Postglacial bedrock river erosion is likely to be a major control on the evolution of deglaciated landscapes. This study provides a quantitative assessment of bedrock channel change in a postglacial, post-orogenic terrain, encompassing the long-term evolution of bedrock channel distribution, geometry and the timing and rate of fluvial incision. In the NW Scottish Highlands, fluvial incision is focused on steep valley headwalls and at knickpoints formed at inherited glacial valley-floor steps (riegels). Holocene average incision rates of 0.4 – 1.3 m/kyr were measured using cosmogenic surface exposure dating (10-Be) at five strath terrace sites. Incision rates of 0.1 m/kyr were quantified from active channel beds and are lower than the Holocene average. This finding is consistent with a paraglacial decline in sediment supply being responsible for a reduction in fluvial incision in detachment-limited channels. Further support for a paraglacial sediment influence on bedrock channels is found in the long-term increase in the proportion of bedrock-exposure, reflecting a decrease in the critical slope threshold for the alluvial to bedrock channel transition. In reaches that have undergone a switch from alluvial to bedrock channel conditions, the onset of fluvial incision into bedrock was found to lag deglaciation by 2 – 4 kyr, suggesting that a substantial reduction in sediment availability occurred within several thousand years of ice retreat. Hydraulic conditions and substrate resistance are also major controls on the distribution and geometry of bedrock channels, and the rate of fluvial incision, in the NW Highlands. The geometry of both bedrock and alluvial channels was found to be strongly hydraulically scaled, with bedrock channels significantly narrower than coarse-grained alluvial channels. Lithology also governs the critical slope for alluvial to bedrock channel-transition; resistant metasedimentary bedrock produces relatively coarse-grained bed material with a high threshold for sediment entrainment, meaning that alluvial channels occur up to comparatively steep channel slopes. Lithological resistance also constrains the process and rate of fluvial incision. A new lithological resistance index, the ratio of joint spacing to intact rock strength, successfully discriminates between abrasion and plucking dominated channels and is non-linearly related to incision rate. The pulse of postglacial incision in bedrock channels has resulted in 2 – 8 m of entrenchment into valley floors since deglaciation. Bedrock channels narrow during entrenchment, achieving a consistent hydraulic geometry when entrenched to between 1 and 2 times the bankfull flow depth. Width adjustment occurs within 8 – 17 kyr of ice retreat, but adjustment of channel slope takes considerably longer and the long profiles of NW Highland rivers remain strongly glacially conditioned. Entrenchment disconnects channels from floodplains and may have contributed to the decline in paraglacial sediment flux, suggesting that fluvial incision may be a self-limiting process in post-orogenic postglacial terrains.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:559971 |
| Date | January 2012 |
| Creators | Whitbread, Katie |
| Publisher | University of Glasgow |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://theses.gla.ac.uk/3499/ |
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