This study qualitatively and quantitatively analyzes the geomorphology of alluvial fans in the Guadalupe Mountains Region (GMR) of west Texas and south-central New Mexico. Morphometric data for 31 alluvial fans and drainage basins ha ve been derived. The data set was subdivided into Guadalupe and Brokeoff Mountain fans and was further subdivided on the basis of their location along the two mountain ranges. A conventional morphometric analysis was conducted relating alluvial fan area and slope to drainage basin area in order to understand if and to what extent the alluvial fans of the GMR are dependent on the physical environment, including characteristics and processes of the drainage basin and depositional site. The results of the morphometric analysis indicate that the morphometric relationships that exist between the alluvial fans of the GMR and their contributory drainage basins are comparably to those of alluvial fans of the western United States. Morphologic and morphometric differences between the various groups primarily reflect geographic differences in the physiography and lithology of the contributory drainage basin, tectonics, and the various physical constraints imposed by the GMR.

Alluvial fan surfaces in the Atacama Desert of northern Chile preserve evidence of recent, precipitation-driven, surface flows. Determining the hydrologic characteristics of these flows is important for understanding the effects of rare yet significant storms in the region. Flow reconstruction, runoff analysis, and comparison with climatological data yield surface activation recurrence intervals of ~1-20 years for three small fans and associated catchments proximal to Iquique and Antofagasta. Relatively short-lived and intense precipitation events (1-3 hour, > 4 mm/hr) are required to mobilize and transport the largest surface grains. Modeled discharges provide minimum constraints on the rates of precipitation that yield surface-forming flows in the hyper-arid region. The results of this study aid in understanding the evolution of various surfaces in the region. In particular, results provide a clear indication of the ability of a particular storm event --i.e., precipitation rate to activate a surface. / Master of Science

Made available in DSpace on 2017-07-10T17:30:29Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Leandro_Oliveira.pdf: 7284550 bytes, checksum: f70fdc0eab04270115ab2fbaf7a5f445 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-03-21 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / Alluvial fans are good indicators of environmental change and tectonic movement. Thus, it is proposed to investigate which factors influenced the alluvial fan at the mouth of 1st order channel of Chopim River basin at Paraná State. For this, the objectives were 1) identify evidence of neotectonic; 2) characterization stratigraphic units, 3) identification depositional physical processes; 4) seeking records of vegetation change and 5) establish chronological correlation with global events. As a methodological procedure was carried out: 1) field work; 2) laboratory work and 3) office work. The field work consisted of: a) establishment of the stratigraphic section HS12, descriptions and sampling of materials; b) topography in drainage basin of 1st order channel on alluvial fan; c) electromagnetic and manual surveys on the deposit of alluvial fan and d) structural survey on the slope. The laboratory work for the stratigraphic section HS12 on the bedside of the alluvial fan included: a) particle size analysis of the matrix; b ) reason of stable isotopes of carbon 13/12 (δ¹³C) and c) radiocarbon dating (14C). In relation to work in the office was held activities such as: a) treatment of grain size data of matrix by Sysgran; b) organization and interpretation of field descriptions and laboratory; c) photointerpretation and d) GIS. Based on the results, it is concluded that the evolution of alluvial fan occurs from 2 main times. In the first time, it is inferred tectonic movement type half-graben previous to the alluvial fan and subsequently the deposition of colluvial facies. In the second time, the occurrence of environmental changes affecting the water regime, accompanied by the change of C3 to C4 vegetation, which in turn causes morphogenetic processes. Simultaneous vegetation change occurs to the alluvial facies. / Leques aluviais são bons indicadores de mudança ambiental e movimento tectônico. Dessa maneira, propõe-se investigar que fatores influenciaram o leque aluvial em desembocadura de canal de 1ª ordem, bacia do Rio Chopim - PR. Para isso, os objetivos foram 1) identificar indícios de neotectônica; 2) caracterizar unidades estratigráficas; 3) identificar processos deposicionais físicos; 4) buscar registros de mudança na vegetação e 5) estabelecer correlação cronológica com eventos globais. Como procedimento metodológico realizou-se: 1) trabalho de campo; 2) trabalho laboratorial e 3) trabalho em gabinete. O trabalho de campo consistiu de: a) estabelecimento da seção estratigráfica HS12, descrições e amostragem dos materiais; b) topografia da bacia de drenagem de 1ª ordem do leque aluvial; c) sondagens eletromagnética e manual sobre o depósito do leque aluvial e d) levantamento estrutural sobre a vertente. O trabalho laboratorial para a seção estratigráfica HS12 na cabeceira do leque aluvial compreendeu: a) análise granulométrica da matriz; b) razão de isótopos estáveis do carbono 13/12 (δ¹³C) e c) datação radiocarbônica (14C). Em relação ao trabalho em gabinete realizou-se atividades como: a) tratamento dos dados granulométricos da matriz pelo Sysgran; b) organização e interpretação das descrições de campo e laboratorial; c) fotointerpretação e d) geoprocessamento. Baseado nos resultados, conclui-se que a evolução do leque aluvial ocorre a partir de 2 momentos principais. Para o primeiro momento, é inferida a ocorrência de movimento tectônico tipo meio-gráben anterior ao leque aluvial e posteriormente a deposição da fácies coluvial. Já no segundo momento, a ocorrência de mudanças ambientais afetando o regime hídrico, sendo acompanhada pela mudança de vegetação C3 para C4 que, por sua vez, provoca processos morfogenéticos. Simultânea a mudança da vegetação ocorre à fácies aluvial.

Made available in DSpace on 2017-05-12T14:42:05Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Leandro_Oliveira.pdf: 7284550 bytes, checksum: f70fdc0eab04270115ab2fbaf7a5f445 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-03-21 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / Alluvial fans are good indicators of environmental change and tectonic movement. Thus, it is proposed to investigate which factors influenced the alluvial fan at the mouth of 1st order channel of Chopim River basin at Paraná State. For this, the objectives were 1) identify evidence of neotectonic; 2) characterization stratigraphic units, 3) identification depositional physical processes; 4) seeking records of vegetation change and 5) establish chronological correlation with global events. As a methodological procedure was carried out: 1) field work; 2) laboratory work and 3) office work. The field work consisted of: a) establishment of the stratigraphic section HS12, descriptions and sampling of materials; b) topography in drainage basin of 1st order channel on alluvial fan; c) electromagnetic and manual surveys on the deposit of alluvial fan and d) structural survey on the slope. The laboratory work for the stratigraphic section HS12 on the bedside of the alluvial fan included: a) particle size analysis of the matrix; b ) reason of stable isotopes of carbon 13/12 (δ¹³C) and c) radiocarbon dating (14C). In relation to work in the office was held activities such as: a) treatment of grain size data of matrix by Sysgran; b) organization and interpretation of field descriptions and laboratory; c) photointerpretation and d) GIS. Based on the results, it is concluded that the evolution of alluvial fan occurs from 2 main times. In the first time, it is inferred tectonic movement type half-graben previous to the alluvial fan and subsequently the deposition of colluvial facies. In the second time, the occurrence of environmental changes affecting the water regime, accompanied by the change of C3 to C4 vegetation, which in turn causes morphogenetic processes. Simultaneous vegetation change occurs to the alluvial facies. / Leques aluviais são bons indicadores de mudança ambiental e movimento tectônico. Dessa maneira, propõe-se investigar que fatores influenciaram o leque aluvial em desembocadura de canal de 1ª ordem, bacia do Rio Chopim - PR. Para isso, os objetivos foram 1) identificar indícios de neotectônica; 2) caracterizar unidades estratigráficas; 3) identificar processos deposicionais físicos; 4) buscar registros de mudança na vegetação e 5) estabelecer correlação cronológica com eventos globais. Como procedimento metodológico realizou-se: 1) trabalho de campo; 2) trabalho laboratorial e 3) trabalho em gabinete. O trabalho de campo consistiu de: a) estabelecimento da seção estratigráfica HS12, descrições e amostragem dos materiais; b) topografia da bacia de drenagem de 1ª ordem do leque aluvial; c) sondagens eletromagnética e manual sobre o depósito do leque aluvial e d) levantamento estrutural sobre a vertente. O trabalho laboratorial para a seção estratigráfica HS12 na cabeceira do leque aluvial compreendeu: a) análise granulométrica da matriz; b) razão de isótopos estáveis do carbono 13/12 (δ¹³C) e c) datação radiocarbônica (14C). Em relação ao trabalho em gabinete realizou-se atividades como: a) tratamento dos dados granulométricos da matriz pelo Sysgran; b) organização e interpretação das descrições de campo e laboratorial; c) fotointerpretação e d) geoprocessamento. Baseado nos resultados, conclui-se que a evolução do leque aluvial ocorre a partir de 2 momentos principais. Para o primeiro momento, é inferida a ocorrência de movimento tectônico tipo meio-gráben anterior ao leque aluvial e posteriormente a deposição da fácies coluvial. Já no segundo momento, a ocorrência de mudanças ambientais afetando o regime hídrico, sendo acompanhada pela mudança de vegetação C3 para C4 que, por sua vez, provoca processos morfogenéticos. Simultânea a mudança da vegetação ocorre à fácies aluvial.

The eastern California shear zone (ECSZ) and Walker Lane belt represent an important inland component of the Pacific-North America plate boundary. Current geodetic data indicate accumulation of transtensional shear at a rate of ~9.2 ± 0.3 mm/yr across the region, more than double the total geologic rate (<3.5 mm/yr) for faults in the northern ECSZ over the late Pleistocene [Bennett et al., 2003, Kirby et al., 2006, Lee et al., 2009, Frankel et al., 2007]. Unraveling the strain puzzle of the Walker Lane is therefore essential to understanding both how deformation is distributed through the lithosphere along this transtensional part of the Pacific-North America plate boundary and how the plate boundary is evolving through time. The observed mismatch between geodetic and geologic slip rates in the central Walker Lane is characteristic of other active tectonic settings, including the nearby Mojave segment of the ECSZ [Oskin et al., 2008] and the Altyn Tagh fault in China [Cowgill, 2007]. In each case, lack of fault slip data spanning multiple temporal and spatial scales hinders interpretation of fault interactions and their implications for lithospheric dynamics. The discrepancy between geodetic and geologic slip rates in the central Walker Lane indicates that if strain rates have remained constant since the late Pleistocene [e.g. Frankel et al., in press], then the "missing" strain is distributed on structures other than the two major dextral faults at this latitude (Death Valley-Fish Lake Valley fault and White Mountains fault). Otherwise the region could presently be experiencing a strain transient similar to that of the nearby Mojave section of the ECSZ [e.g., Oskin et al., 2008], or the rate of strain accumulation could actually increasing over the late Pleistocene [e.g. Reheis and Sawyer, 1997; Hoeft and Frankel, 2010]. The Silver Peak-Lone Mountain extensional complex (SPLM), to which the Clayton Valley faults belong, is the prime candidate to account for the "missing" strain. The down-to-the-northwest orientation of the SPLM faults makes them the most kinematically suitable structures to accommodate the regional pattern of NW-SE dextral shear. We use differential GPS to measure fault offset and terrestrial cosmogenic nuclide (TCN) geochronology to date offset landforms. Using these tools, we measure extension rates that are time-invariant, ranging from 0.1 ± 0.1 to 0.3 ± 0.1 mm/yr for fault dips of 30° and 60°. These rates are not high enough to account for the discrepancy between geologic and geodetic data in the ECSZ-Walker Lane transition zone. Based on geologic mapping and previously published geophysical data [Davis, 1981; Zampirro, 2005], deformation through Clayton Valley appears to be very widely-distributed. The diffuse nature of deformation leads to geologic slip rates that are underestimated due to the effects of off-fault deformation and unrecognized fault strands. Our results from Clayton Valley suggest that the discrepancy between geodetic and geologic strain rates at the latitude of the northern ECSZ is a result of long-term geologic rates that are underestimated. If the true geologic rates could be calculated, they would likely be significantly higher and therefore in closer agreement with geodetic data, as is the case everywhere else in the ECSZ north of the Garlock fault [Frankel et al., 2007a, in press; Kirby et al., 2008; Lee et al., 2009a].

A vast area of the northeastern Great Basin of the western USA was inundated by a succession of Plio-Pleistocene lakes, including Lake Bonneville (28 ka to 12 ka). The Pilot Valley playa, located just east of the Utah-Nevada border near Wendover, Utah, within the eastern Basin and Range Province, represents an 8 to 16 km wide and ~50 km long remnant of these lakes. The playa corresponds to the upper surface of a closed basin that is delimited by two mountain ranges, which are mantled by recent alluvial fans over which the playa sediments have prograded. In order to investigate the interaction of Plio- Pleistocene lake sedimentation and alluvial fan development, high-resolution seismic reflection profiles have been acquired near the base of both the west-bounding and the east-bounding ranges. On the western side of the basin, the seismic profiles provide images of sub-horizontal playa sediments prograding over the inclined alluvial fans. Theboundary between the playa and fan sediments is marked by a prominent angular unconformity. Seismic images from the eastern side of the basin reveal a markedly different structural and stratigraphic style with down-to-the-basin normal faulting of relatively shallow Paleozoic bedrock overlain by alluvial fan deposits, which are in turn on-lapped by a thin veneer of playa sediments. The results contained herein reveal for the first time the stratigraphic relationships between Quaternary pluvial sediments as a shoreline depositional facies and the adjacent bounding fan deposits. Post-stack reprocessing of lower-resolution but deeper penetration seismic data located in an analogous basin to the southwest, provides a likely context for the Pilot Valley seismic data. The new geophysical images, when integrated with available geologic mapping and limited well control, aid in constraining how deep aquifers are locally recharged from an adjacent range. The results also clearly demonstrate the strong structural asymmetry of the range and playa system, which is consistent with a classic half-graben structure. Lastly, this study demonstrates the utility of the shallow seismic reflection method as a tool to provide high-resolution sub-surface images in the geophysically challenging environment of Basin and Range geology.

No description available.

As relações entre os solos, material de origem e feições geomórficas são importantes para a compreensão da distribuição dos solos na paisagem e o entendimento de sua variabilidade espacial, sobretudo em ambientes úmidos (wetlands) de natureza sedimentar complexa. Procurou-se descrever e caracterizar os ambientes deposicionais de uma área de estudo, a Reserva Particular do Patrimônio Natural (RPPN) SESC Pantanal, buscando na sedimentologia e na geomorfologia que sistemas deposicionais e/ou erosivos formaram a paisagem e dessa forma interpretar as alterações ocorridas no relevo e nos sedimentos responsáveis pela gênese dos solos nesta parte do Pantanal Norte. Primeiramente foram realizados os estudos geomorfológicos com auxílio de ferramentas de sensoriamento remoto, expedições ao campo e sobrevoo da área. Nos compartimentos identificados foram realizadas tradagens mecanizadas profundas para se observar a arquitetura e a distribuição dos sedimentos. Os solos de 3 transeções representativas da área foram descritos, coletados e analisados, de forma a se determinar a configuração lateral e vertical dos horizontes e camadas, assim como a classificação pedológica e as evidências de processos pedogenéticos e sedimentares. A paisagem da RPPN SESC Pantanal foi modelada desde o Pleistoceno superior pela atividade de sistemas deposicionais distributários dominados por rios, caracterizados pela sucessiva construção e abandono de lóbulos deposicionais. O leque aluvial do rio São Lourenço é responsável pela maior parte dos depósitos e das formas do relevo observadas na área de estudo, enquanto que a planície do rio Cuiabá tem menor contribuição e se restringe à parte oeste. De maneira geral, os solos de canais antigos são Neossolos Quartzarênicos, de planície aluvial são Gleissolos, Plintossolos ou Neossolos/Cambissolos flúvicos, de diques e Murundus são Planossolos. Os nódulos de ferro e manganês podem ocorrer nos solos das porções elevadas e baixas (canais, diques e planícies antigas). Os mosqueados são mais contrastantes nas porções baixas (planícies antigas) e progressivamente se tornam menos evidentes à medida que se caminha para as porções elevadas (diques). Os contrastes e gradientes texturais são observados em todos os solos que possuem textura média ou mais fina, independente da porção do relevo, resultado da combinação de processos pedogenéticos e sedimentares. A argiluviação é evidente em todos os solos, porém com intensidade variável. A elevada porcentagem de sódio trocável ocorre com maior frequência nos solos das porções elevadas que não sofrem inundação (diques e murundus), contudo, é observado também em locais com ligeira influência de lâmina dágua. Dessa forma, por meio da abordagem solo x paisagem é possível identificar o controle geológico na distribuição e formação dos solos, como é o caso da presença de Neossolos Quartzarênicos nos canais antigos e a formação de contrastes texturais, e o controle pedogenético condicionado pelo relevo, como vem a ser o acúmulo de sódio. A abordagem integradora entre geomorfologia, sedimentologia e pedologia é indispensável para o entendimento da distribuição, variabilidade espacial e gênese de solos no Pantanal. Fora dessa ótica se torna difícil entender e estabelecer o papel efetivo da geogênese e da pedogênese nesse ambiente. / Relationships between soils, parent material and geomorphic features are important to understand the distribution of soils in the landscape. This approach gains more importance when the landscape in study is too complex, e.g., wetlands constructed by depositional systems. Hence, the goal of this work was describe and characterize depositional environments of an unit of fauna and flora preservation (RPPN SESC Pantanal - nonprofits), searching for sedimentary and geomorphology evidences to know which depositional and/or erosional systems have shaped the landscape and then, to set up its relationship with weathering and changes in the system due to pedogenesis. Preliminary geomorphologic studies were developed using remote sensorial tools, fieldworks and flights over the studied area. In each Geomorphic features identified were done drilling procedures to assess the architecture and distribution of their sediments. Three representative soil sequences were described, sampled and analyzed to determine the lateral and vertical boundaries of horizons and layers, as well to find evidences of pedologic and sedimentological processes. Since late Pleistocene the landscape of the RPPN SESC Pantanal has been shaped by distributaries fluvial systems in which rivers were actives. The alluvial fan of the São Lourenço River was responsible by the most shapes and sediments observed in the studied area, while floodplain of the Cuiabá River had minor contribution and it is restricted to western part. Overall, the soils in the paleochannels are Arenosols; in paleofloodplains are Gleysols, Plinthosols or Fluvisols; in paleolevee and Murundus are Planosols. The mottles are common in the low portion of the relief (paleo-foodplain) and become progressively less apparent in the higher portions (paleo-levees). The textural horizons and vertical textural contrasts are observed in the soils of all geomorphic features that have loamy or finer textures, formed by pedogenic and geological processes. The clay illuviation is present in all those soils with textural horizons but in different intensities. The high levels of exchangeable sodium are observed in the soils located in the relief nonflooded (paleo-levee and murundus features). However, it can be also found in places with low flood. Therefore, the approach soil-landscape allows understanding the geological processes controlling the soil genesis and its distribution, as Arenosols in the paleochannels and the formation of textural contrasts. Moreover, it is possible to assess factors of soil formation (relief and whether) controlling the sodium accumulation. Thus the integration of geormorphology, sedimentology and pedology is needful to understand the distribution, spatial variability and genesis of soils in the Pantanal. Without this approach it seems hard to understand and establish the role of pedogenic and geological processes in this environment.

The Cutler Formation is composed of thick, arkosic, alluvial conglomerate, sandstone, and mudstone shed southwestward from the Uncompahgre Uplift into the Paradox Basin. More basin-ward the Cutler is recognized as a group consisting of differentiable formations. Discrete formations historically have not been distinguished near the uplift, but this study identified several separate successions in the Richardson Amphitheater. Research at the Richardson Amphitheater, ~12 km southwest of the uplift and ~30 km northeast of Moab, Utah, led to a systematic subdivision of the Permian Cutler Formation proximal to the uplift. Likely driven by channel cutting and migration across the alluvial fan, six 10-20 m thick successions are partially exposed. The dominant observed facies are basal conglomerate and channel-fill trough cross-stratified sandstone overlain by finer-grained distal sheetflood and frequently pedogenically altered sandstone. Down-warping of identified successions and the presence of additional sands within the area of flexure suggest that localized salt withdrawal created a sediment depocenter in the Richardson Amphitheater, ~6 km northwest of the Onion Creek salt diapir. The identified salt withdrawal feature is more proximal to the Uncompahgre Uplift than any of the major documented salt structures in the area and was not previously documented. Six measured stratigraphic sections and hundreds of high-precision differential GPS data points outlining major lateral erosional surfaces form the basis for interpretation. Five mapped erosional surfaces (bounding surfaces based upon differential GPS point interpolation) are laterally extensive within the approximately one square kilometer study area, and as such, represent stratigraphically significant surfaces. Within the generated structural geocellular model, stratigraphic data from measured sections informed facies modeling between major surfaces. This outcrop model may serve as an analogue for subsurface systems deposited in similar settings.

Pendant une éruption volcanique sur des sommets englacés, des coulées de débris syn-eruptifs,dénommées lahars, peuvent être générées par la fonte partiale de glaciers. Ce phénomène estbien connu sur le volcan Cotopaxi, Equateur. La présente étude concerne trois vallées et un cônede déjection sur le flanc sud-ouest de ce volcan. Une première analyse a été conduite par relevésde formes géomorphologiques dans ces vallées qui témoignent des processus d’érosion et desédimentation lors du passage de lahars dans le passé, notamment ceux du dernier événementéruptif datant de 1877 AD. Bien que les types des formes géomorphologiques déterminées sontles mêmes, leur distribution spatiale varie d’une vallée à l’autre en fonction d’une interaction deparamètres morphologiques locaux. Les conditions environnementales individuelles déterminentégalement le volume de l’écoulement, paramètre crucial dans la délimitation de zones de risques delahars dans les plaines adjacentes. Pour cela, une deuxième étude a été menée à grande échelle surle cône de déjection à l’exutoire de la vallée la plus au Sud des trois. Une analyse intégrale de la morphologiede surface et des affleurements naturels a été complétée par des données stratigraphiquesde subsurface obtenues via un sondage avec un Géoradar. Reconstituer l’architecture sédimentairede ce cône permet de visualiser la distribution spatiale de formes érosives et de dépôts. L’étude àrévélé que différentes parties du cône sont actives à des moments distincts et les épaisseurs dedépôts de lahars sont variables en fonction du type d’écoulement et de son volume. Ceci permetde relier les dynamiques géomorphologiques des plaines alluviales aux zones d’initiation de laharssur les flancs du volcan. Enfin, cette étude a débouché sur la mise en place d’une nouvelle fonctiondans le logiciel de modélisation de lahars LAHARZ prenant en compte l’incorporation progressive desédiment dans un contexte érosif dans les vallées, ce qui permet une meilleure délimitation de zonesde risque de lahars sur le cône. / During a volcanic eruption at ice capped volcanoes, syn-eruptive volcanic debris flows, lahars, canbe triggered through the partial melting of the glaciers. This phenomenon is well known to have happenedat Cotopaxi volcano, Ecuador, where the present study has been realized. The latter concernsthree drainages on the southwestern flank of the volcano and one alluvial fan. A first analysis hasbeen conducted assessing geomorphologic features in the drainages testifying from erosional anddepositional processes during past lahars, in particular of those generated during the last eruptiveevent dating back to 1877 AD. Although the types of determined geomorphologic features are thesame, their spatial distribution varies among the three valleys as a function of an interplay of localmorphologic parameters. The individual environmental conditions determine also the flow volumeof such lahars, a critical parameter when to delineating hazard zones in the adjacent lowlands. Thesecond analysis has therefore be performed at large scale on the alluvial fan forming at the mouthof the southernmost of the three drainages. An integral study of the surface morphology and naturalexposures was enriched with subsurface stratigraphic information obtained through a ground penetratingradar survey. The sediment architecture of the fan provides valuable insights on the distributionof erosional features and deposits. Different fan parts appear to be active at different times andlahar deposit thicknesses are highly variable as a function of flow type and volume. This allows torelate floodplain dynamics to the initiation zone of lahars on the upper flanks of the volcano. At last,this research led to integrate a new bulking function acknowledging for erosional processes in thevalleys into the lahar-modeling software LAHARZ allowing to better delineate lahar hazard zones onthe fan.