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| Titel |
Dendrogeomorphically derived slope response to decadal and centennial scale climate variability: Black Mesa, Arizona, USA |
| VerfasserIn |
L. A. Scuderi, L. D. McFadden, J. R. McAuliffe |
| Medientyp |
Artikel
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| Sprache |
Englisch
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| ISSN |
1561-8633
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| Digitales Dokument |
URL |
| Erschienen |
In: Natural Hazards and Earth System Science ; 8, no. 4 ; Nr. 8, no. 4 (2008-08-18), S.869-880 |
| Datensatznummer |
250005659
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| Publikation (Nr.) |
 copernicus.org/nhess-8-869-2008.pdf |
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| Zusammenfassung |
| A major impediment to an understanding of the links between climate and
landscape change, has been the relatively coarse resolution of landscape
response measures (rates of weathering, sediment production, erosion and
transport) relative to the higher resolution of the climatic signal
(precipitation and temperature on hourly to annual time scales). A
combination of high temporal and spatial resolution dendroclimatic and
dendrogeomorphic approaches were used to study relationships between
climatic variability and hillslope and valley floor dynamics in a small
drainage basin in the Colorado Plateau of northeastern Arizona, USA
Dendrogeomorphic and vegetation evidence from slopes and valley bottoms,
including root exposure, bending of trunks, change in plant cover and burial
and exhumation of valley bottom trees and shrubs, suggest that the currently
observed process of root colonization and rapid breakdown of the weakly
cemented bedrock by subaerial weathering, related to periodic dry/wet cycle
induced changes in vegetation cover, has lead to a discontinuous,
climate-controlled production of sediment from these slopes. High-amplitude
precipitation shifts over the last 2000-years may exert the largest control
on landscape processes and may be as, or more, important than other
hypothesized causal mechanisms (e.g. ENSO frequency and intensity, flood
frequency) in eroding slopes and producing sediments that ultimately impact
higher order drainages in the region. Current vegetation response to a
prolonged drought over the past decade suggests that another major
transition, incorporating vegetation change, slope erosion, sediment
production and subsequent valley floor deposition, may be in its initial
phase. |
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