Articles | Volume 9, issue 4
https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-9-1073-2021
© Author(s) 2021. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-9-1073-2021
© Author(s) 2021. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Sediment size on talus slopes correlates with fracture spacing on bedrock cliffs: implications for predicting initial sediment size distributions on hillslopes
Joseph P. Verdian
Department of Earth and Climate Sciences, San Francisco State University, San Francisco, CA 94302, USA
Leonard S. Sklar
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
Department of Earth and Climate Sciences, San Francisco State University, San Francisco, CA 94302, USA
Department of Geography, Planning and Environment, Concordia University, Montreal, H3G1M8, Canada
Clifford S. Riebe
Department of Geology and Geophysics, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY 82071, USA
Jeffrey R. Moore
Department of Geology and Geophysics, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84112, USA
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Guglielmo Grechi, Jeffrey R. Moore, Molly E. McCreary, Erin K. Jensen, and Salvatore Martino
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-1894, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-1894, 2024
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We investigated the dynamic behavior of a rock arch to understand how fractures influence its stability. Using geophones, we measured its modes of vibration and used numerical modeling to replicate them. We found that higher-order resonance modes are the most sensitive to fractures, indicating their potential as early indicators of structural damage. Therefore, monitoring these higher-order modes could provide a more accurate tool to assess the structural integrity of natural rock landforms.
Matthew C. Morriss, Benjamin Lehmann, Benjamin Campforts, George Brencher, Brianna Rick, Leif S. Anderson, Alexander L. Handwerger, Irina Overeem, and Jeffrey Moore
Earth Surf. Dynam., 11, 1251–1274, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-11-1251-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-11-1251-2023, 2023
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In this paper, we investigate the 28 June 2022 collapse of the Chaos Canyon landslide in Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado, USA. We find that the landslide was moving prior to its collapse and took place at peak spring snowmelt; temperature modeling indicates the potential presence of permafrost. We hypothesize that this landslide could be part of the broader landscape evolution changes to alpine terrain caused by a warming climate, leading to thawing alpine permafrost.
Riley Finnegan, Jeffrey R. Moore, and Paul R. Geimer
Earth Surf. Dynam., 9, 1459–1479, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-9-1459-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-9-1459-2021, 2021
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We performed controlled helicopter flights near seven rock arches and towers in Utah, USA, and recorded how their natural vibrations changed as the helicopter performed different maneuvers. We found that arches and towers vibrate up to 1000 times faster during these flights compared to time periods just before the helicopter's approach. Our study provides data that can be used to predict long-term damage to culturally significant rock features from sustained helicopter flights over time.
Mauro Häusler, Paul Richmond Geimer, Riley Finnegan, Donat Fäh, and Jeffrey Ralston Moore
Earth Surf. Dynam., 9, 1441–1457, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-9-1441-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-9-1441-2021, 2021
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Natural rock arches are valued landmarks worldwide. As ongoing erosion can lead to rockfall and collapse, it is important to monitor the structural integrity of these landforms. One suitable technique involves measurements of resonance, produced when mainly natural sources, such as wind, vibrate the spans. Here we explore the use of two advanced processing techniques to accurately measure the resonant frequencies, damping ratios, and deflection patterns of several rock arches in Utah, USA.
Daniel D. Richter, Sharon A. Billings, Peter M. Groffman, Eugene F. Kelly, Kathleen A. Lohse, William H. McDowell, Timothy S. White, Suzanne Anderson, Dennis D. Baldocchi, Steve Banwart, Susan Brantley, Jean J. Braun, Zachary S. Brecheisen, Charles W. Cook, Hilairy E. Hartnett, Sarah E. Hobbie, Jerome Gaillardet, Esteban Jobbagy, Hermann F. Jungkunst, Clare E. Kazanski, Jagdish Krishnaswamy, Daniel Markewitz, Katherine O'Neill, Clifford S. Riebe, Paul Schroeder, Christina Siebe, Whendee L. Silver, Aaron Thompson, Anne Verhoef, and Ganlin Zhang
Biogeosciences, 15, 4815–4832, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-15-4815-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-15-4815-2018, 2018
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As knowledge in biology and geology explodes, science becomes increasingly specialized. Given the overlap of the environmental sciences, however, the explosion in knowledge inevitably creates opportunities for interconnecting the biogeosciences. Here, 30 scientists emphasize the opportunities for biogeoscience collaborations across the world’s remarkable long-term environmental research networks that can advance science and engage larger scientific and public audiences.
Leonard S. Sklar, Clifford S. Riebe, Claire E. Lukens, and Dino Bellugi
Earth Surf. Dynam., 4, 799–818, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-4-799-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-4-799-2016, 2016
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To better understand how rainfall, erosion, and other landscape processes create patterns of outflow from catchments, we developed a new way of measuring how the land surface is organized. Each hillslope area, where water and sediment are sourced, has an elevation above the catchment outlet and a horizontal distance that materials must travel to reach the outlet. We combined these attributes in a new metric that captures how the production and loss of energy varies within and between catchments.
Related subject area
Cross-cutting themes: Critical zone processes
Probing the exchange of CO2 and O2 in the shallow critical zone during weathering of marl and black shale
Sediment export in marly badland catchments modulated by frost-cracking intensity, Draix–Bléone Critical Zone Observatory, SE France
A hybrid data–model approach to map soil thickness in mountain hillslopes
Designing a network of critical zone observatories to explore the living skin of the terrestrial Earth
Quantifying the controls on potential soil production rates: a case study of the San Gabriel Mountains, California
Soilscape evolution of aeolian-dominated hillslopes during the Holocene: investigation of sediment transport mechanisms and climatic–anthropogenic drivers
Exploring the sensitivity on a soil area-slope-grading relationship to changes in process parameters using a pedogenesis model
Designing a suite of measurements to understand the critical zone
Tobias Roylands, Robert G. Hilton, Erin L. McClymont, Mark H. Garnett, Guillaume Soulet, Sébastien Klotz, Mathis Degler, Felipe Napoleoni, and Caroline Le Bouteiller
Earth Surf. Dynam., 12, 271–299, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-12-271-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-12-271-2024, 2024
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Chemical weathering of sedimentary rocks can release carbon dioxide and consume oxygen. We present a new field-based method to measure the exchange of these gases in real time, which allows us to directly compare the amount of reactants and products. By studying two sites with different rock types, we show that the chemical composition is an important factor in driving the weathering reactions. Locally, the carbon dioxide release changes alongside temperature and precipitation.
Coline Ariagno, Caroline Le Bouteiller, Peter van der Beek, and Sébastien Klotz
Earth Surf. Dynam., 10, 81–96, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-10-81-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-10-81-2022, 2022
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The
critical zonenear the surface of the Earth is where geologic substrate, erosion, climate, and life meet and interact. This study focuses on mechanisms of physical weathering that produce loose sediment and make it available for transport. We show that the sediment export from a monitored catchment in the French Alps is modulated by frost-weathering processes and is therefore sensitive to complex modifications in a warming climate.
Qina Yan, Haruko Wainwright, Baptiste Dafflon, Sebastian Uhlemann, Carl I. Steefel, Nicola Falco, Jeffrey Kwang, and Susan S. Hubbard
Earth Surf. Dynam., 9, 1347–1361, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-9-1347-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-9-1347-2021, 2021
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We develop a hybrid model to estimate the spatial distribution of the thickness of the soil layer, which also provides estimations of soil transport and soil production rates. We apply this model to two examples of hillslopes in the East River watershed in Colorado and validate the model. The results show that the north-facing (NF) hillslope has a deeper soil layer than the south-facing (SF) hillslope and that the hybrid model provides better accuracy than a machine-learning model.
Susan L. Brantley, William H. McDowell, William E. Dietrich, Timothy S. White, Praveen Kumar, Suzanne P. Anderson, Jon Chorover, Kathleen Ann Lohse, Roger C. Bales, Daniel D. Richter, Gordon Grant, and Jérôme Gaillardet
Earth Surf. Dynam., 5, 841–860, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-5-841-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-5-841-2017, 2017
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The layer known as the critical zone extends from the tree tops to the groundwater. This zone varies globally as a function of land use, climate, and geology. Energy and materials input from the land surface downward impact the subsurface landscape of water, gas, weathered material, and biota – at the same time that differences at depth also impact the superficial landscape. Scientists are designing observatories to understand the critical zone and how it will evolve in the future.
Jon D. Pelletier
Earth Surf. Dynam., 5, 479–492, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-5-479-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-5-479-2017, 2017
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The rate at which bedrock can be converted into transportable material is a fundamental control on the topographic evolution of mountain ranges. Using the San Gabriel Mountains, California, as an example, in this paper I demonstrate that this rate depends on topographic slope in mountain ranges with large compressive stresses via the influence of topographically induced stresses on fractures. Bedrock and climate both control this rate, but topography influences bedrock in an interesting new way.
Sagy Cohen, Tal Svoray, Shai Sela, Greg Hancock, and Garry Willgoose
Earth Surf. Dynam., 5, 101–112, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-5-101-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-5-101-2017, 2017
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Soil-depleted hillslopes across the Mediterranean and Europe are thought to be the result of human activity in the last 2–5 millennia. We study a site on the margin between Mediterranean and desert climates which was subject to intense wind-borne soil accumulation for tens of thousands of years but is now mostly bare. Using a numerical simulator we investigated the processes that may have led to this landscape and identified the specific signatures of different processes and drivers.
W. D. Dimuth P. Welivitiya, Garry R. Willgoose, Greg R. Hancock, and Sagy Cohen
Earth Surf. Dynam., 4, 607–625, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-4-607-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-4-607-2016, 2016
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This paper generalises the physical dependence of the relationship between contributing area, local slope, and the surface soil grading first described by Cohen et al. (2009, 2010) using a soil evolution model called SSSPAM. We show the influence of weathering on the equilibrium soil profile and its spatial distribution. We conclude that the soil grading relationship is robust and will occur for most equilibrium soils. This spatial organisation is also true below the surface.
Susan L. Brantley, Roman A. DiBiase, Tess A. Russo, Yuning Shi, Henry Lin, Kenneth J. Davis, Margot Kaye, Lillian Hill, Jason Kaye, David M. Eissenstat, Beth Hoagland, Ashlee L. Dere, Andrew L. Neal, Kristen M. Brubaker, and Dan K. Arthur
Earth Surf. Dynam., 4, 211–235, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-4-211-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-4-211-2016, 2016
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In order to better understand and forecast the evolution of the environment from the top of the vegetation canopy down to bedrock, numerous types of intensive measurements have been made over several years in a small watershed. The ability to expand such a study to larger areas and different environments requiring fewer measurements is essential. This study presents one possible approach to such an expansion, to collect necessary and sufficient measurements in order to forecast this evolution.
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Short summary
River behavior depends on the size of rocks they carry. Rocks are born on hillslopes where erosion removes fragments from solid bedrock. To understand what controls the size of rock fragments, we measured the spacing between cracks exposed in 15 bare-rock cliffs and the size of rocks on the ground below. We found that, for each site, the average rock size could be predicted from the average distance between cracks, which varied with rock type. This shows how rock type can influence rivers.
River behavior depends on the size of rocks they carry. Rocks are born on hillslopes where...