The structure and geomorphology of active orogens evolves on time scales ranging from a single earthquake to millions of years of tectonic deformation. Analysis of crustal deformation using new and established remote sensing techniques, and integration of these data with field mapping, geochronology and the sedimentary record, create new opportunities to understand orogenic evolution over these timescales. Timor Leste (East Timor) lies on the northern collisional boundary between continental crust from the Australian Plate and the Banda volcanic arc. GPS studies have indicated that the island of Timor is actively shortening. Field mapping and fault kinematic analysis of an emergent Pliocene marine sequence identifies gentle folding, overprinted by a predominance of NW-SE oriented dextral-normal faults and NE-SW oriented sinistral-normal faults that collectively bound large (5-20km2) bedrock massifs throughout the island. These fault systems intersect at non-Andersonian conjugate angles of approximately 120° and accommodate an estimated 20 km of orogen-parallel extension. Folding of Pliocene rocks in Timor may represent an early episode of contraction but the overall pattern of deformation is one of lateral crustal extrusion sub-parallel to the Banda Arc. Stratigraphic relationships suggest that extrusion began prior to 5.5 Ma, during and after initial uplift of the orogen. Sedimentological, geochemical and Nd isotope data indicate that the island of Timor was emergent and shedding terrigenous sediment into carbonate basins prior to 4.5 Ma. Synorogenic tectonic and sedimentary phases initiated almost synchronously across much of Timor Leste and <2 Myr before similar events in West Timor. An increase in plate coupling along this obliquely converging boundary, due to subduction of an outlying continental plateau at the Banda Trench, is proposed as a mechanism for uplift that accounts for orogen-parallel extension and early uplift of Timor Leste. Rapid bathymetric changes around Timor are likely to have played an important role in evolution of the Indonesian Seaway. The 2010 Mw 7.1 Darfield (Canterbury) earthquake in New Zealand was complex, involving multiple faults with strike-slip, reverse and normal displacements. Multi-temporal cadastral surveying and airborne light detection and ranging (LiDAR) surveys allowed surface deformation at the junction of three faults to be analyzed in this study in unprecedented detail. A nested, localized restraining stepover with contractional bulging was identified in an area with the overall fault structure of a releasing bend, highlighting the surface complexities that may develop in fault interaction zones during a single earthquake sequence. The earthquake also caused river avulsion and flooding in this area. Geomorphic investigations of these rivers prior to the earthquake identify plausible precursory patterns, including channel migration and narrowing. Comparison of the pre and post-earthquake geomorphology of the fault rupture also suggests that a subtle scarp or groove was present along much of the trace prior to the Darfield earthquake. Hydrogeology and well logs support a hypothesis of extended slip history and suggests that that the Selwyn River fan may be infilling a graben that has accumulated late Quaternary vertical slip of <30 m. Investigating fault behavior, geomorphic and sedimentary responses over a multitude of time-scales and at different study sites provides insights into fault interactions and orogenesis during single earthquakes and over millions of years of plate boundary deformation.

The Haast Pass highway has had a long history of instability since it was constructed in 1960. Steep slopes and deeply incised river create an actively changing geomorphic environment making maintaining the highway corridor hazardous and difficult. This thesis study provides the first comprehensive investigation of the highway corridor between the Summit and Thunder Creek Falls using LiDAR and detailed air-photo analysis to provide the basis for geomorphic mapping. Management of slope hazards to date has been based on a reactive approach treating the immediate unstable areas around landslides after they occur. This study presents the first large-scale geomorphological assessment of the highway corridor identifying surface unit type, slope processes and slope hazards in order to facilitate the development of a long-term highway management strategy. Because dense vegetation covers nearly all the slopes above the highway in the study area as as such, it has not been possible to adequately investigate slope geomorphology until the availability of LiDAR. This study is the first to use Light direction and ranging[LiDAR] for corridor hazard mapping beneath dense vegetation in New Zealand. The LiDAR survey was flown by New Zealand Aerial Mapping in January 2014 for the New Zealand Transport Agency and was provided for use in this study. The LiDAR surface model created serves as the basis for mapping surface units and landslide features, enabling the identification of slope processes and landslide hazards. Aerial photos were also used to identify surface unit type and slope processes where vegetation was absent and enabled the activity of slopes to be evaluated. Interpretations made using LiDAR were validated using aerial photography and targeted ground truthing with all ground truthing sites confirming the interpretations made. Large scale geomorphology mapping was undertaken on slopes above the highway on the western side of the valley and showed that there were distinct differences between the southern and northern parts of the highway corridor. Between The Haast Pass Summit and Pipson Creek the slopes are dominated by schist bedrock with regolith confined to small deposits next to the highway and larger deposits in tributary valleys. The slope hazards affecting the highway in this zone are confined to debris sliding and rockfall from regolith deposits and bedrock cliffs next to the highway between Robinson and Pipson Creeks. The slopes between Pipson Creek and the Gates of Haast, in contrast, consist of deep regolith deposits and regolith veneered slopes. Evidence of active and recently active slope processes on the slopes facing the highway confirm the instability is associated with slope hazards including debris flows, debris slides, rock fall and highway collapse. Small-scale detailed evaluations were undertaken at Diana Falls, Ford Creek, The Hinge and the Gates of Haast with the sites selected based on their history of instability and/or their particu- larly hazardous appearance during the large-scale geomorphology and hazard identification. Using the LiDAR surface model surface units and landslide features were identified and mapped with small-scale engineering geomorphology maps. This information was then used to interpret the subsurface geometry and the failure mode/slope processes acting on the slope enabling an assessment of the current stability and future slope development to be made. Diana Falls was found to have scarps and tension cracks running across the regolith covered slope indicating that future landslides from this site will be an ongoing problem. At Ford Creek the landslide was identified as a rock compound slide, but assessments of its current stability and future development were unable to be made. Detailed investigations at The Hinge revealed evidence of a large creeping debris slide and the existence smaller debris slides below the highway through the entire investigation area; the debris slides identified show signs of activity and continued debris sliding will continue to affect the highway in the future. The investigation of the Gates of Haast revealed that the slope instability is not as extensive as it has been in the past, however, recent rock slides and debris flows have continued affect the highway and will continue to pose a hazard in the future. This thesis provides fundamental information required to develop a comprehensive management plan for the Haast Pass highway corridor between the Haast Pass summit and the Gates of Haast. A new landslide management plan has been developed outlining immediate, short-term and long- term options and programmes that should be implemented. Immediate options are steps that can be taken to quickly increase the safety of road users and include moving of highway closure gates and installation of warning signage. Short-term options aim to mitigate landslide hazards where feasible including the installation of rockfall barriers and debris flow attenuators, and lay the groundwork for future avoidance of hazards by undertaking investigations of highway realignment and developing highway closure rainfall thresholds. Long-term options are recommended where landslides will continue to impact the same section of the highway repeatedly and focus on hazard avoidance by building landslide shelters or major highway realignments. The adoption of a management plan ensures security of the highway, protects against loss of life and provides the most cost effective long-term solution to manage the landsliding hazards.

Data retrieved from airborne laser scanning represents a new source of forest data. Today, the technology has matured so that it can function in an operational environment. The aim of this study was to compile areas of application of laserdata in forestry. Moreover to analyze costs and accessibility of laserdata. The goal was to provide private forest owners information to support assessments of possible benefits of laserdata. Data produced by Skogsstyrelsen and SLU seems to be useful for private forest owners. These data i.e. includes maps of digital terrain models, tree heights, stand volumes, tree diameters, basal areas and biomass. Today, the costs for airborne laser scanning are high for the private forest owners. Perhaps co- ordinations between forest owner organizations and other timber buying companies could solve this problem.

The wet zone – the lagg – that tends to form at the edge of ombrotrophic peatlands is believed to play an important role in promoting and maintaining the health of bog systems. The lagg is well-recognized by peatland scientists, yet empirical knowledge is surprisingly limited, and most of the characteristics associated with this ecotone come from qualitative observations. Understanding the role played by the lagg, and the potential impact its disturbance might have on the integrity of a raised bog system, is valuable for sustainable land management and peatland restoration science alike. This thesis explores and documents the basic ecohydrological characteristics of the lagg in the context of the neighbouring natural landscapes, and discusses the spatial properties of various types of laggs by exploring airborne LiDAR datasets to detect and position the ecotone. The specific objectives are 1) to describe the form and abiotic controls of the laggs and margins of bog peatlands, 2) to propose a conceptual model in cross-section of the “bog-lagg-mineral land” transition, 3) to explore the potential of data derived from aerial LiDAR (Light Detection And Ranging) to detect and locate laggs and lagg boundaries, and 4) to consider the spatial distribution of laggs around raised bog peatlands. Data were collected along 10 transects located within 6 relatively undisturbed bogs of the New Brunswick eastern lowlands, Canada. Each transect consisted of 4-6 wells, straddling the ombrotrophic bog and the adjacent mineral land, and of 3 nested piezometers in the center of each lagg. These instruments were used to monitor the position of the water table, to measure hydraulic gradient, hydraulic conductivity, and for water sampling. Dissimilarity analysis (edge-detection, split moving window) and similarity analysis (cluster, k-means) were used to test the delineation capacity of five variables derived from the LiDAR dataset; ground elevation (topography), vegetation height, topographic wetness index, and spatial frequency of both vegetation and ground LiDAR returns. The major abiotic control of the lagg appears to be topography. Two geomorphological categories were identified; confined and unconfined. The importance of topography is through the affect it has on water flow rates and direction, which in turn affect water chemistry, and most likely nutrient transport and availability, hence vegetation characteristics. Dissimilarity analysis of the five variables derived from LiDAR data revealed that some indicators were better at predicting the bog-lagg boundary (e.g. vegetation height), and others at finding the lagg-mineral land boundary (e.g. topography). In contrast, the similarity analysis gave more decisive influence to the topographic wetness index. When the lagg was confined between the bog and the adjacent upland, it took a linear form, parallel to the peatland’s edge. However, when the adjacent mineral land was flat or even sloping away, the lagg spatial distribution was discontinuous and intermittent around the bog. Our results confirms that laggs can take many forms, while suggesting two broad geomorphological categories from which they can more easily be studied and understood and highlight the potential offered by LiDAR technology in predicting their likely location around a raised bog. The results and conclusion from this research further our understanding of the goals to be achieved for ecological restoration, and favor sustainable management inclusive of the margins or bog peatlands.

Natural fire return intervals are relatively long in eastern Canadian boreal forests and often allow for the development of stands with multiple, successive cohorts of trees. Multi-cohort forest management (MCM) provides a strategy to maintain such multi-cohort stands that focuses on three broad phases of increasingly complex, post-fire stand development, termed “cohorts”, and recommends different silvicultural approaches be applied to emulate different cohort types. Previous research on structural cohort typing has relied upon primarily subjective classification methods; in this thesis, I develop more comprehensive and objective methods for three common boreal mixedwood and black spruce forest types in northeastern Ontario. Additionally, I examine relationships between cohort types and stand age, productivity, and disturbance history and the utility of airborne LiDAR to retrieve ground based classifications and to extend structural cohort typing from plot to stand-levels. In both mixedwood and black spruce forest types, stand age and age related deadwood features varied systematically with cohort classes in support of an age-based interpretation of increasing cohort complexity. However, correlations of stand age with cohort classes were surprisingly weak. Differences in site productivity had a significant effect on the accrual of increasingly complex multi-cohort stand structure in both forest types, especially in black spruce stands. The effects of past harvesting in predictive models of class membership were only significant when considered in isolation of age. As an age emulation strategy, the three cohort model appeared to be poorly suited to black spruce forests where the accrual of structural complexity appeared to be more a function of site productivity than age. Airborne LiDAR data appear to be particularly useful in recovering plot-based cohort types and extending them to the stand-level. The main gradients of structural variability detected using LiDAR were similar between boreal mixedwood and black spruce forest types; the best LiDAR-based models of cohort type relied upon combinations of tree size, size heterogeneity, and tree density related variables. The methods described here to measure, classify, and predict cohort-related structural complexity assist in translating the conceptual three cohort model to a more precise, measurement based management system. In addition, the approaches presented here to measure and classify stand structural complexity promise to significantly enhance the detail of structural information in operational forest inventories in support of a wide array of forest management and conservation applications.

The two main challenges of the twenty-first century are the scarcity of energy sources and global warming; trigged by the emission of greenhouse gases. In this context, solar energy became increasingly relevant. Because it makes optimal use of the resources, minimizes environmental impacts, and is sustainable over time. However, before installing solar panels, it is convenient pre-assessing the amount of energy that a building can harvest. This study proposes a methodology to semi-automatically generate information a building scale; on a large area. This thesis integrates airborne Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) and WoldView-2 satellite data for modelling the solar energy potential of building rooftops in San Francisco, California. The methodology involved building detection solar potential analysis, and estimations at building scale. First, the outline of building rooftops is extracted using an object-based approach. Next, the solar modelling is carried out using the solar radiation analysis tool in ArcGIS, Spatial Analyst. Then, energy that could potentially be harvested by each building rooftop is estimated. The energy estimation is defined in economic and environmental terms.

The Province of British Columbia is developing a suite of attributes to assess and monitor forest sustainability. Each attribute is in turn evaluated using a variety of indicators. Recently, digital remote sensing technologies have emerged as both alternative and supplement to traditional monitoring techniques, with light detection and ranging (lidar) in particular showing great promise for estimating a variety of indicators. The goal of this thesis was to review and assess the ability of lidar to estimate selected indicators of forest sustainability. Specifically, digital elevation model (DEM) interpolation (from which indicators are extracted both directly and indirectly) and wildlife tree class distributions were examined. Digital elevation models are a key derivative of lidar data, and their generation is a critical step in the data processing stream. A validation exercise was undertaken to determine which combination of interpolation routine and spatial resolution was the most accurate. Ground returns were randomly subsetted into prediction and validation datasets. Linear, quintic, natural neighbour, spline with tension, regularized spline, inverse distance weighting, and ANUDEM interpolation routines were used to generate surfaces at spatial resolutions of 0.5, 1.0, and 1.5 m. The 0.5 m natural neighbour surface was found to be the most accurate (RMSE=0.17 m). Classification and regression tree analysis indicated that slope and ground return density were the best predictors of interpolation error. The amount and variability of living and dead wood in a forest stand is an important indicator of forest biodiversity. In the second study, the capacity of lidar to estimate the distribution of living and dead trees within forests is investigated. Twenty-two field plots were established in which each stem (DBH>10cm) was assigned to a wildlife tree (WT) class. For each plot, a suite of lidar-derived predictor variables were extracted. Ordinal logistic regression was then employed to predict the cumulative proportions of stems within the WT classes. Results indicated that the coefficient of variation of the lidar height data was the best predictor variable (r = 0.85, p <0.000, RMSE = 4.9%). The derived relationships allowed for the prediction of the proportion of stems within WT classes across the landscape.

Enhanced understanding of forest stocks and dynamics can be gained through improved forest measurement, which is required to assist with sustainable forest management decisions, meet Australian and international reporting needs, and improve research efforts to better respond to a changing climate. Integrated sampling schemes that utilise a multi-scale approach, with a range of data sourced from both field and remote sensing, have been identified as a way to generate the required forest information. Given the multi-scale approach proposed by these schemes, it is important to understand how scale potentially affects the interpretation and reporting of forest from a range of data. ¶ To provide improved forest assessment at a range of scales, this research has developed a strategy for facilitating tree and stand level retrieval of structural attributes within an integrated multi-scale analysis framework. The research investigated the use of fine-scale (~1m) airborne Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) data (1,125 ha in central Queensland, and 60,000 ha in NE Victoria) to calibrate other remotely sensed data at the two study sites. The strategy refines forest structure mapping through three-dimensional (3D) modelling combined with empirical relationships, allowing improved estimation of maximum and predominant height, as well as foliage and crown cover at multiple scales. Tree stems (including those in the sub-canopy) were located using a height scaled crown openness index (HSCOI), which integrated the 3D density of canopy elements within the vertical profile into a two-dimensional spatial layer. The HSCOI modelling also facilitated the reconstruction of the 3D distribution of foliage and branches (of varying size and orientation) within the forest volume. ¶ Comparisons between forests at the Queensland and NE Victorian study sites indicated that accurate and consistent retrieval of cover and height metrics could be achieved at multiple scales, with the algorithms applicable for semi-automated use in other forests with similar structure. This information has facilitated interpretation and evaluation of Landsat imagery and ICESat satellite laser data for forest height and canopy cover retrieval. The development of a forest cover translation matrix allows a range of data and metrics to be compared at the plot scale, and has initiated the development of continuous transfer functions between the metrics and datasets. These data have been used subsequently to support interpretation of SAR data, by providing valuable input to 2D and 3D radar simulation models. Scale effects have been identified as being significant enough to influence national forest class reporting in more heterogeneous forests, thus allowing the most appropriate use and integration of remote sensed data at a range of scales. An empirically based forest minimum mapping area of 1 ha for reporting is suggested. The research has concluded that LiDAR can provide calibration information just as detailed and possibly more accurately than field measurements for many required forest attributes. Therefore the use of LiDAR data offers a unique opportunity to bridge the gap between accurate field plot structural information and stand to landscape scale sampling, to provide enhanced forest assessment in Australia.

Universiẗat, Diss., 2003--Bonn.

University, Diss., 2003--Kassel. / Lizenzpflichtig.