Quantifying hillslope erosion rates and processes for a coastal California landscape over varying timescales

O'Farrell, Colin R.; Heimsath, Arjun M.; Kaste, James M.

doi:10.1002/esp.1407

Cited by 38 publications

(28 citation statements)

References 58 publications

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“…Sediment loads are now greater than at pre-mining values, which were constrained by bedrock-dominated channels. This sustained transport described by James (1989) is in contrast to Gilbert's symmetrical wave model (Gilbert, 1917) that predicted a rapid return of sediment loads to pre-mining levels, and has been recently contradicted by O'Farrell et al (2007), who pointed out that erosion and sediment transport processes that currently operate in California are very similar to those that have been acting for several thousands of years.…”

Section: The Contribution Of Largest Events To Sediment Load In Relatmentioning

confidence: 79%

Contribution of the largest events to suspended sediment transport across the USA

et al. 2009

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This work analyses the contribution of the largest events to suspended sediment transport on the continental scale. The analysis is based on the United States Geological Survey (USGS) Suspended Sediment and Ancillary database. Data were obtained from 1314 catchments, comprising more than 2 500 000 daily events. The total number of days in the dataset amounts to 10 000 years. Catchments are of different sizes and belong to distinct climatic environments; they are distributed for the analysis according to USA hydrological divisions (HDs). The main objective of the research is to examine the effect of the n-largest event on the total suspended sediment load over recorded periods, and to discuss different behaviour between HDs. To accomplish this, the daily events at each catchment are ranked by magnitude, and then the percentage represented by the n-largest event (e.g. 3-largest, 5-largest, 10-largest, 15-largest, 20-largest, 25-largest) is calculated from the total accumulated load. Results indicate that suspended sediment transported by the 25-largest events represents on average more than 50 per cent of the total load. The California HD, mostly under Mediterranean climatic conditions, accounts for the highest percentage of sediment transport across conterminous USA, whatever n-largest daily events are selected. There, the 3-largest events contribute, on average, 38 per cent of the total sediment load, the 10-largest events represent 61 per cent and the 25-largest events produce more than 76 per cent of the total sediment transport. Overall, the contribution of largest daily events seems not to depend on the climatic conditions in small catchments (<100 km 2 ) and, in addition, the percentage of suspended sediment increases over all HDs, while, at the same time, the catchment size decreases. Finally, we discuss differences between catchments across the USA, according to climatic and historical (i.e. land use) factors.

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Section: The Contribution Of Largest Events To Sediment Load In Relatmentioning

confidence: 79%

Contribution of the largest events to suspended sediment transport across the USA

et al. 2009

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“…Second-order catchments within the Laura Fan drainage have an average depth of 166 ± 14 m when measured from interfl uve to interfl uve whereas supraglacial fan catchments have an average depth of 34 ± 10 m. Figure 9 demonstrates the derivation of these catchment depths between interfl uves. Interestingly, both Heimsath et al (1999) and O'Farrell et al (2007) measured higher erosion rates for whole catchments compared with ridge tops. Such agreement across fi eld areas suggests that point-specifi c erosion rate measurements using cosmogenic nuclides on stable ridges may underestimate basin scale erosion rates that include ridge-lowering mass-wasting events that happen infrequently.…”

Section: Periglacial Processesmentioning

confidence: 95%

Quantifying periglacial erosion: insights on a glacial sediment budget, Matanuska Glacier, Alaska

O'Farrell

Heimsath

Lawson

et al. 2009

Earth Surf Processes Landf

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Glacial erosion rates are estimated to be among the highest in the world. Few studies have attempted, however, to quantify the fl ux of sediment from the periglacial landscape to a glacier. Here, erosion rates from the nonglacial landscape above the Matanuska Glacier, Alaska are presented and compare with an 8-yr record of proglacial suspended sediment yield. Non-glacial lowering rates range from 1·8 ± 0·5 mm yr −1 to 8·5 ± 3·4 mm yr −1 from estimates of rock fall and debris-fl ow fan volumes. An average erosion rate of 0·08 ± 0·04 mm yr −1 from eight convex-up ridge crests was determined using in situ produced cosmogenic 10 Be. Extrapolating these rates, based on landscape morphometry, to the Matanuska basin (58% ice-cover), it was found that nonglacial processes account for an annual sediment fl ux of 2·3 ± 1·0 × 10 6 t. Suspended sediment data for 8 years and an assumed bedload to estimate the annual sediment yield at the Matanuska terminus to be 2·9 ± 1·0 × 10 6 t, corresponding to an erosion rate of 1·8 ± 0·6 mm yr −1 : nonglacial sources therefore account for 80 ± 45% of the proglacial yield. A similar set of analyses were used for a small tributary sub-basin (32% ice-cover) to determine an erosion rate of 12·1 ± 6·9 mm yr −1 , based on proglacial sediment yield, with the nonglacial sediment fl ux equal to 10 ± 7% of the proglacial yield. It is suggested that erosion rates by nonglacial processes are similar to inferred subglacial rates, such that the ice-free regions of a glaciated landscape contribute signifi cantly to the glacial sediment budget. The similar magnitude of nonglacial and glacial rates implies that partially glaciated landscapes will respond rapidly to changes in climate and base level through a rapid nonglacial response to glacially driven incision.

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“…Harvey, 2001;Hooke, 2003;O'Farrell et al, 2007). It is a major concern in agricultural management, engineering studies, and land planning.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Patterns of grain-size temporal variation of sediment transported by overland flow associated with moving storms: interpreting soil flume experiments

Lima

Dinis

Souza

et al. 2011

Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci.

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Abstract. This study describes and interprets the evolution of grain-size distribution of sediment yields generated in an experimental soil flume subjected to downstream and upstream moving rain storms. Results of laboratory experiments show that downstream moving storms cause more soil loss than do upstream moving storms. The pattern of sediment grain-size evolution in time during a runoff event exhibits a clear dependence on the direction of storm movement. A strong relationship between overland flow discharge and mean sediment size is found. Nevertheless, the mean grain-size of sediments transported during the rising limb of the hydrograph is coarser than during the recession limb of the hydrograph. This is more marked for downstream moving storms.

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Quantifying hillslope erosion rates and processes for a coastal California landscape over varying timescales

Cited by 38 publications

References 58 publications

Contribution of the largest events to suspended sediment transport across the USA

Contribution of the largest events to suspended sediment transport across the USA

Quantifying periglacial erosion: insights on a glacial sediment budget, Matanuska Glacier, Alaska

Patterns of grain-size temporal variation of sediment transported by overland flow associated with moving storms: interpreting soil flume experiments

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