scholarly journals How concave are river channels?

2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 505-523 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon M. Mudd ◽  
Fiona J. Clubb ◽  
Boris Gailleton ◽  
Martin D. Hurst
Keyword(s):  
Numerical Models ◽  
Theoretical Models ◽  
Structural Heterogeneity ◽  
Drainage Area ◽  
Tectonic Activity ◽  
River Channels ◽  
Stream Power ◽  
Channel Incision ◽  
Rock Types ◽  
Channel Steepness

Abstract. For over a century, geomorphologists have attempted to unravel information about landscape evolution, and processes that drive it, using river profiles. Many studies have combined new topographic datasets with theoretical models of channel incision to infer erosion rates, identify rock types with different resistance to erosion, and detect potential regions of tectonic activity. The most common metric used to analyse river profile geometry is channel steepness, or ks. However, the calculation of channel steepness requires the normalisation of channel gradient by drainage area. This normalisation requires a power law exponent that is referred to as the channel concavity index. Despite the concavity index being crucial in determining channel steepness, it is challenging to constrain. In this contribution, we compare both slope–area methods for calculating the concavity index and methods based on integrating drainage area along the length of the channel, using so-called “chi” (χ) analysis. We present a new χ-based method which directly compares χ values of tributary nodes to those on the main stem; this method allows us to constrain the concavity index in transient landscapes without assuming a linear relationship between χ and elevation. Patterns of the concavity index have been linked to the ratio of the area and slope exponents of the stream power incision model (m∕n); we therefore construct simple numerical models obeying detachment-limited stream power and test the different methods against simulations with imposed m and n. We find that χ-based methods are better than slope–area methods at reproducing imposed m∕n ratios when our numerical landscapes are subject to either transient uplift or spatially varying uplift and fluvial erodibility. We also test our methods on several real landscapes, including sites with both lithological and structural heterogeneity, to provide examples of the methods' performance and limitations. These methods are made available in a new software package so that other workers can explore how the concavity index varies across diverse landscapes, with the aim to improve our understanding of the physics behind bedrock channel incision.

scholarly journals How concave are river channels?

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon M. Mudd ◽  
Fiona J. Clubb ◽  
Boris Gailleton ◽  
Martin D. Hurst
Keyword(s):  
Numerical Models ◽  
Theoretical Models ◽  
Structural Heterogeneity ◽  
Drainage Area ◽  
Tectonic Activity ◽  
River Channels ◽  
Stream Power ◽  
Channel Incision ◽  
Rock Types ◽  
Channel Steepness

Abstract. For over a century geomorphologists have attempted to unravel information about landscape evolution, and processes that drive it, using river profiles. Many studies have combined new topographic datasets with theoretical models of channel incision to infer erosion rates, identify rock types with different resistance to erosion, and detect potential regions of tectonic activity. The most common metric used to analyse river profile geometry is channel steepness, or ks. However, the calculation of channel steepness requires the normalisation of channel gradient by drainage area. This relationship between channel gradient and drainage area is referred to as channel concavity, and despite being crucial in determining channel steepness, is challenging to constrain. In this contribution we compare both slope–area methods for calculating concavity and methods based on integrating drainage area along the length of the channel, using so-called ``chi'' (χ) analysis. We present a new χ-based method which directly compares χ values of tributary nodes to those on the main stem: this method allows us to constrain channel concavity in transient landscapes without assuming a linear relationship between χ and elevation. Patterns of channel concavity have been linked to the ratio of the area and slope exponents of the stream power incision model (m/n): we therefore construct simple numerical models obeying detachment-limited stream power and test the different methods against simulations with imposed m and n. We find that χ-based methods are better than slope–area methods at reproducing imposed m/n ratios when our numerical landscapes are subject to either transient uplift or spatially varying uplift and fluvial erodibility. We also test our methods on several real landscapes, including sites with both lithological and structural heterogeneity, to provide examples of the methods' performance and limitations. These methods are made available in a new software package so that other workers can explore how concavity varies across diverse landscapes, with the aim to improve our understanding of the physics behind bedrock channel incision.

A graphical method to interpret how incision thresholds influence topographic and scaling properties of landscapes

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nikos Theodoratos ◽  
James W. Kirchner
Keyword(s):  
Graphical Method ◽  
Numerical Models ◽  
Drainage Area ◽  
Stream Power ◽  
Simple Method ◽  
Linear Diffusion ◽  
Scaling Properties ◽  
Curvature Lines ◽  
Straight Lines ◽  
The Relationship

<p>Theoretical analysis of the governing equations of numerical models can reveal relationships between topographic properties, such as drainage area, slope, and curvature, in simulated landscapes. These relationships are testable predictions; they can diagnose whether real-world landscapes could potentially arise from similar mechanisms. For example, the stream-power incision model is consistent with drainage area and slope data that plot as straight lines on logarithmic axes.</p><p>Here we graph theoretical relationships between topographic curvature and the steepness index, which depends on drainage area and slope. These relationships plot as straight lines for steady-state landscapes that have evolved according to a model that combines stream-power incision, linear diffusion, and uplift. Further, they link topography (drainage area, slope, and curvature) to characteristic length scales of the landscape, which depend on the competition between the processes of incision, diffusion, and uplift.</p><p>Adding an incision threshold to the model changes the relationship between the steepness index and topographic curvature. We examine these changes graphically and we show that they shed light on how incision thresholds influence topographic and scaling properties of landscapes. Specifically, we present a graphical method that consists of plotting steepness index–curvature lines and of tracing their intersections with each other and with the coordinate axes. This simple method reveals both how topography and process competition are influenced by the incision threshold, and how these influences vary within a given landscape and across different landscapes.</p>

Boulders as a lithologic control on river and landscape response to tectonic forcing at the Mendocino triple junction

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles M. Shobe ◽  
Georgina L. Bennett ◽  
Gregory E. Tucker ◽  
Kevin Roback ◽  
Scott R. Miller ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Triple Junction ◽  
High Elevation ◽  
River Channels ◽  
Erosion Rates ◽  
Coastal Belt ◽  
Sediment Mass ◽  
Mendocino Triple Junction ◽  
Landscape Response ◽  
Channel Steepness ◽  
Tectonic Forcing

Constraining Earth’s sediment mass balance over geologic time requires a quantitative understanding of how landscapes respond to transient tectonic perturbations. However, the mechanisms by which bedrock lithology governs landscape response remain poorly understood. Rock type influences the size of sediment delivered to river channels, which controls how efficiently rivers respond to tectonic forcing. The Mendocino triple junction region of northern California, USA, is one landscape in which large boulders, delivered by hillslope failures to channels, may alter the pace of landscape response to a pulse of rock uplift. Boulders frequently delivered by earthflows in one lithology, the Franciscan mélange, have been hypothesized to steepen channels and slow river response to rock uplift, helping to preserve high-elevation, low-relief topography. Channels in other units (the Coastal Belt and the Franciscan schist) may experience little or no erosion inhibition due to boulder delivery. Here we investigate spatial patterns in channel steepness, an indicator of erosion resistance, and how it varies between mélange and non-mélange channels. We then ask whether lithologically controlled boulder delivery to rivers is a possible cause of steepness variations. We find that mélange channels are steeper than Coastal Belt channels but not steeper than schist channels. Though channels in all units steepen with increasing proximity to mapped hillslope failures, absolute steepness values near failures are much higher (∼2×) in the mélange and schist than in Coastal Belt units. This could reflect reduced rock erodibility or increased erosion rates in the mélange and schist, or disproportionate steepening due to enhanced boulder delivery by hillslope failures in those units. To investigate the possible influence of lithology-dependent boulder delivery, we map boulders at failure toes in the three units. We find that boulder size, frequency, and concentration are greatest in mélange channels and that Coastal Belt channels have the lowest concentrations. Using our field data to parameterize a mathematical model for channel slope response to boulder delivery, we find that the modeled influence of boulders in the mélange could be strong enough to account for some observed differences in channel steepness between lithologies. At the landscape scale, we lack the data to fully disentangle boulder-induced steepening from that due to spatially varying erosion rates and in situ rock erodibility. However, our boulder mapping and modeling results suggest that lithology-dependent boulder delivery to channels could retard landscape adjustment to tectonic forcing in the mélange and potentially also in the schist. Boulder delivery may modulate landscape response to tectonics and help preserve high-elevation, low-relief topography at the Mendocino triple junction and elsewhere.

scholarly journals Landscape evolution models using the stream power incision model show unrealistic behavior when <i>m</i> ∕ <i>n</i> equals 0.5

2017 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 807-820 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffrey S. Kwang ◽  
Gary Parker
Keyword(s):  
Steady State ◽  
Landscape Evolution ◽  
Drainage Area ◽  
Uplift Rate ◽  
Stream Power ◽  
River Incision ◽  
Vertical Incision ◽  
Small Scales ◽  
Insight Into

Abstract. Landscape evolution models often utilize the stream power incision model to simulate river incision: E = KAmSn, where E is the vertical incision rate, K is the erodibility constant, A is the upstream drainage area, S is the channel gradient, and m and n are exponents. This simple but useful law has been employed with an imposed rock uplift rate to gain insight into steady-state landscapes. The most common choice of exponents satisfies m ∕ n = 0.5. Yet all models have limitations. Here, we show that when hillslope diffusion (which operates only on small scales) is neglected, the choice m ∕ n = 0.5 yields a curiously unrealistic result: the predicted landscape is invariant to horizontal stretching. That is, the steady-state landscape for a 10 km2 horizontal domain can be stretched so that it is identical to the corresponding landscape for a 1000 km2 domain.

Late Pleistocene and early Holocene rivers and wetlands in the Bonneville basin of western North America

2003 ◽  
Vol 60 (2) ◽  
pp. 200-210 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles G. Oviatt ◽  
David B. Madsen ◽  
Dave N. Schmitt
Keyword(s):  
Great Basin ◽  
Late Pleistocene ◽  
Theoretical Models ◽  
Coarse Sand ◽  
Early Holocene ◽  
River Channels ◽  
Human Occupation ◽  
Lake Bonneville ◽  
River Bed ◽  
Bonneville Basin

AbstractField investigations at Dugway Proving Ground in western Utah have produced new data on the chronology and human occupation of late Pleistocene and early Holocene lakes, rivers, and wetlands in the Lake Bonneville basin. We have classified paleo-river channels of these ages as “gravel channels” and “sand channels.” Gravel channels are straight to curved, digitate, and have abrupt bulbous ends. They are composed of fine gravel and coarse sand, and are topographically inverted (i.e., they stand higher than the surrounding mudflats). Sand channels are younger and sand filled, with well-developed meander-scroll morphology that is truncated by deflated mudflat surfaces. Gravel channels were formed by a river that originated as overflow from the Sevier basin along the Old River Bed during the late regressive phases of Lake Bonneville (after 12,500 and prior to 11,000 14C yr B.P.). Dated samples from sand channels and associated fluvial overbank and wetland deposits range in age from 11,000 to 8800 14C yr B.P., and are probably related to continued Sevier-basin overflow and to groundwater discharge. Paleoarchaic foragers occupied numerous sites on gravel-channel landforms and adjacent to sand channels in the extensive early Holocene wetland habitats. Reworking of tools and limited toolstone diversity is consistent with theoretical models suggesting Paleoarchaic foragers in the Old River Bed delta were less mobile than elsewhere in the Great Basin.

Sur quelques aspects de la zoneographie alpine dans les Alpes cottiennes meridionales

1962 ◽  
Vol S7-IV (4) ◽  
pp. 477-491
Author(s):  
Andre Michard
Keyword(s):  
Tectonic Activity ◽  
Structural Units ◽  
Zonal Distribution ◽  
Rock Types ◽  
Metamorphic Mineral ◽  
Mineral Assemblages ◽  
Alpine Metamorphism

Abstract A Permo-Carboniferous series and a polymetamorphic series are distinguished in the rocks of the southern Cottian Alps, Italy. The metamorphic mineral assemblages and facies of the principal rock types represented in each series and their zonal distribution are discussed. Alpine metamorphism is considered to have occurred after the tectonic activity responsible for superposition of the three structural units recognized in the region between Varaita and Stura.

QEMSCAN-Assisted Interpretation of Imbibition Capillary Pressure for Multiporosity Carbonate Rocks

SPE Journal ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 1-17
Author(s):  
Aymen Alramadhan ◽  
Yildiray Cinar
Keyword(s):  
Capillary Pressure ◽  
Numerical Models ◽  
Rock Composition ◽  
Rock Samples ◽  
Rock Types ◽  
Centrifuge Tests ◽  
Medium Permeability ◽  
Mercury Injection Capillary Pressure ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Selection Of

Summary In this paper, we present an experimental study that explores the potential links between the imbibition capillary pressure Pci and the pore systems and/or mineralogy for carbonate reservoirs undergoing waterflood. A systematic workflow has been formulated to ensure the data quality ofPci, minimize uncertainty in derivingPci from centrifuge tests, and analyze the data considering the pore-size distribution from mercury injection capillary pressure (MICP) and mineralogy from Quantitative Evaluation of Minerals by Scanning Electron Microscopy (QEMSCAN). The workflow starts with assessing the centrifuge production data for gravity-capillary equilibrium at each speed. Then, the quality-checked data are used to generate six differentPci curves using analytical and numerical models. The resulting curves provide a measure of the variability in solutions for various rock types and assist in the selection of the most-representativePci curve. Finally, the representative Pci curves of all rock samples are analyzed together with the MICP and QEMSCAN data to examine the change in Pci curves as a result of changes in the number and character of rock types, pore systems, dominant pore-throat radii, and mineralogy. Findings from this study shed light on the impact of mineralogy and pore systems on Pci. From the mineralogy perspective, the presence of dolomite, microporous calcite, or rutile and anatase (TiO2) within the rock composition is found to affect the Pci of the carbonate samples used in this study. The rock samples with these minerals should be separated from other bimodal samples before attempting to obtain a correlation between Pci and pore systems. The data analysis further reveals that some bimodal samples of medium permeability yield a better waterflood imbibition efficiency than those of the high-permeability samples. This observation is attributed to a better communication between the micropore and macropore systems, and a closer proximity of the peak radii of the micro- and macropore systems of the medium-permeability samples.

scholarly journals Numerical and Theoretical Models for NFRCM-Strengthened Masonry

2019 ◽  
Vol 817 ◽  
pp. 44-49
Author(s):  
Claudia Brito de Carvalho Bello ◽  
Daniele Baraldi ◽  
Giosuè Boscato ◽  
Antonella Cecchi ◽  
Olimpia Mazzarella ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Parametric Analysis ◽  
Numerical Models ◽  
Pushover Analysis ◽  
Single Layer ◽  
Theoretical Models ◽  
Layer Model ◽  
Cementitious Matrix ◽  
Reinforced Masonry ◽  
Homogenized Model ◽  
Fabric Reinforced Cementitious Matrix

The shear behavior of masonry strengthened with natural fabric-reinforced cementitious matrix (NFRCM-strengthened masonry) is investigated through two different numerical models: a multi-layer model considering masonry and reinforcement as different materials and a multi-step homogenized model, where reinforced masonry is considered as a whole. The approaches are compared by performing nonlinear numerical pushover analysis with an increasing shear action applied to the panels. The parametric analysis shows the capacity and limits of both continuous diffused models – defined as a multi-or a single layer - to represent reinforced masonry in-plane behavior.

scholarly journals Relationship of channel steepness to channel incision rate from a tilted and progressively exposed unconformity surface

2014 ◽  
Vol 119 (2) ◽  
pp. 366-384 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. E. Oskin ◽  
D. W. Burbank ◽  
F. M. Phillips ◽  
S. M. Marrero ◽  
B. Bookhagen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Channel Incision ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
Unconformity Surface ◽  
Channel Steepness

scholarly journals Millennial-scale denudation rates in the Himalaya of Far Western Nepal

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lujendra Ojha ◽  
Ken L. Ferrier ◽  
Tank Ojha
Keyword(s):  
Stream Power ◽  
Denudation Rate ◽  
The Past ◽  
Cosmogenic Nuclide ◽  
Northern India ◽  
Denudation Rates ◽  
Cosmogenic 10Be ◽  
Channel Steepness ◽  
The Himalaya ◽  
Millennial Scale

Abstract. Over the past two decades, rates and patterns of Himalayan denudation have been documented through numerous cosmogenic nuclide measurements in central and eastern Nepal, Bhutan, and northern India. To date, however, few denudation rates have been measured in Far Western Nepal – a ~ 300-km-wide region near the center of the Himalayan arc – which presents a significant gap in our understanding of Himalayan denudation. Here we report new catchment-averaged millennial-scale denudation rates inferred from cosmogenic 10Be in fluvial quartz at seven sites in Far Western Nepal. The inferred denudation rates range from 385 ± 31 t km−2 yr−1 (0.15 ± 0.01 mm yr −1) to 8737 ± 2908 t km−2 yr−1 (3.3 ± 1.1 mm yr−1), and, in combination with our analyses of channel topography, are broadly consistent with previously published relationships between catchment-averaged denudation rates and normalized channel steepness across the Himalaya. These data show a weak correlation with catchment-averaged specific stream power, consistent with a Himalaya-wide compilation of previously published stream power values. Together, these observations are consistent with a dependence of denudation rate on both tectonic and climatic forcings, and represent a first step toward filling an important gap in denudation rate measurements in Far Western Nepal.

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