HR: 1340h
AN: H43E-1671    [Abstracts]
TI: Morphometrics, Erosion Processes and the influence of Climate on Upland Soil-Mantled Landscapes
AU: * Dixon, J L
EM: jean.dixon@dartmouth.edu
AF: Department of Earth Sciences, Dartmouth College, 6105 Sherman Fairchild Hall, Hanover, NH 03755,
AU: * Dixon, J L
EM: jean.dixon@dartmouth.edu
AF: Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory, 72 Lyme Road, Hanover, NH 03755,
AU: Heimsath, A M
EM: arjun.heimsath@asu.edu
AF: School of Earth and Space Exploration, Arizona State University, 550 East Tyler Mall, Tempe, AZ 85287,
AU: Finnegan, D C
EM: david.finnegan@crrel.usace.army.mil
AF: Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory, 72 Lyme Road, Hanover, NH 03755,
AU: Amundson, R
EM: earthy@nature.berkeley.edu
AF: Division of Ecosystem Sciences, University of California, Berkeley, 317 Hilgard Hall, Berkeley, CA 94720,
AB: Hillslope morphology reflects processes of sediment transport and offers key insight into controlling mechanisms on landscape evolution. Here, we examine how climate influences landscape form, using remotely sensed data from an upland soil-mantled region of the Sierra Nevada, California. Previous work in this field area has quantified rates of landscape lowering by cosmogenic ¹⁰Be and dominant processes of soil transport by fallout radionuclides and field measurements including incidence of tree throw, burrow density, root density and soil surface exposure. Here, we examine high resolution Light Distance and Ranging (LiDAR) and coarser scale Shuttle Radar Topography (SRTM) data for four distinct climate zones along the western front of the southern Sierra Nevada range. We quantify slope and curvature distributions and metrics of surface roughness, ruggedness, drainage density and relief. Furthermore, we couple hillslope profiles with calculated denudation rates and soil transport processes to examine climate modulated control of erosion and weathering on landscape morphology. Our morphometric examination demonstrates the sensitivity of variables such as hillslope curvature to distinct processes of soil transport across the climate gradient.
DE: 1625 Geomorphology and weathering (0790, 1824, 1825, 1826, 1886)
DE: 1819 Geographic Information Systems (GIS)
DE: 1843 Land/atmosphere interactions (1218, 1631, 3322)
DE: 1855 Remote sensing (1640)
SC: Hydrology [H]
MN: 2007 Fall Meeting