Hillslope soils cover a large proportion of Earths terrestrial landscapes. This dissertation is a theoretical exploration of how chemical and mechanical processes affect the formation and dynamics of both hillslope soils and soil mantled landscapes. It explores how hillslopes adjust to time varying erosion rates. Statements of mass conservation for both the total soil layer and constitutive soil phases are derived that include terms describing both chemical and mechanical denudation. These statements are used to demonstrate that chemical processes are as important as mechanical processes in determining the morphology of landscapes, and that chemical properties of hillslope soils can be used to quantify chemical denudation rates. Analyses are performed for both the steady state case (where erosion rates do not change in time) and the transient case (where erosion rates are time-varying). Transient simulations show that hillslope soils respond to changes in channel incision over characteristic timescales, and changes in channel incision leave characteristic chemical and physical signatures on the landscape that last for tens of thousands to millions of years.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:VANDERBILT/oai:VANDERBILTETD:etd-03272006-104649 |
| Date | 06 April 2006 |
| Creators | Mudd, Simon Marius |
| Contributors | David J. Furbish, James H. Clarke, Kaye S. Savage, Florence Sanchez |
| Publisher | VANDERBILT |
| Source Sets | Vanderbilt University Theses |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.library.vanderbilt.edu/available/etd-03272006-104649/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to Vanderbilt University or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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