Articles | Volume 9, issue 4
https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-9-687-2021
© 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-9-687-2021
© Author(s) 2021. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
07 Jul 2021
Research article |
| 07 Jul 2021
| 07 Jul 2021
The rate and extent of wind-gap migration regulated by tributary confluences and avulsions
Eitan Shelef
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
Department of Geology and Environmental Science, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15260, USA
Liran Goren
Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, 84105, Israel
Related authors
Liran Goren and Eitan Shelef
Earth Surf. Dynam., 12, 1347–1369, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-12-1347-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-12-1347-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
To explore the pattern formed by rivers as they crisscross the land, we developed a way to measure how these patterns vary, from straight to complex, winding paths. We discovered that a river's degree of complexity depends on how the river slope changes downstream. Although this is strange (i.e., why would changes in slope affect twists of a river in map view?), we show that this dependency is almost inevitable and that the complexity could signify how arid the climate is or used to be.
Liran Goren and Eitan Shelef
Earth Surf. Dynam., 12, 1347–1369, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-12-1347-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-12-1347-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
To explore the pattern formed by rivers as they crisscross the land, we developed a way to measure how these patterns vary, from straight to complex, winding paths. We discovered that a river's degree of complexity depends on how the river slope changes downstream. Although this is strange (i.e., why would changes in slope affect twists of a river in map view?), we show that this dependency is almost inevitable and that the complexity could signify how arid the climate is or used to be.
Daniel O'Hara, Liran Goren, Roos M. J. van Wees, Benjamin Campforts, Pablo Grosse, Pierre Lahitte, Gabor Kereszturi, and Matthieu Kervyn
Earth Surf. Dynam., 12, 709–726, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-12-709-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-12-709-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Understanding how volcanic edifices develop drainage basins remains unexplored in landscape evolution. Using digital evolution models of volcanoes with varying ages, we quantify the geometries of their edifices and associated drainage basins through time. We find that these metrics correlate with edifice age and are thus useful indicators of a volcano’s history. We then develop a generalized model for how volcano basins develop and compare our results to basin evolution in other settings.
Elhanan Harel, Liran Goren, Onn Crouvi, Hanan Ginat, and Eitan Shelef
Earth Surf. Dynam., 10, 875–894, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-10-875-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-10-875-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Drainage reorganization redistributes drainage area across basins, resulting in channel and valley widths that may be unproportional to the new drainage area. We demonstrate scaling between valley width and drainage area in reorganized drainages that deviates from scaling in non-reorganized drainages. Further, deviation patterns are associated with different reorganization categories. Our findings are consequential for studies that rely on this scaling for valley width estimation.
Yizhou Wang, Liran Goren, Dewen Zheng, and Huiping Zhang
Earth Surf. Dynam., 10, 833–849, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-10-833-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-10-833-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Abrupt changes in tectonic uplift rates induce sharp changes in river profile, called knickpoints. When river erosion depends non-linearly on slope, we develop an analytic model for knickpoint velocity and find the condition of knickpoint merging. Then we develop analytic models that represent the two-directional link between tectonic changes and river profile evolution. The derivation provides new understanding on the links between tectonic changes and river profile evolution.
Cited articles
Avni, Y., Bartov, Y., Garfunkel, Z., and Ginat, H.: Evolution of the Paran
drainage basin and its relation to the Plio-Pleistocene history of the Arava
Rift western margin, Israel, Israel J. Earth Sci., 49, 215–238, 2000. a
Braun, J.: A review of numerical modeling studies of passive margin escarpments
leading to a new analytical expression for the rate of escarpment migration
velocity, Gondwana Res., 53, 209–224,
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gr.2017.04.012, 2017. a, b, c
Brocard, G., Teyssier, C., Dunlap, W. J., Authemayou, C., Simon-Labric, T.,
Cacao-Chiquín, E. N., Gutiérrez-Orrego, A., and Morán-Ical, S.:
Reorganization of a deeply incised drainage: role of deformation,
sedimentation and groundwater flow, Basin Res., 23, 631–651,
https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2117.2011.00510.x, 2011. a, b
Brocard, G., Willenbring, J., Suski, B., Audra, P., Authemayou, C., Cosenza-Muralles, B., Morán-Ical, S., Demory, F., Rochette, P., Vennemann, T., and Holliger, K.: Rate and processes of river network rearrangement
during incipient faulting: The case of the Cahabón River, Guatemala,
Am. J. Sci., 312, 449–507, 2012. a
Clark, M. K., Schoenbohm, L. M., Royden, L. H., Whipple, K. X., Burchfiel,
B. C., Zhang, X., Tang, W., Wang, E., and Chen, L.: Surface uplift,
tectonics, and erosion of eastern Tibet from large-scale drainage patterns,
Tectonics, 23, TC1006, https://doi.org/10.1029/2002TC001402, 2004. a, b, c
Colaiori, F., Flammini, A., Maritan, A., and Banavar, J. R.: Analytical and
numerical study of optimal channel networks, Phys. Rev. E, 55, 1298, 1298–1310,
1997. a
Davis, W. M.: A river-pirate, Science, 13, 108–109, 1889. a
de Haas, T., van den Berg, W., Braat, L., and Kleinhans, M. G.: Autogenic
avulsion, channelization and backfilling dynamics of debris-flow fans,
Sedimentology, 63, 1596–1619, 2016. a
eshelef: WindgapMigration, GitHub, available at: https://github.com/eshelef/WindgapMigration, last access: 25 June 2021. a
Fan, N., Chu, Z., Jiang, L., Hassan, M. A., Lamb, M. P., and Liu, X.: Abrupt
drainage basin reorganization following a Pleistocene river capture, Nat.
Commun., 9, 3756, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-06238-6, 2018. a, b
Farr, T. G., Rosen, P. A., Caro, E., Crippen, R., Duren, R., Hensley, S., Kobrick, M., Paller, M., Rodriguez, E., Roth, L., Seal, D., Shaffer, S., Shimada, J., Umland, J., Werner, M., Oskin, M., Burbank, D., and Alsdorf, D.: The shuttle radar
topography mission, Rev. Geophys., 45, RG2004, https://doi.org/10.1029/2005RG000183, 2007. a, b
Forte, A. M. and Whipple, K. X.: Criteria and tools for determining drainage
divide stability, Earth Planet. Sc. Lett., 493, 102–117,
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2018.04.026, 2018. a
Forte, A. M., Whipple, K. X., and Cowgill, E.: Drainage network reveals
patterns and history of active deformation in the eastern Greater Caucasus,
Geosphere, 11, 1343–1364, https://doi.org/10.1130/GES01121.1, 2015. a
Freeman, T. G.: Calculating catchment area with divergent flow based on a
regular grid, Comput. Geosci., 17, 413–422, 1991. a
Fuller, J. E.: Evaluation of avulsion potential on active alluvial fans in
central and western Arizona, Arizona Geological Survey Contributed Report CR-12-D, Arizona Geological Survey, Tucson, Arizona, p. 83, 2012. a
Gilbert, G. K.: Report on the Geology of the Henry Mountains, US Government
Printing Office, Washington, DC, 1877. a
Ginat, H., Zilberman, E., and Avni, Y.: Tectonic and paleogeographic
significance of the Edom River, a Pliocene stream that crossed the Dead Sea
Rift valley, Israel J. Earth Sci., 49, 159–178, 2000. a
Goren, L., Fox, M., and Willett, S. D.: Tectonics from fluvial topography using
formal linear inversion: Theory and applications to the Inyo Mountains,
California, J. Geophys. Res.-Earth, 119, 1651–1681,
https://doi.org/10.1002/2014JF003079, 2014a. a
Govin, G., Najman, Y., Dupont-Nivet, G., Millar, I., Van Der Beek, P., Huyghe,
P., O'sullivan, P., Mark, C., and Vögeli, N.: The tectonics and
paleo-drainage of the easternmost Himalaya (Arunachal Pradesh, India)
recorded in the Siwalik rocks of the foreland basin, Am. J.
Sci., 318, 764–798, 2018. a, b, c
Hack, J.: Studies of longitudinal profiles in Virginia and Maryland, no. 294-B
in US Geol, Survey Prof. Papers, US Government Printing Office, Washington,
DC, 690, 10, 1957. a
Haworth, R. and Ollier, C.: Continental rifting and drainage reversal: the
Clarence River of eastern Australia, Earth Surf. Proc. Land.,
17, 387–397, 1992. a
Howard, A. D. and Kerby, G.: Channel changes in badlands, Geol. Soc.
Am. Bull., 94, 739–752, 1983. a
Johnson, D. W.: River capture in the Tallulah district, Georgia, Science, 25,
428–432, 1907. a
Jones, L. and Schumm, S.: Causes of avulsion: an overview, Int. As. Sed., 28, 171–178, 1999. a
Kwang, J. and Parker, G.: Extreme memory of initial conditions in numerical
landscape evolution models, Geophys. Res. Lett., 46, 6563–6573,
2019. a
Leenman, A. and Eaton, B.: Mechanisms for avulsion on alluvial fans: insights
from high-frequency topographic data, Earth Surf. Proc. Land., 46, 1111–1127,
2020. a
Liu, L.: Rejuvenation of Appalachian topography caused by subsidence-induced
differential erosion, Nat. Geosci., 7, 518–523,
https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo2187, 2014. a
McCarthy, T., Ellery, W., and Stanistreet, I.: Avulsion mechanisms on the
Okavango fan, Botswana: the control of a fluvial system by vegetation,
Sedimentology, 39, 779–795, 1992. a
Mudd, S. M. and Furbish, D. J.: Lateral migration of hillcrests in response to
channel incision in soil-mantled landscapes, J. Geophys. Res.-Earth, 110, F04026, https://doi.org/10.1029/2005JF000313, 2005. a
Nugent, C.: The Zambezi River: tectonism, climatic change and drainage
evolution, Palaeogeogr. Palaeocl., 78, 55–69,
https://doi.org/10.1016/0031-0182(90)90204-K, 1990. a
Ollier, C. D.: Tectonics and landscape evolution in southeast Australia,
Geomorphology, 12, 37–44,
https://doi.org/10.1016/0169-555X(94)00075-3, 1995. a
Pelletier, J. D.: Persistent drainage migration in a numerical landscape
evolution model, Geophys. Res. Lett., 31, L20501, https://doi.org/10.1029/2004GL020802, 2004. a
Pelletier, J. D., Mayer, L., Pearthree, P. A., House, P. K., Demsey, K. A.,
Klawon, J. E., and Vincent, K. R.: An integrated approach to flood hazard
assessment on alluvial fans using numerical modeling, field mapping, and
remote sensing, Geol. Soc. Am. Bull., 117, 1167–1180,
2005. a
Perron, J. T. and Royden, L.: An integral approach to bedrock river profile
analysis, Earth Surf. Proc. Land., 38, 570–576,
https://doi.org/10.1002/esp.3302, 2013. a, b
Perron, J. T., Dietrich, W. E., and Kirchner, J. W.: Controls on the spacing of
first-order valleys, J. Geophys. Res.-Earth, 113, F04016,
https://doi.org/10.1029/2007JF000977,
2008. a
Prince, P. S., Spotila, J. A., and Henika, W. S.: New physical evidence of the
role of stream capture in active retreat of the Blue Ridge escarpment,
southern Appalachians, Geomorphology, 123, 305–319,
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geomorph.2010.07.023, 2010. a, b
Prince, P. S., Spotila, J. A., and Henika, W. S.: Stream capture as driver of
transient landscape evolution in a tectonically quiescent setting, Geology,
39, 823–826, https://doi.org/10.1130/G32008.1, 2011. a, b
Rinaldo, A., Rodriguez-Iturbe, I., Rigon, R., Bras, R. L., Ijjasz-Vasquez, E.,
and Marani, A.: Minimum energy and fractal structures of drainage networks,
Water Resour. Res., 28, 2183–2195, 1992. a
Schmidt, J. L., Zeitler, P. K., Pazzaglia, F. J., Tremblay, M. M., Shuster,
D. L., and Fox, M.: Knickpoint evolution on the Yarlung river: Evidence for
late Cenozoic uplift of the southeastern Tibetan plateau margin, Earth
Planet. Sc. Lett., 430, 448–457,
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2015.08.041, 2015. a, b, c
Schwanghart, W. and Scherler, D.: Short Communication: TopoToolbox 2 – MATLAB-based software for topographic analysis and modeling in Earth surface sciences, Earth Surf. Dynam., 2, 1–7, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-2-1-2014, 2014 (data available at: https://topotoolbox.wordpress.com/download, last access: 30 June 2021). a
Seidl, M. and Dietrich, W.: The problem of channel erosion into bedrock,
Functional Geomorphology, 23, 101–124, 1992. a
Shelef, E.: Channel Profile and Plan-View Controls on the Aspect Ratio of River
Basins, Geophys. Res. Lett., 45, 11–712, 2018. a
Shelef, E. and Hilley, G. E.: Symmetry, randomness, and process in the
structure of branched channel networks, Geophys. Res. Lett., 41,
3485–3493, https://doi.org/10.1002/2014GL059816, 2014. a, b, c
Shephard, G. E., Muller, R. D., Liu, L., and Gurnis, M.: Miocene drainage
reversal of the Amazon River driven by plate-mantle interaction, Nat.
Geosci., 3, 870–875, https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo1017, 2010. a
Spelz, R. M., Fletcher, J. M., Owen, L. A., and Caffee, M. W.: Quaternary
alluvial-fan development, climate and morphologic dating of fault scarps in
Laguna Salada, Baja California, Mexico, Geomorphology, 102, 578–594, 2008. a
Stock, J. D., Schmidt, K. M., and Miller, D. M.: Controls on alluvial fan
long-profilesAlluvial fan long-profiles, GSA Bulletin, 120, 619–640, 2008. a
Stokes, M. F., Goldberg, S. L., and Perron, J. T.: Ongoing river capture in the Amazon, Geophys. Res. Let., 45, 5545–5552, https://doi.org/10.1029/2018GL078129, 2018. a
Tal, M. and Paola, C.: Effects of vegetation on channel morphodynamics: results
and insights from laboratory experiments, Earth Surf. Proc.
Land., 35, 1014–1028, 2010. a
Tucker, G. E. and Hancock, G. R.: Modelling landscape evolution, Earth Surf.
Proc. Land., 35, 28–50, 2010. a
Whipple, K. X. and Tucker, G. E.: Dynamics of the stream-power river incision
model: Implications for height limits of mountain ranges, landscape response
timescales, and research needs, J. Geophys. Res.-Sol. Ea.,
104, 17661–17674, 1999. a
Whipple, K. X., Forte, A. M., DiBiase, R. A., Gasparini, N. M., and Ouimet,
W. B.: Timescales of landscape response to divide migration and drainage
capture: Implications for the role of divide mobility in landscape evolution,
J. Geophys. Res.-Earth, 122, 248–273,
https://doi.org/10.1002/2016JF003973, 2017. a, b, c, d, e, f
Woodruff, J. C. M.: Stream Piracy near the Balcones Fault Zone, Central Texas,
J. Geol., 85, 483–490, https://doi.org/10.1086/628322, 1977. a
Yang, R., Willett, S. D., and Goren, L.: In situ low-relief landscape formation
as a result of river network disruption, Nature, 520, 526–529, 2015. a
Yang, R., Suhail, H. A., Gourbet, L., Willett, S. D., Fellin, M. G., Lin, X., Gong, J., Wei, X., Maden, C., Jiao, R., and Chen, H.: Early Pleistocene drainage
pattern changes in Eastern Tibet: Constraints from provenance analysis,
thermochronometry, and numerical modeling, Earth Planet. Sci.
Lett., 531, 115955, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2019.115955, 2020. a, b
Yanites, B. J., Ehlers, T. A., Becker, J. K., Schnellmann, M., and Heuberger,
S.: High magnitude and rapid incision from river capture: Rhine River,
Switzerland, J. Geophys. Res.-Earth, 118, 1060–1084,
https://doi.org/10.1002/jgrf.20056, 2013. a
Zelilidis, A.: Drainage evolution in a rifted basin, Corinth graben, Greece,
Geomorphology, 35, 69–85,
https://doi.org/10.1016/S0169-555X(00)00023-4, 2000. a
Short summary
Drainage basins are bounded by water divides (divides) that define their shape and extent. Divides commonly coincide with high ridges, but in places that experienced extensive tectonic deformation, divides sometimes cross elongated valleys. Inspired by field observations and using simulations of landscape evolution, we study how side channels that drain to elongated valleys induce pulses of divide migration, affecting the distribution of water and erosion products across mountain ranges.
Drainage basins are bounded by water divides (divides) that define their shape and extent....
