An official website of the United States government
Alluvial fans are found across a range of climates and are built from a combination of fluvial and debris flow processes. Correct identification of process is critical to reconstructing the climate and water histories of alluvial fans on Earth and Mars. Theory and data from subaerial Earth fans are often used to estimate paleoflow discharges and sediment fluxes for martian fans; however, most terrestrial work has been conducted on fans that are in hot, dry climates with runoff sourced from rainfall. This differs from the prevailing interpretation that martian fans were sourced from snowmelt under warming periglacial conditions. To characterize processes and rates of periglacial fan formation, we conducted a field-based study of the Black Mountain alluvial fan in the Aklavik Range, Canada. We observed active fluvial bedload transport as well as several small debris flows that had initiated from ice-filled gullies. Following a runoff event of ∼0.005 mm/hr to ∼0.2 mm/hr across the fan, we estimated sediment fluxes of ∼0.04 m3/hr. Under bankfull conditions, we estimated runoff rates between ∼0.01 mm/hr to ∼14 mm/hr and corresponding sediment fluxes of ∼0.3 m3/hr to ∼550 m3/hr. This suggests that moderate flow events, well below the maximum runoff production rates suggested for Mars, are capable of entraining and transporting appreciable amounts of sediment by fluvial processes. However, sedimentological and geomorphological observations suggest that ∼67% of the fan was deposited fluvially; the remainder was deposited by mass flows. Our results emphasize the need to take care in interpreting martian sedimentary processes and climate from fan surface morphology alone.
more »
« less
This content will become publicly available on December 1, 2025
Thousands of shallow, relict gullies indicate thermo-erosion on the sandy uplands of northern Lower Michigan during the Late Pleistocene
We build on previous work which explained the origin of myriad gullies and incised channels on the dry, sandy uplands of northern Lower Michigan by invoking widespread permafrost. Indicators of permafrost (ice-wedge casts and patterned ground) are known from many sites across the region. Our study area, within an extensive reentrant of the retreating Laurentide Ice Sheet, had been particularly well positioned, geographically, for permafrost. Our goal was to characterize the geomorphic characteristics of the gullies on 72 large ridges, to address the hypothesis that they had formed in association with permafrost. Across the study area, thousands of dry, narrow channels and gullies occur in dense networks, typically with channels aligned directly downslope, in parallel drainage patterns. Most of the gullies exhibit only a minimal amount of incision (ca. 2–3 m), a nearly straight longitudinal profile, and lack a clear depositional fan at their mouth. Even where small fans are present, they are subtle and exhibit little down-fan textural sorting, as would be present in larger, more mature fluvial systems. Gully morphologies did not exhibit strong morphological differences as a function of aspect, as we would have expected for an erosional, periglacial system forming on fairly steep slopes. Nonetheless, in these sandy/gravelly sediments, we could find no other scenario that would have allowed for runoff and gully formation, except ice-rich permafrost that limited infiltration and promoted saturation of the active layer, and eventually, runoff. We conclude that the gullies formed via thermo-erosion into ice-rich permafrost, involving mostly fluvial processes but also some slope failure. Even though thermo-erosion can rapidly form deep gullies, our study area has mainly weak gully forms, perhaps because: (1) permafrost existed here only briefly, (2) the landscape was so cold and the permafrost so ice-rich that runoff was rare, (3) the permafrost on the sandy slopes remained somewhat permeable, limiting runoff, and/or (4) the paleoclimate was so dry that little water was available for sediment transport. We could find no evidence that the gullies developed within preexisting polygonal networks, as is happening today in polar regions under a warming climate. Thus, our study has implications for areas of the Arctic and Antarctic that are, today, experiencing rapid hydrological changes.
more »
« less
- Award ID(s):
- 1759528
- PAR ID:
- 10568434
- Editor(s):
- na
- Publisher / Repository:
- Geomorphology
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Geomorphology
- Edition / Version:
- 1
- Volume:
- 467
- Issue:
- C
- ISSN:
- 0169-555X
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 109482
- Subject(s) / Keyword(s):
- Permafrost Thermo-erosion Active-layer Longitudinal profile Water tracks
- Format(s):
- Medium: X Size: 8.2 kb Other: pdf
- Size(s):
- 8.2 kb
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
More Like this
-
-
Recent excavation in the new CRREL Permafrost Tunnel in Fox, Alaska provides a unique opportunity to study properties of Yedoma — late Pleistocene ice- and organic-rich syngenetic permafrost. Yedoma has been described at numerous sites across Interior Alaska, mainly within the Yukon-Tanana upland. The most comprehensive data on the structure and properties of Yedoma in this area have been obtained in the CRREL Permafrost Tunnel near Fairbanks — one of the most accessible large-scale exposures of Yedoma permafrost on Earth, which became available to researchers in the mid-1960s. Expansion of the new ∼4-m-high and ∼4-m-wide linear excavations, started in 2011 and ongoing, exposes an additional 300 m of well-preserved Yedoma and provides access to sediments deposited over the past 40,000 years, which will allow us to quantify rates and patterns of formation of syngenetic permafrost, depositional history and biogeochemical characteristics of Yedoma, and its response to a warmer climate. In this paper, we present results of detailed cryostratigraphic studies in the Tunnel and adjacent area. Data from our study include ground-ice content, the stable water isotope composition of the variety of ground-ice bodies, and radiocarbon age dates. Based on cryostratigraphic mapping of the Tunnel and results of drilling above and inside the Tunnel, six main cryostratigraphic units have been distinguished: 1) active layer; 2) modern intermediate layer (ice-rich silt); 3) relatively ice-poor Yedoma silt reworked by thermal erosion and thermokarst during the Holocene; 4) ice-rich late Pleistocene Yedoma silt with large ice wedges; 5) relatively ice-poor fluvial gravel; and 6) ice-poor bedrock. Our studies reveal significant differences in cryostratigraphy of the new and old CRREL Permafrost Tunnel facilities. Original syngenetic permafrost in the new Tunnel has been better preserved and less affected by erosional events during the period of Yedoma formation, although numerous features (e.g., bodies of thermokarst-cave ice, thaw unconformities, buried gullies) indicate the original Yedoma silt in the recently excavated sections was also reworked to some extent by thermokarst and thermal erosion during the late Pleistocene and Holocene.more » « less
-
Abstract Steep landscapes evolve largely by debris flows, in addition to fluvial and hillslope processes. Abundant field observations document that debris flows incise valley bottoms and transport substantial sediment volumes, yet their contributions to steepland morphology remain uncertain. This has, in turn, limited the development of debris‐flow incision rate formulations that produce morphology consistent with natural landscapes. In many landscapes, including the San Gabriel Mountains (SGM), California, steady‐state fluvial channel longitudinal profiles are concave‐up and exhibit a power‐law relationship between channel slope and drainage area. At low drainage areas, however, valley slopes become nearly constant. These topographic forms result in a characteristically curved slope‐area signature in log‐log space. Here, we use a one‐dimensional landform evolution model that incorporates debris‐flow erosion to reproduce the relationship between this curved slope‐area signature and erosion rate in the SGM. Topographic analysis indicates that the drainage area at which steepland valleys transition to fluvial channels correlates with measured erosion rates in the SGM, and our model results reproduce these relationships. Further, the model only produces realistic valley profiles when parameters that dictate the relationship between debris‐flow erosion, valley‐bottom slope, and debris‐flow depth are within a narrow range. This result helps place constraints on the mathematical form of a debris‐flow incision law. Finally, modeled fluvial incision outpaces debris‐flow erosion at drainage areas less than those at which valleys morphologically transition from near‐invariant slopes to concave profiles. This result emphasizes the critical role of debris‐flow incision for setting steepland form, even as fluvial incision becomes the dominant incisional process.more » « less
-
Since the impact ∼50,000 yr ago, surface runoff has entrained and transported sediment from the walls to the floor of Meteor Crater (Arizona, USA). Previous work interpreted this erosion and deposition to be due to predominantly fluvial (i.e., dilute water transport) processes. However, light detection and ranging (LiDAR)−derived topographic data and field observations indicate that debris flows dominated, which were likely generated by runoff that entrained the talus that borders bedrock cliffs high on the crater walls. The low gradient of the crater floor caused debris flows to stop, leaving lobate deposits, while fluvial processes delivered sediment toward the center of the crater. Cosmogenic radionuclide dating of levee deposits suggests that debris-flow activity ceased in the late Pleistocene, synchronous with regional drying. Assuming a rock-to-water ratio of 0.3 at the time of transport by mass flows, it would have taken ∼2 × 106 m3 of water to transport the estimated ∼6.8 × 106 m3 of debris-flow deposits found at the surface of the crater floor. This extensive erosion would require ∼6 m of total runoff over the 0.35 km2 upslope source area of the crater, or ∼18 mm of runoff per debris-flow event. Much more runoff did occur, as evidenced by crater lake deposits, Holocene fluvial activity (which produced little erosion), and contemporary rainfall rates. Rarely on Earth is the total amount of water that creates and runs through a landscape estimated, yet such calculations are commonly done on Mars. Our analysis suggests that erosional and depositional landforms may record only a small fraction of the total runoff.more » « less
-
Abstract Abrupt thaw of ice‐rich permafrost in the Arctic Foothills yielded to the formation of hillslope erosional features. In the infrastructure corridor, we observed thermal erosion and thaw slumping that self‐healed near an embankment. To advance our understanding of processes between infrastructure and hillslope erosional features (INF‐HEF), we combined climate and remote sensing analyses to field investigations to assess an INF‐HEF system and validate our findings in a broader area along the infrastructure corridor. We identified that thaw consolidation along an embankment formed a thermokarst ditch that was ubiquitous in the broader study area, and which was extensively affected by shrubification and supported other positive feedback (e.g., snow accumulation, water impoundment, and weakened vegetation mat). The thermokarst ditch facilitated channelization of cross‐drainage water, thus increasing the terrain vulnerability to thermal erosion that evolved into thaw slumping after heavy rainfalls. The terrain resilience to thaw slumping benefited from the type of ground ice and topography prevailing at our site. The lateral discontinuity of massive ice in an ice‐wedge polygonal system (i.e., interchange soil and massive ice) compounded to a low‐slope gradient with topographic obstacles (e.g., baydzherakhs) decreased slumping activity and supported self‐stabilization.more » « less
