scholarly journals Using topographic map interpretation methods to determine Tookany (Tacony) Creek erosion history upstream from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

2016 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 30
Author(s):  
Eric Clausen
Keyword(s):  
Drainage Basin ◽  
Walking Distance ◽  
Deep South ◽  
Topographic Map ◽  
Map Interpretation ◽  
Narrow Valley ◽  
Erosion History ◽  
Schuylkill River ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
Flood Flow

Topographic map interpretation methods are used to determine erosional landform origins in and adjacent to the Tookany (Tacony) Creek drainage basin, located upstream from and adjacent to Philadelphia, PA. Five wind gaps notched into the Tookany-Wissahickon Creek drainage divide (which is also the Delaware-Schuylkill River drainage divide), a deep through valley crossing the Tookany-Pennypack Creek drainage divide, a Tookany Creek elbow of capture, orientations of Tookany Creek tributary valleys, a narrow valley carved in erosion resistant metamorphic bedrock, and the relationship of a major Tookany Creek direction change with a Pennypack Creek elbow of capture and a Pennypack Creek barbed tributary are used along with other evidence to reconstruct how a deep south oriented Tookany Creek valley eroded headward across massive southwest oriented flood flow. The flood flow origin cannot be determined from Tookany Creek drainage basin evidence, but may have been derived from a melting continental ice sheet, and originally flowed across the Tookany Creek drainage basin region on a low gradient topographic surface equivalent in elevation to or higher than the highest present day Tookany Creek drainage divide elevations with the water flowing in a complex of shallow diverging and converging channels that had formed by scouring of less resistant bedrock units and zones. William Morris Davis, sometimes referred to as the father of North American geomorphology, spent much of his boyhood and several years as a young man living in the Tookany Creek drainage basin and all landforms discussed here were within walking distance of his home and can be identified on a topographic map published while he was developing and promoting his erosion cycle ideas. Davis never published about Tookany Creek drainage basin erosion history, but he developed and promoted uniformitarian and erosion cycle models that failed to recognize the significance of Tookany Creek drainage basin erosional landform features providing evidence of the immense floods that once crossed present day drainage divides and eroded the Tookany Creek drainage basin.

scholarly journals Pennypack Creek Drainage Basin Erosion History: Bucks, Montgomery, and Philadelphia Counties, PA, USA

2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 37
Author(s):  
Eric Clausen
Keyword(s):  
Drainage Basin ◽  
Drainage System ◽  
Topographic Map ◽  
Drainage Basins ◽  
Flow Channels ◽  
Erosion History ◽  
Converging Flow ◽  
The City ◽  
Headward Erosion ◽  
Basin Erosion

Topographic map evidence is used to interpret Pennypack Creek drainage basin erosion history in and north of the City of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (USA). Southwest and west-southwest oriented through valleys crossing the south oriented Pennypack Creek drainage basin, barbed Pennypack Creek tributaries, and significant valley direction changes are used to determine that the Pennypack Creek valley eroded headward across massive southwest oriented floods. Initially floodwaters flowed on a low gradient topographic surface at least as high, if not higher, than the highest Pennypack Creek drainage basin elevations today. Shallow low gradient diverging and converging flow channels were eroded into the underlying bedrock surface predominantly along fault lines and other zones of easier to erode materials. Headward erosion of the much deeper Pennypack Creek valley across this anastomosing channel complex captured southwest oriented floodwaters and flow on northeast ends of beheaded channels was reversed so as to move toward the newly eroded and deeper Pennypack Creek valley. These reversed flow channels captured southwest oriented floodwaters still moving north of the actively eroding Pennypack Creek valley head. This captured water then moved in a northeast direction and eroded deep northeast oriented valleys headward from the newly eroded Pennypack Creek valley. These valleys today account for northeast and east oriented Pennypack Creek valley segments and northeast oriented (barbed) tributaries flowing to south oriented Pennypack Creek. The floodwater source cannot be determined from Pennypack Creek drainage basin evidence, but was from the northeast. Melting of a continental ice sheet could produce floods of sufficient volume and duration to overwhelm whatever drainage system previously existed and to erode new drainage basins in a manner similar to how the Pennypack Creek drainage basin was eroded.

scholarly journals Origin of the Redwater River Drainage Basin Determined by Topographic Map Interpretation: Eastern Montana, USA

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 42
Author(s):  
Eric Clausen
Keyword(s):  
Drainage Basin ◽  
Missouri River ◽  
River Valley ◽  
Dry Valleys ◽  
Topographic Map ◽  
Yellowstone River ◽  
River Drainage ◽  
The North ◽  
Map Interpretation ◽  
River Drainage Basin

Topographic and geologic map interpretation strongly suggests the eastern Montana Redwater River valley eroded headward across large southeast-oriented ice-marginal melt water floods. The north-oriented Redwater River heads in an area to the south of recognized continental glaciation and flows into the recognized glaciated region before joining the east-oriented Missouri River. Detailed topographic maps show the eastern drainage divide is asymmetric with steeper slopes on the Redwater River side and is crossed by shallow dry valleys linking northwest-oriented Redwater River tributaries with southeast-oriented streams that flow as barbed tributaries to the northeast-oriented Yellowstone River. The western drainage divide is also crossed by shallow dry valleys linking northwest-oriented drainage routes to north-oriented Missouri River tributaries with southeast-oriented and barbed tributaries to the northeast- and north-oriented Redwater River. Alluvium from upstream Yellowstone River source areas found within the Redwater River drainage basin suggests the Redwater River and much longer Yellowstone River valleys eroded headward from a continental ice sheet margin as headward erosion of the larger Yellowstone River valley across the southeast-oriented flood flow was supplemented by northeast- and north-oriented flow moving at the present day Redwater-Yellowstone River drainage divide elevation.

scholarly journals Relationship of human paraoxonase-1 serum activity and genotype with atherosclerosis in individuals from the Deep South

2011 ◽  
Vol 21 (12) ◽  
pp. 867-875 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Hunter Coombes ◽  
J. Allen Crow ◽  
Mary Beth Dail ◽  
Howard W. Chambers ◽  
Robert W. Wills ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Paraoxonase 1 ◽  
Deep South ◽  
Serum Activity ◽  
Relationship Of

scholarly journals Use of Wyoming Southern Bighorn Mountains Topographic Map Evidence to Test a Recently Proposed Regional Geomorphology Paradigm: USA

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Eric Clausen
Keyword(s):  
Drainage Basin ◽  
Water Source ◽  
High Elevation ◽  
Mountain Range ◽  
Topographic Map ◽  
The South ◽  
New Paradigm ◽  
River Drainage ◽  
North Fork ◽  
Bighorn Mountains

Detailed topographic maps covering a high elevation Bighorn-Powder River drainage divide segment in the southern Bighorn Mountains are used to test a recently proposed regional geomorphology paradigm. Fundamentally different from the commonly accepted paradigm the new paradigm predicts immense south-oriented continental ice sheet melt water floods once flowed across what is now the entire Missouri River drainage basin, in which the high Bighorn Mountains are located. Such a possibility is incompatible with commonly accepted paradigm expectations and previous investigators have interpreted Bighorn Mountains geomorphic history quite differently. The paradigm test began in the high glaciated Bighorn Mountains core area where numerous passes, or divide crossings, indicate multiple and sometimes closely spaced streams of water once flowed across what is now the Bighorn-Powder River drainage divide. To the south of the glaciated area, but still in a Precambrian bedrock region, the test found the roughly adjacent and parallel south-oriented North Fork Powder River and Canyon Creek headwaters located on opposite sides of the Bighorn-Powder River drainage divide with North Fork Powder River headwaters closely linked to a 300-meter deep pass through which south-oriented water had probably flowed. Shallower divide crossings located further to the south suggest diverging and converging streams of water once flowed not only across the Bighorn-Powder River drainage divide, but also across Powder River and Bighorn River tributary drainage divides. The paradigm test also found published geologic maps and reports showing the presence of possible flood transported and deposited alluvium. While unable to determine the water source, the new paradigm test did find evidence that large south-oriented floods had crossed what was probably a rising Bighorn Mountains mountain range.

scholarly journals NEW MAPS FOR TEACHING TOPOGRAPHIC-MAP INTERPRETATION

1960 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 54-57
Author(s):  
CHARLES H. SUMMERSON
Keyword(s):  
Topographic Map ◽  
Map Interpretation

scholarly journals Topographic Map Analysis of High Elevation Black Hills Through Valleys Linking Spearfish and Rapid Creek Headwaters Valleys, Lawrence County, South Dakota, USA

2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 8
Author(s):  
Eric Clausen
Keyword(s):  
South Dakota ◽  
Drainage Basin ◽  
Water Source ◽  
High Elevation ◽  
Black Hills ◽  
Topographic Map ◽  
Drainage Basins ◽  
Converging Channel ◽  
Lawrence County ◽  
Map Analysis

The Spearfish-Rapid Creek drainage extends from elevations greater than 7130 feet (2173 meters) roughly in a north direction across the northern Black Hills upland to where it becomes the Spearfish-Whitewood Creek drainage divide at an elevation of approximately 6440 feet (1963 meters) and separates north-oriented Spearfish Creek headwaters from southeast- and east-oriented Rapid Creek headwaters. This study used detailed topographic maps to investigate through valleys (and wind gaps) now crossing the Spearfish-Rapid Creek drainage divide, which is one of the Black Hills’ highest drainage divides. Through valley (or wind gap) floor elevations were determined and ranged from approximately 6150 feet (1875 meters) to approximately 7050 feet (2149 meters) and through valley (and wind gap) depths were also calculated and ranged from approximately 30 feet (9 meters) to about 290 feet (88 meters). Map evidence suggesting these through valleys (and wind gaps) originated as components of diverging and converging complexes of bedrock-walled channels is described and suggests large and prolonged southeast-oriented floods once flowed from or across the Spearfish Creek drainage basin to the Rapid Creek drainage basin. Based on today’s topography there is no upland Black Hills region capable of generating the large and prolonged floods required to erode the observed through valleys (and wind gaps) and their associated diverging and converging channel complexes so the erosion is interpreted to have taken place while the Black Hills were just beginning to emerge as the topographic high they are today. A water source could not be determined from map evidence, but large and prolonged southeast-oriented floods across the region are consistent with a recently proposed hypothesis that massive southeast-oriented (continental ice sheet) ice-marginal melt water floods eroded what are today western South Dakota and North Dakota river drainage basins. 

scholarly journals Belle Fourche River-Cheyenne River Drainage Divide Area in the Wyoming Powder River Basin Analyzed by Topographic Map Interpretation Methods, USA

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Eric Clausen
Keyword(s):  
River Basin ◽  
Powder River Basin ◽  
Normal Science ◽  
Topographic Map ◽  
New Paradigm ◽  
River Drainage ◽  
The North ◽  
Map Interpretation ◽  
New Research ◽  
Cheyenne River

The dearth of scientific literature in which specific erosional landform origins are determined is an example of what Thomas Kuhn considered a scientific crisis. Scientific crises arise when scientists following their discipline’s established paradigm’s rules, or doing what Kuhn calls normal science, cannot explain observed evidence. Scientific crises are resolved in one of three ways. Normal science may eventually explain the evidence and normal science returns, the unsolved problems may be identified and labeled and left for future scientists to solve, or a new paradigm may emerge with an ensuing battle over its acceptance. To succeed any new paradigm must demonstrate its ability to explain the previously unexplained evidence and also open up new research opportunities. During the 20th century’s first half regional geomorphologists abiding by their discipline’s paradigm rules unsuccessfully tried to explain origins of numerous erosional landforms, such as drainage divides and erosional escarpments. Their failures eventually caused the regional geomorphology discipline, at least that part of the discipline concerned with determining specific erosional landform origins, to almost completely disappear. A new and fundamentally different geomorphology paradigm that requires massive southeast-oriented continental ice sheet melt-water floods to have flowed across the Powder River Basin has the ability to explain specific erosional landform origins and is demonstrated here by using detailed topographic map evidence to show how large southeast-oriented floods eroded the Powder River Basin’s Belle Fourche River-Cheyenne River drainage divide segment, eroded through valleys now crossing that drainage divide segment, eroded the Powder River Basin’s Belle Fourche River valley, established Belle Fourche and Cheyenne River Powder River Basin tributary valley orientations, and eroded the north-facing Pine Ridge Escarpment. The success of this and other similar new paradigm demonstrations suggest many if not all specific erosional landform origins can be determined.

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