes. It further presents a conceptual model explaining rock fragment cover at the soil surface in these landscapes. In the May Zegzeg catchment (Dogu'a Tembien district, Tigray), rockfall from cliffs and rock fragment movement on debris slopes by runoff and livestock trampling were monitored over a 4-year period (1998–2001). Rockfall and rock fragment transport mainly induced by livestock trampling appear to be important geomorphic processes. Along a 1500-m long section of the Amba Aradam sandstone cliff, at least 80 t of rocks are detached yearly and fall over a mean vertical distance of 24 m resulting in a mean annual cliff retreat rate of 0.37 mm y− 1. Yearly unit rock fragment transport rates on scree slopes ranged between 23.1 and 37.9 kg m− 1 y− 1. This process is virtually stopped when exclosures are established. Corresponding mean rock fragment transport coefficients K are 32–69 kg m− 1 y− 1 on rangeland but only 3.9 kg m− 1 y− 1 in densely vegetated exclosures. A conceptual model indicates that besides rockfall from cliffs and argillipedoturbation, all factors and processes of rock fragment redistribution in the study area are of anthropogenic origin.  相似文献   

20.
Sediment supply provides a fundamental control on the morphology of river deltas, and humans have significantly modified these supplies for centuries. Here we examine the effects of almost a century of sediment supply reduction from the damming of the Elwha River in Washington on shoreline position and beach morphology of its wave-dominated delta. The mean rate of shoreline erosion during 1939–2006 is ~ 0.6 m/yr, which is equivalent to ~ 24,000 m3/yr of sediment divergence in the littoral cell, a rate approximately equal to 25–50% of the littoral-grade sediment trapped by the dams. Semi-annual surveys between 2004 and 2007 show that most erosion occurs during the winter with lower rates of change in the summer. Shoreline change and morphology also differ spatially. Negligible shoreline change has occurred updrift (west) of the river mouth, where the beach is mixed sand to cobble, cuspate, and reflective. The beach downdrift (east) of the river mouth has had significant and persistent erosion, but this beach differs in that it has a reflective foreshore with a dissipative low-tide terrace. Downdrift beach erosion results from foreshore retreat, which broadens the low-tide terrace with time, and the rate of this kind of erosion has increased significantly from ~ 0.8 m/yr during 1939–1990 to ~ 1.4 m/yr during 1990–2006. Erosion rates for the downdrift beach derived from the 2004–2007 topographic surveys vary between 0 and 13 m/yr, with an average of 3.8 m/yr. We note that the low-tide terrace is significantly coarser (mean grain size ~ 100 mm) than the foreshore (mean grain size ~ 30 mm), a pattern contrary to the typical observation of fining low-tide terraces in the region and worldwide. Because this cobble low-tide terrace is created by foreshore erosion, has been steady over intervals of at least years, is predicted to have negligible longshore transport compared to the foreshore portion of the beach, and is inconsistent with oral history of abundant shellfish collections from the low-tide beach, we suggest that it is an armored layer of cobble clasts that are not generally competent in the physical setting of the delta. Thus, the cobble low-tide terrace is very likely a geomorphological feature caused by coastal erosion of a coastal plain and delta, which in turn is related to the impacts of the dams on the Elwha River to sediment fluxes to the coast.  相似文献   

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