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1.
Terrestrial cosmogenic nuclide (TCN) 10Be surface exposure ages for strath terraces along the Braldu River in the Central Karakoram Mountains range from 0.8 to 11 ka. This indicates that strath terrace formation began to occur rapidly upon deglaciation of the Braldu valley at  11 ka. Fluvial incision rates for the Braldu River based on the TCN ages for strath terraces range from 2 to 29 mm/a. The fluvial incision rates for the central gorged section of the Braldu River are an order of magnitude greater than those for the upper and lower reaches. This difference is reflected in the modern stream gradient and valley morphology. The higher incision rates in the gorged central reach of the Braldu River likely reflect differential uplift above the Main Karakoram Thrust that has resulted in the presence of a knickpoint and more rapid fluvial incision. The postglacial fluvial incision rate (2–3 mm/a) for the upper and lower reaches are of the same order of magnitude as the exhumation rates estimated from previously published thermochronological data for the Baltoro granite in the upper catchment region and for the adjacent Himalayan regions.  相似文献   

2.
In an actively deforming orogen, maintenance of a topographic steady state requires that hillslope erosion, river incision, and rock uplift rates are balanced over timescales of 105–107 years. Over shorter times, <105 years, hillslope erosion and bedrock river incision rates fluctuate with changes in climate. On 104-year timescales, the Marsyandi River in the central Nepal Himalaya has oscillated between bedrock incision and valley alluviation in response to changes in monsoon intensity and sediment flux. Stratigraphy and 14C ages of fill terrace deposits reveal a major alluviation, coincident with a monsoonal maximum, ca. 50–35 ky BP. Cosmogenic 10Be and 26Al exposure ages define an alluviation and reincision event ca. 9–6 ky BP, also at a time of strong South Asian monsoons. The terrace deposits that line the Lesser Himalayan channel are largely composed of debris flows which originate in the Greater Himalayan rocks up to 40 km away. The terrace sequences contain many cubic kilometers of sediment, but probably represent only 2–8% of the sediments which flushed through the Marsyandi during the accumulation period. At 104-year timescales, maximum bedrock incision rates are 7 mm/year in the Greater Himalaya and 1.5 mm/year in the Lesser Himalayan Mahabarat Range. We propose a model in which river channel erosion is temporally out-of-phase with hillslope erosion. Increased monsoonal precipitation causes an increase in hillslope-derived sediment that overwhelms the transport capacity of the river. The resulting aggradation protects the bedrock channel from erosion, allowing the river gradient to steepen as rock uplift continues. When the alluvium is later removed and the bedrock channel re-exposed, bedrock incision rates probably accelerate beyond the long-term mean as the river gradient adjusts downward toward a more “equilibrium” profile. Efforts to document dynamic equilibrium in active orogens require quantification of rates over time intervals significantly exceeding the scale of these millennial fluctuations in rate.  相似文献   

3.
The sediment flux generated by postglacial channel incision has been calculated for the 2150 km2, non-glacial, Waipaoa catchment located on the tectonically active Hikurangi Margin, eastern North Island, New Zealand. Sediment production both at a sub-catchment scale and for the Waipaoa catchment as a whole was calculated by first using the tensioned spline method within ARC MAP to create an approximation of the aggradational Waipaoa-1 surface (contemporaneous with the Last Glacial Maximum), and second using grid calculator functions in the GIS to subtract the modern day surface from the Waipaoa-1 surface. The Waipaoa-1 surface was mapped using stereo aerial photography, and global positioning technology fixed the position of individual terrace remnants in the landscape. The recent discovery of Kawakawa Tephra within Waipaoa-1 aggradation gravels in this catchment demonstrates that aggradation was coincidental with or began before the deposition of this 22 600 14C-year-old tephra and, using the stratigraphic relationship of Rerewhakaaitu Tephra, the end of aggradation is dated at ca 15 000 14C years (ca 18 000 cal. years BP). The construction of the Waipaoa-1 terrace is considered to be synchronous and broadly correlated with aggradation elsewhere in the North Island and northern South Island, indicating that aggradation ended at the same time over a wide area. Subsequent downcutting, a manifestation of base-level lowering following a switch to postglacial incision at the end of glacial-age aggradation, points to a significant Southern Hemisphere climatic warming occurring soon after ca 15 000 14C years (ca 18 000 cal. years BP) during the Older Dryas interval. Elevation differences between the Waipaoa-1 (c.15 ka) terrace and the level of maximum channel incision (i.e. before aggradation since the turn of the 20th century) suggest about 50% of the topographic relief within headwater reaches of the Waipaoa catchment has been formed in postglacial times. The postglacial sediment flux generated by channel incision from Waipaoa catchment is of the order of 9.5 km3, of which ~ 6.6 km3 is stored within the confines of the Poverty Bay floodplain. Thus, although the postglacial period represented a time of high terrigenous sediment generation and delivery, only ~ 30% of the sediment generated by channel incision from Waipaoa catchment probably reached the marine shelf and slope of the Hikurangi Margin during this time. The smaller adjacent Waimata catchment probably contributed an additional 2.6 km3 to the same depocentre to give a total postglacial sediment contribution to the shelf and beyond of ~ 5.5 km3. Sediment generated by postglacial channel incision represents only ~ 25% of the total sediment yield from this landscape with ~ 75% of the estimated volume of the postglacial storage offshore probably derived from hillslope erosion processes following base-level fall at times when sediment yield from these catchments exceeded storage.  相似文献   

4.
Fission‐track (FT) analysis of detrital zircon from synorogenic sediment is a well‐established tool to examine the cooling and exhumation history of convergent mountain belts, but has so far not been used to determine the long‐term evolution of the central Himalaya. This study presents FT analysis of detrital zircon from 22 sandstone and modern sediment samples that were collected along three stratigraphic sections within the Miocene to Pliocene Siwalik Group, and from modern rivers, in western and central Nepal. The results provide evidence for widespread cooling in the Nepalese Himalaya at about 16.0±1.4 Ma, and continuous exhumation at a rate of about 1.4±0.2 km Myr?1 thereafter. The ～16 Ma cooling is likely related to a combination of tectonic and erosional activity, including movement on the Main Central thrust and Southern Tibetan Detachment system, as well as emplacement of the Ramgarh thrust on Lesser Himalayan sedimentary and meta‐sedimentary units. The continuous exhumation signal following the ～16 Ma cooling event is seen in connection with ongoing tectonic uplift, river incision and erosion of lower Lesser Himalayan rocks exposed below the MCT and Higher Himalayan rocks in the hanging wall of the MCT, controlled by orographic precipitation and crustal extrusion. Provenance analysis, to distinguish between Higher Himalayan and Lesser Himalayan zircon sources, is based on double dating of individual zircons with the FT and U/Pb methods. Zircons with pre‐Himalayan FT cooling ages may be derived from either nonmetamorphic parts of the Tethyan sedimentary succession or Higher Himalayan protolith that formerly covered the Dadeldhura and Ramgarh thrust sheets, but that have been removed by erosion. Both the Higher and Lesser Himalaya appear to be sources for the zircons that record either ～16 Ma cooling or the continuous exhumation afterwards.  相似文献   

5.
This paper examines the millennial-scale evolution of the longitude profile of Nahal (Wadi) Zin in the Dead Sea basin in the northern Arava valley, Israel. Nahal Zin has incised ~ 50 m into relatively soft late Pleistocene Lake Lisan sediments. Incision was forced by the regressive (> 10 km) lake level fall of a total of > 200 m of Lake Lisan from its highest stand at ~ 25 ka and exposure of the lake-floor sediments to fluvial and coastal processes. Alluvial cut terraces of the incising channel are well preserved along the 17.5 km of the lowermost reach of Nahal Zin. At its outlet into the Dead Sea basin, Nahal Zin deposited a Holocene alluvial fan at the base of a 10–80 m high escarpment in unconsolidated sediments. The escarpment is associated with the Amazyahu fault, which forms the southern structural boundary of the present Dead Sea basin. Geomorphic mapping, optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) ages, and soil stratigraphy allowed correlation of terrace remnants and reconstruction of several past longitudinal profiles of Nahal Zin and its incision history. Together with the published lake level chronology, these data provide an opportunity to examine stream incision related to base level lowering at a millennial scale. OSL ages of the terraces fit relatively well with the established lake level chronology and follow its regression and fall. For a few thousands of years the longitudinal profile response to the lake level fall was downstream lengthening onto the exposed former lake bed. Most of the incision (~ 40 m) occurred later, when the lake level reached the top of the Amazyahu fault escarpment and continued to drop. The incision was a relatively short episode at about 17 ka and cut through this escarpment almost to its base. The fast incision, its timing, and the profiles of the incising channels indicate that the escarpment was an underwater feature and was not formed after the lake retreated.This fairly simple scenario of regressive lake level fall and knickpoint exposure and incision is modeled here using a one-dimensional numerical incision model based on a linear diffusion equation. The calculated diffusion coefficient fits earlier results and data obtained from other streams in the area and confirms the upscaling of this simple model to the millennial scale.  相似文献   

6.
The glacial buzzsaw hypothesis suggests that efficient erosion limits topographic elevations in extensively glaciated orogens. Studies to date have largely focussed on regions where large glaciers (tens of kilometres long) have been active. In light of recent studies emphasising the importance of lateral glacial erosion in lowering peaks and ridgelines, we examine the effectiveness of small glaciers in limiting topography under both relatively slow and rapid rock uplift conditions. Four ranges in the northern Basin and Range, Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming, USA, were chosen for this analysis. Estimates of maximum Pleistocene slip rates along normal faults bounding the Beaverhead–Bitterroot Mountains (~ 0.14 mm y− 1), Lemhi Range (~ 0.3 mm y− 1) and Lost River Range (~ 0.3 mm y− 1) are an order of magnitude lower than those on the Teton Fault (~ 2 mm y− 1). We compare the distribution of glacial erosion (estimated from cirque floor elevations and last glacial maximum (LGM) equilibrium line altitude (ELA) reconstructions) and fault slip rate with three metrics of topography in each range: the along-strike maximum elevation swath profile, hypsometry, and slope-elevation profiles. In the slowly uplifting Beaverhead–Bitterroot Mountains, and Lemhi and Lost River Ranges, trends in maximum elevation parallel ELAs, independent of variations in fault slip rate. Maximum elevations are offset ~ 500 m from LGM ELAs in the Lost River Range, Lemhi Range, and northern Beaverhead–Bitterroot Mountains, and by ~ 350 m in the southern Beaverhead–Bitterroot Mountains, where glacial extents were less. The offset between maximum topography and mean Quaternary ELAs, inferred from cirque floor elevations, is ~ 350 m in the Lost River and Lemhi Ranges, and 200–250 m in the Beaverhead–Bitterroot Mountains. Additionally, slope-elevation profiles are flattened and hypsometry profiles show a peak in surface areas close to the ELA in the Lemhi Range and Beaverhead–Bitterroot Mountains, suggesting that small glaciers efficiently limit topography. The situation in the Lost River Range is less clear as a glacial signature is not apparent in either slope-elevation profiles or the hypsometry. In the rapidly uplifting Teton Range, the distribution of ELAs appears superficially to correspond to maximum topography, hypsometry, and slope-elevations profiles, with regression lines on maximum elevations offset by ~ 700 and ~ 350 m from the LGM and mean Quaternary ELA respectively. However, Grand Teton and Mt. Moran represent high-elevation “Teflon Peaks” that appear impervious to glacial erosion, formed in the hard crystalline bedrock at the core of the range. Glacier size and drainage density, rock uplift rate, and bedrock lithology are all important considerations when assessing the ability of glaciers to limit mountain range topography. In the northern Basin and Range, it is only under exceptional circumstances in the Teton Range that small glaciers appear to be incapable of imposing a fully efficient glacial buzzsaw, emphasising that high peaks represent an important caveat to the glacial buzzsaw hypothesis.  相似文献   

7.
We measured in situ 10Be, 26Al and36Cl on glacial deposits as old as 1.1 Myr in the southernmost part of Patagonia and on northern Tierra del Fuego to understand boulder and moraine and, by inference, landscape changes. Nuclide concentrations indicate that surface boulders have been exposed for far less time than the ages of moraines they sit upon. The moraine ages are themselves constrained by previously obtained 40Ar/39Ar ages on interbedded lava flows or U-series and amino acid measurements on related (non-glacial) marine deposits. We suggest that a combination of boulder erosion and their exhumation from the moraine matrix could cause the erratics to have a large age variance and often short exposure histories, despite the fact that some moraine landforms are demonstrably 1 Myr old. We hypothesize that fast or episodic rates of landscape change occurred during glacial times or near the sea during interglacials. Comparison with boulder erosion rates and exhumation histories derived for the middle latitudes of semi-arid Patagonia imply different geomorphic processes operating in southernmost South America. We infer a faster rate of landscape degradation towards the higher latitudes where conditions have been colder and wetter.  相似文献   

8.
40Ar–39Ar dating of detrital white micas, petrography and heavy mineral analysis and whole‐rock geochemistry has been applied to three time‐equivalent sections through the Siwalik Group molasse in SW Nepal [Tinau Khola section (12–6 Ma), Surai Khola section (12–1 Ma) and Karnali section (16–5 Ma)]. 40Ar–39Ar ages from 1415 single detrital white micas show a peak of ages between 20 and 15 Ma for all the three sections, corresponding to the period of most extensive exhumation of the Greater Himalaya. Lag times of less than 5 Myr persist until 10 Ma, indicating Greater Himalayan exhumation rates of up to 2.6 mm year?1, using one‐dimensional thermal modelling. There are few micas younger than 12 Ma, no lag times of less than 6 Myr after 10 Ma and whole‐rock geochemistry and petrography show a significant provenance change at 12 Ma indicating erosion from the Lesser Himalaya at this time. These changes suggest a switch in the dynamics of the orogen that took place during the 12–10 Ma period whereby most strain began to be accommodated by structures within the Lesser Himalaya as opposed to the Greater Himalaya. Consistent data from all three Siwalik sections suggest a lateral continuity in tectonic evolution for the central Himalayas.  相似文献   

9.
Although the structure of the central Peruvian Subandean zone is well defined, the timing of thrust‐related exhumation and Cenozoic sedimentation remain poorly constrained. In this study, we report new apatite (U–Th)/He (AHe) and fission track (AFT) ages from thrust‐belt and foreland strata along three published balanced cross sections. AHe data from the northern, thick‐skinned domain (i.e. Shira Mountain, Otishi Cordillera and Ucayali Basin) show young AHe ages (ranging from 2.6 ± 0.2 to 13.1 ± 0.8 Ma) compared with AFT ages (ranging from 101 ± 5 to 133 ± 11 Ma). In the southern Camisea Basin, where deformation is mainly thin‐skinned, AHe and AFT ages have been both reset and show young cooling ages (3.7 ± 0.8 Ma and 8 ± 2 Ma respectively). Using low‐temperature thermochronology data and the latest fission track annealing and He diffusion codes, the thermal history of the study area has been reconstructed using inverse modelling. This history includes two steps of erosion: Early Cretaceous and late Neogene, but only Neogene sedimentation and exhumation varies in the different sectors of the study area. From a methodological point of view, large AHe data dispersion point to the need for refinement of AHe damage and annealing models. The influence of grain chemistry on damage annealing, multiple age components and the possibility of fission tracks as traps for He need further consideration. For the central Peruvian Subandes, AHe and AFT ages combined with balanced cross sections emphasize the dominant control of Paleozoic inheritance rather than climate on Cenozoic infilling and exhumation histories. Finally, our data provide the first field example of how thick‐skinned thrust‐related deformation and exhumation in the Subandes can be directly dated through AHe thermochronology.  相似文献   

10.
The New River crosses three physiogeologic provinces of the ancient, tectonically quiescent Appalachian orogen and is ideally situated to record variability in fluvial erosion rates over the late Cenozoic. Active erosion features on resistant bedrock that floors the river at prominent knickpoints demonstrate that the river is currently incising toward base level. However, thick sequences of alluvial fill and fluvial terraces cut into this fill record an incision history for the river that includes several periods of stalled downcutting and aggradation. We used cosmogenic 10Be exposure dating, aided by mapping and sedimentological examination of terrace deposits, to constrain the timing of events in this history. 10Be concentration depth profiles were used to help account for variables such as cosmogenic inheritance and terrace bioturbation. Fill-cut and strath terraces at elevations 10, 20, and 50 m above the modern river yield model cosmogenic exposure ages of 130, 600, and 600–950 ka, respectively, but uncertainties on these ages are not well constrained. These results provide the first direct constraint on the history of alluvial aggradation and incision events recorded by New River terrace deposits. The exposure ages yield a long-term average incision rate of 43 m/my, which is comparable to rates measured elsewhere in the Appalachians. During specific intervals over the last 1 Ma, however, the New River's incision rate reached 100 m/my. Modern erosion rates on bedrock at a prominent knickpoint are between 28 and 87 m/my, in good agreement with rates calculated between terrace abandonment events and significantly faster than 2 m/my rates of surface erosion from ancient terrace remnants. Fluctuations between aggradation and rapid incision operate on timescales of 104− 105 year, similar to those of late Cenozoic climate variations, though uncertainties in model ages preclude direct correlation of these fluctuations to specific climate change events. These second-order fluctuations appear within a longer-term signal of dominant aggradation (until 2 Ma) followed by dominant incision. A similar signal is observed on other Appalachian rivers and may be the result of sediment supply fluctuations driven by the increased frequency of climate changes in the late Cenozoic.  相似文献   

11.
Late Quaternary slip across the Cañada David detachment has produced an extensive array of Quaternary scarps cutting alluvial-fans along nearly the entire length (~ 60 km) of the range-bounding detachment. Eight regional alluvial-fan surfaces (Q1 [youngest] to Q8 [oldest]) are defined and mapped along the entire Sierra el Mayor range-front. Terrestrial cosmogenic nuclide 10Be concentrations from individual boulders on alluvial-fan surfaces Q4 and Q7 yield surface exposure ages of 15.5 ± 2.2 ka and 204 ± 11 ka, respectively. Formation of the fans is probably tectonic, but their evolution is strongly moderated by climate, with surfaces developing as the hydrological conditions have changed in response to climate change on Milankovitch timescales. Systematic mapping reveals that the fault scarp array along active range-bounding faults in Sierras Cucapa and El Mayor can be divided into individual rupture zones, based on cross-cutting relationships with alluvial-fans. Quantitative morphological ages of the Laguna Salada fault-scarps, derived from linear diffusive degradation modeling, are consistent with the age of the scarps based on cross-cutting relationships. The weighted means of the maximum mass diffusivity constant for all scarps with offsets < 4 m is 0.051 and 0.066 m2/ka for the infinite and finite-slope solutions of the diffusion equation, respectively. This estimate is approximately an order of magnitude smaller than the lowest diffusivity constants documented in other regions and it probably reflects the extreme aridity and other microclimatic conditions that characterize the eastern margin of Laguna Salada.  相似文献   

12.
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   

13.
Representative rainfall thresholds for landslides in the Nepal Himalaya   总被引：14，自引：0，他引：14  
Measuring some 2400 km in length, the Himalaya accommodate millions of people in northern India and Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, and parts of other Asian nations. Every year, especially during monsoon rains, landslides and related natural events in these mountains cause tremendous damage to lives, property, infrastructure, and environment. In the context of the Himalaya, however, the rainfall thresholds for landslide initiation are not well understood. This paper describes regional aspects of rainfall thresholds for landslides in the Himalaya. Some 677 landslides occurring from 1951 to 2006 were studied to analyze rainfall thresholds. Out of the 677 landslides, however, only 193 associated with rainfall data were analyzed to yield a threshold relationship between rainfall intensity, rainfall duration, and landslide initiation. The threshold relationship fitted to the lower boundary of the field defined by landslide-triggering rainfall events is I = 73.90D− 0.79 (I = rainfall intensity in mm h− 1 and D = duration in hours), revealing that when the daily precipitation exceeds 144 mm, the risk of landslides on Himalayan mountain slopes is high. Normalized rainfall intensity–duration relationships and landslide initiation thresholds were established from the data after normalizing rainfall-intensity data with respect to mean annual precipitation (MAP) as an index in which NI = 1.10D− 0.59 (NI = normalized intensity in h− 1). Finally, the role of antecedent rainfall in causing landslides was also investigated by considering daily rainfall during failure and the cumulative rainfall to discover at what point antecedent rainfall plays an important role in Himalayan landslide processes. Rainfall thresholds presented in this paper are generalized so they can be used in landslide warning systems in the Nepal Himalaya.  相似文献   

14.
Giant landslides, which usually have volumes up to several tens of km3, tend to be related to mountainous reliefs such as fault scarps or thrust fronts. The western flank of the Precordillera in southern Peru and northern Chile is characterized by the presence of such mega-landslides. A good example is the Latagualla Landslide (19°15′S), composed of ~ 5.4 km3 of Miocene ignimbritic rock blocks located next to the Moquella Flexure, a structure resulting from the propagation of a west-vergent thrust blind fault that borders the Precordillera of the Central Depression. The landslide mass is very well preserved, allowing reconstitution of its movement and evolution in three main stages. The geomorphology of the landslide indicates that it preceded the incision of the present-day valleys during the late Miocene. Given the local geomorphological conditions 8–9 Ma ago (morphology, slopes and probably a high water table), large-magnitude earthquakes could have provided destabilization forces enough to cause the landslide. On the other hand, present seismic forces would not be sufficient to trigger such landslides; therefore the hazard related to them in the region is low.  相似文献   

15.
Rates and processes of rock weathering, soil formation, and mountain erosion during the Quaternary were evaluated in an inland Antarctic cold desert. The fieldwork involved investigations of weathering features and soil profiles for different stages after deglaciation. Laboratory analyses addressed chemistry of rock coatings and soils, as well as 10Be and 26Al exposure ages of the bedrock. Less resistant gneiss bedrock exposed over 1 Ma shows stone pavements underlain by in situ produced silty soils thinner than 40 cm and rich in sulfates, which reflect the active layer thickness, the absence of cryoturbation, and the predominance of salt weathering. During the same exposure period, more resistant granite bedrock has undergone long-lasting cavernous weathering that produces rootless mushroom-like boulders with a strongly Fe-oxidized coating. The red coating protects the upper surface from weathering while very slow microcracking progresses by the growth of sulfates. Geomorphological evidence and cosmogenic exposure ages combine to provide contrasting average erosion rates. No erosion during the Quaternary is suggested by a striated roche moutonnée exposed more than 2 Ma ago. Differential erosion between granite and gneiss suggests a significant lowering rate of desert pavements in excess of 10 m Ma− 1. The landscape has been (on the whole) stable, but the erosion rate varies spatially according to microclimate, geology, and surface composition.  相似文献   

16.
This paper presents the detailed rainfall characteristics of 3 key areas located in the eastern monsoon India: the margin of Darjeeling Himalaya, the margin of Bhutanese Himalaya and the Cherrapunji region at the southern slope of Meghalaya Upland. All these areas are sensitive to changes but differ in annual rainfall totals (2000–4000 mm, 4000–6000 m and 6000–23,000 mm respectively) and in the frequency of extreme rainfalls. Therefore the response of geomorphic processes is different, also due to various human impact. In the Darjeeling Himalaya the thresholds may be passed 2–3 times in one century and the system may return to the former equilibrium. At the margin of western Bhutanese Himalaya in 1990s, the clustering of three events caused an acceleration in the transformation and formation of a new trend of evolution, especially in the piedmont zone. In the Cherrapunji of Meghalaya region in the natural conditions the effects of dozens of extreme rainfalls every year were checked by the dense vegetation cover. After deforestation and extensive land use the fertile soil was removed and either the exposed bedrock or armoured debris top layer protect the surface against degradation and facilitate only rapid overland flow. A new “sterile” system has been formed.  相似文献   

17.
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   

18.
A quantitative geomorphological study has been made on 27 river basins in Tahiti-Nui volcanic island (French Polynesia) to reconstruct the erosional evolution of a young oceanic island subjected to heavy tropical rainfall. Tahiti-Nui is composed of a main shield volcano cut by two huge landslides on each side of a main E–W rift zone. The northern landslide depression was rapidly buried by the construction of a second shield, the late activity of which overflowed the crest and then filled the southern landslide depression. The island is now volcanically inactive and is deeply dissected by erosion. The present geometries of the river basins are first compared using dimensionless parameters derived from a digital elevation model. The original volcanic surfaces are then reconstructed to estimate the volumes removed by erosion and determine the average rates of long-term erosion. The basins developed on the flanks of the main shield are wider, shallower, and gentler than the basins incising the post-landslide second shield, indicating a higher degree of evolution. Rainfall concentration on the windward (eastern) side of the island also contributed to increase the vertical lowering of the volcanic relief and the enlargement of the valleys. The magnitude of erosion, however, is neither directly linked with the age of the units incised nor with the differential amounts of rainfall. Erosion rates determined over the last 1 Myr range between 10− 3 km3 kyr− 1 and 0.25 km3 kyr− 1. The highest values occur in the basins incising the main E–W rift zone and/or the lateral rims of the northern and southern landslide depressions. Long-term dissection has thus been enhanced along the geological discontinuities of the eruptive system. Deep erosion was first constrained along the axis of the main E–W rift zone, where numerous dykes compartmentalize the volcanic structure into large unstable blocks. Dykes most probably acted as mechanical discontinuities along which shallow gravitational landslides recurrently occurred. Such mass-wasting episodes produced significant amounts of debris, partly preserved as highly indurated sedimentary breccias of various ages exposed at various locations. Subsequent dissection of Tahiti-Nui was enhanced to the north and to the south, leading to the rapid evolution of the Papenoo and Taharuu drainage systems over the last 500 kyr. Long-term dissection on Tahiti-Nui has been responsible for the removal of at least 350 km3 of volcanic material from the surface, and for the partial exhumation of a shallow intrusive complex partly composed of coarse-grained plutonic rocks (gabbros and syenites) in the central part of the eruptive system. Structurally controlled erosion is thus a key component of landscape evolution on such high-relief oceanic tropical islands.  相似文献   

19.
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   

20.
The Spiti River that drains through the arid Trans-Himalayan region is studied here. The relict deposits exposed along the river provide an opportunity to understand the interaction between the phases of intense monsoon and surface processes occurring in the cold and semi arid to-arid Trans-Himalayan region. Based on geomorphological observation the valley is broadly divided into the upper and lower Spiti Valley. The braided channel and the relict fluvio-lacustrine deposits rising from the present riverbed characterize the upper valley. The deposits in the lower valley occur on the uplifted bedrock strath and where the channel characteristics are mainly of meandering nature. Conspicuous is the occurrence of significantly thick lacustrine units within the relict sedimentary sequences of Spiti throughout the valley. The broad sedimentary architecture suggests the formation of these palaeolakes due landslide-driven river damming. The Optically Stimulated Luminescence (OSL) dating of quartz derived from the bounding units of the lacustrine deposits suggests that the upper valley preserves the phase of deposition around 14–6 ka and in the lower valley around 50–30 ka. The review of published palaeoclimatic palaeolake chronology of Spiti Valley indicates that the lakes were probably formed during the wetter conditions related to Marine Isotope Stage III and II. The increased precipitation during these phases induced excessive landsliding and formation of dammed lakes along the Spiti River. The older lacustrine phase being preserved on the uplifted bedrock strath in the lower valley indicates late Pleistocene tectonic activity along the Kaurick Chango normal fault.  相似文献   

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