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Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics

Tracing Sediment Erosion In The Yangtze River Subaqueous Delta Using Magnetic Methods, Can Ge, Weiguo Zhang, Chenyin Dong, Feng Wang, Huan Feng, Jianguo Qu, Lizhong Yu Nov 2017

Tracing Sediment Erosion In The Yangtze River Subaqueous Delta Using Magnetic Methods, Can Ge, Weiguo Zhang, Chenyin Dong, Feng Wang, Huan Feng, Jianguo Qu, Lizhong Yu

Department of Earth and Environmental Studies Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

We assessed the usefulness of magnetic properties for tracing sediment erosion in a deltaic environment. Surface and core sediments from the Yangtze River subaqueous delta were subjected to magnetic, granulometric, geochemical, and radionuclide analyses. Based on magnetic properties and particle size, the surface sediments can be divided into three groups. Groups I and II have a similar particle size distribution and geochemical composition, but the former has higher values of magnetic susceptibility (χ) and saturation isothermal remanent magnetization (SIRM). We interpret Group I as consisting of modern sediments, while Group II represents previously buried sediments that have undergone significant reductive …


East African Weathering Dynamics Controlled By Vegetation-Climate Feedbacks, Sarah J. Ivory, Michael M. Mcglue, Geoffrey S. Ellis, Adam Boehlke, Anne-Marie Lézine, Annie Vincens, Andrew S. Cohen Sep 2017

East African Weathering Dynamics Controlled By Vegetation-Climate Feedbacks, Sarah J. Ivory, Michael M. Mcglue, Geoffrey S. Ellis, Adam Boehlke, Anne-Marie Lézine, Annie Vincens, Andrew S. Cohen

Earth and Environmental Sciences Faculty Publications

Tropical weathering has important linkages to global biogeochemistry and landscape evolution in the East African rift. We disentangle the influences of climate and terrestrial vegetation on chemical weathering intensity and erosion at Lake Malawi using a long sediment record. Fossil pollen, microcharcoal, particle size, and mineralogy data affirm that the detrital clays accumulating in deep water within the lake are controlled by feedbacks between climate and hinterland forest composition. Particle-size patterns are also best explained by vegetation, through feedbacks with lake levels, wildfires, and erosion. We develop a new source-to-sink framework that links lacustrine sedimentation to hinterland vegetation in tropical …


Evidence Of Erosional Self-Channelization Of Pyroclastic Density Currents Revealed By Ground-Penetrating Radar Imaging At Mount St. Helens, Washington (Usa), Andrew C. Gase, Brittany D. Brand, John H. Bradford Mar 2017

Evidence Of Erosional Self-Channelization Of Pyroclastic Density Currents Revealed By Ground-Penetrating Radar Imaging At Mount St. Helens, Washington (Usa), Andrew C. Gase, Brittany D. Brand, John H. Bradford

Geosciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

The causes and effects of erosion are among the least understood aspects of pyroclastic density current (PDC) dynamics. Evidence is especially limited for erosional self-channelization, a process whereby PDCs erode a channel that confines the body of the eroding flow or subsequent flows. We use ground-penetrating radar imaging to trace a large PDC scour and fill from outcrop to its point of inception and discover a second, larger PDC scour and fill. The scours are among the largest PDC erosional features on record, at >200 m wide and at least 500 m long; estimated eroded volumes are on the order …


Effects Of Habitat Restoration On Soil Retention On Santa Rosa Island, Michael Perez, Kathryn Mceachern, Ken Niessen Jan 2017

Effects Of Habitat Restoration On Soil Retention On Santa Rosa Island, Michael Perez, Kathryn Mceachern, Ken Niessen

STAR Program Research Presentations

Ranching began on Santa Rosa Island in the 1840’s, consequently introducing nonnative megafauna that put novel selective grazing pressures on endemic plant species. Their movement patterns also altered substrate integrity as the land became denuded of any stabilizing vegetation. Dense groves of island oak (Q. tomentella) are known to aid in sediment deposition and retention. The groves also function to collect water during periods of intense fog common to the island. This experiment sought to determine whether sediment is being lost or deposited on a ridge in the middle of the island containing a grove of Q. tomentella …


Weathering And Erosion Of Fractured Bedrock Systems, Marina I. Lebedeva, Susan L. Brantley Jan 2017

Weathering And Erosion Of Fractured Bedrock Systems, Marina I. Lebedeva, Susan L. Brantley

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

We explore the contribution of fractures (joints) in controlling the rate of weathering advance for a low-porosity rock by using methods of homogenization to create averaged weathering equations. The rate of advance of the weathering front can be expressed as the same rate observed in non-fractured media (or in an individual block) divided by the volume fraction of nonfractured blocks in the fractured parent material. In the model, the parent has fractures that are filled with a more porous material that contains only inert or completely weathered material. The low-porosity rock weathers by reaction-transport processes. As observed in field systems, …