Geomorphology Commons^™

Assessing Soil-Related Terroir Factors In Sunnyslope District Vineyards Of Southwest Idaho, Rachael Nicole Haggen

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Terroir is the set of factors including climate, soil, and management practices that influence the character of a wine. Of these factors, soil texture and chemistry is a major determinant in wine grape quality (van Leeuwen et al., 2009). Understanding the characteristics of the soil is key to making decisions that support the production of the highest possible quality grapes from the resources available. Few studies have been conducted in the Snake River Valley AVA (SRVAVA). This study seeks to build upon the data already available and provide analysis of vineyard-scale terroir in a leading grape growing district of the …

The Signal Of Modern To Holocene Drivers Of Complex Channel Response Of A Small Alluvial Stream, Scott D. Ducar

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Small alluvial streams (~100km² drainage area) are important for water resources and aquatic habitat. Small streams throughout the Western United States are impacted by anthropogenic land-use including urban development, mining, logging, beaver trapping, grazing, and farming. Land-use change can trigger a complex series of channel response (such as stream channel incision or channel migration) that vary spatially and temporally in the watershed. However, streams also respond to other external forcings, such as tectonically or climatically-driven changes in discharge or base-level, which make disentangling the drivers of channel response complicated. Therefore, it is important to place modern channel changes into …

Geomorphology And Geochronology Of Sand Ramps Adjoining The Coral Pink Sand Dunes, Kane County, Utah, Kerri E. Spuller

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Projected climate change is expected to have widespread impacts on arid regions of the world. Inland, continental dune fields are sensitive to changes in climate and the surrounding environment and are an important source for understanding interactions between Earth’s surface, atmosphere, and biosphere in drylands. Reconstructing past periods of aeolian activity from dune fields can provide insights into how landscapes have responded to previous changes in climate. However, the nature of aeolian systems to recycle older deposits leads to a preservation bias towards only the youngest deposits. Targeting geomorphic settings that are conducive to preserving older records is critical to …

Partitioned By Process: Measuring Post-Fire Debris Flow And Rill Erosion With Structure From Motion, Nicholas Ellett

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

In mountainous regions burned by wildfires, profound changes in soil characteristics and combustion of vegetation increase hillslope and channel erosion during storm events. Reduced infiltration and abundant loose sediment produce large post-fire erosional events which endanger human lives and infrastructure and contribute significantly to long-term erosion rates. While the influence of fire in increasing erosion has long been recognized, quantifying volumes and sources of eroded material from burned landscapes is difficult. Pre-erosion high-resolution topographic data (e.g. lidar) are often not available in burned areas and determining specific contributions from post-fire hillslope and channel erosion is challenging. Multiple erosional processes mobilize …

Post-Fire Variation In Aeolian Deposition In The Northern Great Basin, Clayton Roehner

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Aeolian processes play a significant role in the redistribution of sediment and nutrients in sparsely vegetated sagebrush-steppe ecosystems. When fire is introduced to the landscape, decreased surface roughness and associated threshold friction velocities allow for the increased mobility of surface sediments and burnt organic material, mobilizing previously stable material. Once material is entrained, interactions between a dynamic atmosphere and complex topography control the spatial distribution of aeolian deposition over a landscape. Given the significant impact of fire on aeolian processes in semi-arid deserts, we posit that postfire aeolian redistribution of material is an important control on the spatial variability of …

Geochemical Dynamics And Nitrous Oxide Release From The Hyporheic Zone Of Streams, Annika Marie Quick

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

The hyporheic zones of streams and rivers, consisting of the sediments beneath and immediately adjacent to the stream channel, are an important site of geochemical processing. Due to the difficulty of measuring these geochemical processes in the hyporheic zone in situ with meaningful spatial and temporal resolution, we conducted multiple column and large-scale flume experiments to model 1D and 2D hyporheic flow paths and observed important geochemical reactions, including the production and consumption of nitrous oxide (N₂O). N₂O is a significant greenhouse gas, but the controls on its emissions from streams are poorly constrained. We describe …

If It Burns, Will It Flow? And About The Managers Who Would Like To Know: Predicting Post-Fire Debris Flows In The Rangeland Foothills Of Boise, Idaho & Investigating The Use Of Wildfire Science By Decision Makers At The Wildland Urban Interface, Katherine Gibble

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Wildfires increase erosion in mountainous landscapes. The most catastrophic form of post-fire erosion is the debris flow, viscous slurries of water and sediment capable of scouring and entraining larger sediment and rafting boulders. Post-fire debris flows are particularly hazardous when fire- and debris flow-prone landscapes intersect the Wildland Urban Interface (WUI). Homes built into the edge of the flammable WUI are at high risk of both wildfire and subsequent debris flows in mountainous landscapes of the western US, yet the WUI is expanding at an extraordinary rate. There are predictive models that inform citizens, land managers, and local governments of …

Developing A Tree-Ring Chronology For Reconstructing Past Climate Conditions: Coral Pink Sand Dunes, Ut, Amy L. Cutter

McNair Scholars Research Journal

The Coral Pink Sand Dunes (CPSD) is one of the largest active dune fields in the Grand Staircase of the Colorado Plateau. A disjunct stand of ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) seemingly thrives within the dune field. The presence of a multiple-aged stand suggests the site has experienced varied climatic conditions since becoming established. Other geomorphic systems in the region (e.g., arroyos) indicate sensitivity to small climate fluctuations; perhaps the dunes are similarly sensitive, leading to the question—could the trees be used to reconstruct past climate, and could that reconstruction be used to model dune activity with climate variability. The climate-growth …

Feedbacks Among Climate, Soils, Vegetation, And Erosion Drive Valley Asymmetry Development In The Mountains Of Central Idaho, Michael John Poulos

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Aspect has long been recognized as a significant source of landscape variability, which is induced by the orientation of land surfaces relative to solar incidence. Insolation differences on opposing aspects (e.g., north and south-facing slopes) act as localized climatic perturbations, altering surface energy balances and temperatures. Over shorter timescales, aspect-induced changes to the energy balance alter snow pack dynamics, soil water input rates and seasonality, and plant available water and water stress. Over longer timescales, aspect-induced insolation variability affects bedrock weathering rates and depths, soil and regolith development, vegetation type and density, erosion rates and processes, and ultimately hillslope and …

Defining Antecedent Topography At Coral Pink Sand Dunes, Kane County, Utah: The Influence Of Structural Controls On Dune-Field Boundary Conditions And Holocene Landscape Evolution, Elizabeth Janna Rozar

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Dune fields are transient features that record climate signatures through changes in mobility, morphology, and patterning. Aeolian geomorphologists are increasingly recognizing the important role that pre-existing, antecedent topography plays in controlling boundary conditions that affect changes in dune patterning. However, the dynamic relationship between antecedent topography and climate-sensitive boundary conditions is relatively unexplored. Here, I define antecedent topography for the Coral Pink Sand Dunes in southern Utah and show that structural controls play an important role in shaping antecedent geomorphic conditions of this dune field. I use ground-based terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) to produce a high-resolution digital elevation model (DEM), …

Climate Drivers And Landscape Response: Holocene Fire, Vegetation, And Erosion At City Of Rocks National Reserve, Idaho, Kerrie N. Weppner

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Climate exerts primary control over vegetation and fire occurrence but landscape structure, vegetation type, and density determine fire pattern, frequency and severity (i.e., fire regime), and the nature of fire-related geomorphic response. To explore these relationships, we compare alluvial charcoal records of fire and fire-related sedimentation with a woodrat midden reconstruction of vegetation at the northern migration front for single-leaf pinyon and Utah juniper at City of Rocks National Reserve (CIRO), south-central Idaho.

Radiocarbon ages from 37 charcoal macrofossils sampled from discrete fire-related deposits indicate five episodes of increased fire activity over the past ~11 ka. Fires burned following deglaciation …