Orogen-scale drainage network evolution and response to erodibility changes: insights from numerical experiments

Auteur(s) et Affiliation(s)

GIACHETTA, E.

Dip. di Scienze della Terra e Geoambientali, Univ. degli Studi Aldo Moro, Bari, Italie

Dip. di scienze, Univ. degli Studi Roma Tre, Roma, Italie

REFICE, A.

Ist. di Studi sui Sistemi Intelligenti per l'Automazione, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Bari, Italie

CAPOLONGO, D.

Dip. di Scienze della Terra e Geoambientali, Univ. degli Studi Aldo Moro, Bari, Italie

GASPARINI, N.M.

Dept. of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Tulane Univ., New Orleans, Etats-Unis

PAZZAGLIA, F.J.

Dept. of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Lehigh Univ., Bethlehem, Etats-Unis

Description :
The AA. use a landscape evolution model, SIGNUM, to investigate the process of fluvial network organization and the evolution of regular ridge-and-valley patterns on simulated mountain ranges. In particular, they investigate the behavior of such patterns when subjected to a perturbation in landscape processes from a previous steady state, resulting from a sudden variation in the pattern of bedrock erodibility, from homogeneous to a gradient. They analyze the time evolution of the mean ratio λ' between the linear spacing of adjacent valleys and the half width of the mountain range. After applying the gradient of bedrock erodibility across the landscape, the AA. observe that λ' first increases and then decreases to a new steady-state value that is smaller than the original value. A detailed analysis of the simulations, through observations of surface snapshots at repeated time intervals, allows to gain some insight into the mechanisms governing this fluvial network reorganization process.

Type de document :
Article de périodique

Source :
Earth surface processes and landforms, issn : 0197-9337, 2014, vol. 39, n°. 9, p. 1259-1268, nombre de pages : 10, Références bibliographiques : 1 p.

Date :
2014

Editeur :
Pays édition : Royaume-Uni, Chichester, Wiley

Langue :
Anglais