Stepped Topography of the Southern Sierra Nevada, California

Wahrhaftig, Clyde

doi:10.1130/0016-7606(1965)76[1165:stotss]2.0.co;2

Cited by 143 publications

(132 citation statements)

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“…This difference persists across catchments spanning a range of average hillslope gradients, from 6 to 33° (Fig. S5), evidently because exposed bedrock weathers slower than bedrock covered by soil in the Sierra Nevada (19,48). Previous cosmogenic nuclide studies of other granitic landscapes (e.g., 47) have shown that this is common (Fig.…”

Section: Implications For Landscape Evolutionmentioning

confidence: 82%

“…Mineralogy covaries strongly with bedrock geochemistry (Fig. S4 and Dataset S5) in ways that might account for differences in weathering (19), subsurface water-holding capacity, and thus the regolith's suitability as a substrate for vegetation (20). Increases in Si concentrations correspond to increases in quartz and K-feldspar concentrations and decreases in both plagioclase content and color index, a measure of mafic minerals (21; Fig.…”

Section: S W a T H D Is T A N C E A Lo N G S W A T H ( K M ) D Is T Amentioning

confidence: 99%

“…S4). Quartz and K-feldspar are more resistant to weathering than plagioclase (22,23), and weathering of the mafic mineral biotite has commonly been implicated in the disaggregation of granitic bedrock (19,24). Thus, decreasing canopy cover with increasing Si concentrations (Fig.…”

Section: S W a T H D Is T A N C E A Lo N G S W A T H ( K M ) D Is T Amentioning

confidence: 99%

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Bedrock composition regulates mountain ecosystems and landscape evolution

Hahm

Riebe

Lukens

et al. 2014

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

203

205

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Earth's land surface teems with life. Although the distribution of ecosystems is largely explained by temperature and precipitation, vegetation can vary markedly with little variation in climate. Here we explore the role of bedrock in governing the distribution of forest cover across the Sierra Nevada Batholith, California. Our sites span a narrow range of elevations and thus a narrow range in climate. However, land cover varies from Giant Sequoia (Sequoiadendron giganteum), the largest trees on Earth, to vegetation-free swaths that are visible from space. Meanwhile, underlying bedrock spans nearly the entire compositional range of granitic bedrock in the western North American cordillera. We explored connections between lithology and vegetation using measurements of bedrock geochemistry and forest productivity. Tree-canopy cover, a proxy for forest productivity, varies by more than an order of magnitude across our sites, changing abruptly at mapped contacts between plutons and correlating with bedrock concentrations of major and minor elements, including the plant-essential nutrient phosphorus. Nutrient-poor areas that lack vegetation and soil are eroding more than two times slower on average than surrounding, more nutrientrich, soil-mantled bedrock. This suggests that bedrock geochemistry can influence landscape evolution through an intrinsic limitation on primary productivity. Our results are consistent with widespread bottom-up lithologic control on the distribution and diversity of vegetation in mountainous terrain.erosion rates | bedrock weathering | critical zone | forest distribution V egetation captures solar energy and sends it cascading through ecosystems, creating habitats for other organisms and fixing nutrients and carbon from the atmosphere. Vegetation also plays an important although still incompletely understood role in the breakdown and erosion of rock (1-3) and thus the evolution of Earth's topography (4). Understanding the factors that determine where vegetation thrives-and where it does not-is therefore fundamental to many disciplines, including ecology, geomorphology, geochemistry, and pedology. As a substrate for life, lithology can influence overlying vegetation, spurring endemism due to the presence of toxins (5, 6) and limiting productivity where rock-derived nutrients are scarce (7-9). However, lithologic effects on vegetation are generally considered secondary to climatic factors such as the length of the growing season and the amount of moisture available for plant growth (10). Here we show that bedrock composition can drive differences in vegetation on par with the systematic altitudinal differences found in mountains between their hot, dry foothills and cold, wet alpine summits.

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Section: Implications For Landscape Evolutionmentioning

confidence: 82%

Section: S W a T H D Is T A N C E A Lo N G S W A T H ( K M ) D Is T Amentioning

confidence: 99%

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Bedrock composition regulates mountain ecosystems and landscape evolution

Hahm

Riebe

Lukens

et al. 2014

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

203

205

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“…The general geology of this part of the Kern Plateau was described by Miller (1931Miller ( , 1946, Webb (1936), and Miller and Webb (1940). Lawson (1906), Wahrhaftig (1965), and Bergquist and Diggles (1986b) discussed the geomorphology of the Kern Plateau. Other resource-related studies of the area include a discussion of mines and prospects of Tulare County by Goodwin (1958).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mineral resources of the Rockhouse Wilderness Study Area, Kern and Tulare counties, California

Diggles¹,

Jachens²,

Peters³

1989

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“…Thus, the cliffs below the Tioga trimline were recently scoured by glacial erosion, whereas those areas above the Tioga trimline have been weathering for much longer, perhaps >780 000 years ago (Matthes, 1930;Sharp, 1968;Smith et al, 1983). The upper cliffs are moderately-to-deeply weathered, increasing water infiltration and ice wedging in near surface joints; weathering is accelerated and weathered rock zones are thickest where granitic rocks are most frequently wet (e.g., Wahrhaftig, 1965;Twidale and Vidale Romani, 2005). For this reason, and perhaps because of greater tensile stresses in the upper portions of Yosemite Valley cliffs, large rock falls are more common there.…”

Section: Glaciation and Weatheringmentioning

confidence: 99%

Investigation and hazard assessment of the 2003 and 2007 Staircase Falls rock falls, Yosemite National Park, California, USA

Wieczorek

Stock²,

Reichenbach

et al. 2008

Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci.

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severe winter storm and was likely triggered by precipitation and/or frost wedging, but the 9 June and 26 July 2007 events lack recognizable triggering mechanisms. We investigated the geologic and hydrologic factors contributing to the Staircase Falls rock falls, including bedrock lithology, weathering, joint spacing and orientations, and hydrologic processes affecting slope stability. We improved upon previous geomorphic assessment of rock-fall hazards, based on a shadow angle approach, by using STONE, a three-dimensional rockfall simulation computer program. STONE produced simulated rock-fall runout patterns similar to the mapped extent of the 2003 and 2007 events, allowing us to simulate potential future rock falls from the Staircase Falls detachment area. Observations of recent rock falls, mapping of rock debris, and simulations of rock fall runouts beneath the Staircase Correspondence to: G. M. Stock (greg stock@nps.gov) Falls detachment area suggest that rock-fall hazard zones extend farther downslope than the extent previously defined by mapped surface talus deposits.

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Stepped Topography of the Southern Sierra Nevada, California

Cited by 143 publications

References 0 publications

Bedrock composition regulates mountain ecosystems and landscape evolution

Bedrock composition regulates mountain ecosystems and landscape evolution

Mineral resources of the Rockhouse Wilderness Study Area, Kern and Tulare counties, California

Investigation and hazard assessment of the 2003 and 2007 Staircase Falls rock falls, Yosemite National Park, California, USA

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