Abrupt drainage basin reorganization following a Pleistocene river capture

Abstract

River capture is a dramatic natural process of internal competition through which mountainous landscapes evolve and respond to perturbations in tectonics and climate. River capture may occur when one river network grows at the expense of another, resulting in a victor that steals the neighboring headwaters. While river capture occurs regularly in numerical models, field observations are rare. Here we document a late Pleistocene river capture in the Yimeng Mountains, China that abruptly shifted 25 km2 of drainage area from one catchment to another. River terraces and imbricated cobbles indicate that the main channel incised 27 m into granitic bedrock within 80 kyr, following the capture event, and upstream propagating knickpoints and waterfalls reversed the flow direction of a major river. Topographic analysis shows that the capture shifted the river basins far from topographic equilibrium, and active divide migration is propagating the effects of the capture throughout the landscape.

Taxonomic revision of a radiation of South-east Asian freshwater mussels (Unionidae : Gonideinae : Contradentini+Rectidentini)

“…capture elbows, obtuse confluence angles, crenulated drainage divides) been used as evidence of drainage rearrangement and faunal exchange without direct geological evidence (Bishop 1995)those described here are no exception. Ideally, hypotheses of drainage rearrangement should be supported with dated geological evidence that can be demonstrably linked to palaeodrainage (Bishop 1995;Fan et al 2018).…”

Lithological and structural controls on river profiles and networks in the northern Sierra Nevada (California, USA)

“…The longitudinal profile of a river is often idealized as a smooth concave form, with steep reaches in the headwaters gradually transitioning to gentler reaches as the channel loses elevation (e.g., Inoue, 1992;Larue, 2008). In the upper reaches, where channels incise into bedrock, deviations from this shape can be attributed to a variety of causes, such as changes in lithology along the river's course (e.g., Duvall et al, 2004;Lecce, 1997;Phillips and Lutz, 2008;Pike et al, 2010), spatial variations in the delivery of coarse sediment to the channel (e.g., Finnegan et al, 2017;Hack, 1973;Hanks and Webb, 2006), and drainage capture (Fan et al, 2018). River profiles may also be modified by crustal deformation, thereby offering the potential for obtaining information about tectonic activity that might otherwise be difficult to acquire (e.g., Pavano et al, 2016).…”

Late Quaternary drainage reorganization assisted by surface faulting: The example of the Katrol Hill Fault zone, Kachchh, western India

“…Horizontal dynamics of the drainage divides of river networks can be understood from chi (χ) map (Willett et al, 2014; Struth et al, 2020) in Figure 7(c). Differences in chi (χ) across drainage divides indicate disequilibrium conditions which induce migration of drainage divides from low to high chi (χ) values to achieve equilibrium (Fan et al, 2018; Struth et al, 2020; Willett et al, 2014). The chi (χ) map of Gunawari and Gangeshwar River basins shows mostly equilibrium condition (Figure 7c).…”

“…Drainage rearrangement is known to occur on variable spatial scales ranging from badlands to regional to sub‐continental scale river systems (Bishop, 1995; Brookfield, 1998; Clark et al, 2004; Fan et al, 2018; Mantelli et al, 2009; Rossetti & Góes, 2008; Zhang et al, 2017). River capture is the most obvious and common form of drainage rearrangement which occurs through capture of a river by an adjacent river through aggressive headward erosion, river diversion and beheading.…”

“…Plate tectonics and the evolution of passive margins have been identified as critical for understanding the long‐term landscape evolution and drainage history (Bishop, 1995, 1998; Harel et al, 2019; Summerfield, 1985, 1991), along with them being the prime cause of macroscale “drainage rearrangement” phenomenon (Bishop, 1986, 1988; Driscoll & Karner, 1994; Oilier, 1982; van de Graaff et al, 1977). In general, the phenomenon of drainage capture is obscured because of the low frequency of its occurrence and fluvial terrace deposits (Clift et al, 2006; Fan & B Wu, 2010; Fan et al, 2018; Val et al, 2014; Wei et al, 2016; Zhou, 2010).…”