Colluvium

Abstract: Sediment influx to channel networks is stochastically driven by rainstorms and other perturbations, which are discrete in time and space and which occur on a landscape with its own spatial variability in topography, colluvium properties, and state of recovery from previous disturbances. The resulting stochastic field of sediment supply interacts with the topology of the channel network and with transport processes to generate spatial and temporal patterns of flux and storage that characterize the sedimentation regime of a drainage basin. The regime varies systematically with basin area. We describe how the stochastic sediment supply is generated by climatic, topographic, geotechnical, and biotic controls that vary between regions. The general principle is illustrated through application to a landscape where sediment is supplied by mass wasting, and the forcing variables are deterministic thickening of colluvium, random sequences of root-destroying wildfires, and random sequences of rainstorms that trigger failure in a population of landslide source areas with spatial variance in topography and colluvium strength. Landslides stop in channels or convert to scouring debris flows, depending on the nature of the low-order channel network. Sediment accumulates within these channels for centuries before being transferred downstream by debris flows. Time series of sediment supply, transport, and storage vary with basin scale for any combination of climatic, topographic, and geotechnical controls. In a companion paper (Benda and Dunne, this issue) we use simulations of timing, volumes, and locations of mass wasting to study the interaction between a stochastically forced sediment supply and systematic changes of storage and flux through channel networks.

Abstract: Digital elevation models of two “steady-state” mountain ranges, the Olympic Mountains (OM) and Oregon Coast Range (OCR), are used to examine relationships between slope distributions, the development of threshold hillslopes, and steady-state topography. Plots of drainage area versus slope for these mountain ranges exhibit substantial scatter that complicates comparison of range form to analytical theories and landscape evolution models. Contour plots of the density of such data reveal an attractor at the scale of the transition from hillslope processes to channel processes, and log-bin averaging reveals trends that parallel predictions of steady-state erosion laws but with different rate laws for five distinct process domains: hillslopes, valley heads, and colluvial, bedrock, and alluvial valley segments. Slope histograms computed for 100 km2 areas (defined by a 10 × 10 km grid) throughout the OM exhibit approximately normal or exponential distributions in areas of active rock uplift and depositional topography, respectively. Local slope distributions in the OCR also tend to be normally distributed, but some are left-skewed in areas with gentler slopes. Mean slopes determined both over the above referenced grid and a 10-km diam moving window are relatively invariant in the core of the OM in spite of strong contrasts in bedrock erodibility and gradients in long-term rock uplift rates. In contrast, the mean slopes in the OCR parallel latitudinal gradients in rock uplift rates and bedrock erodibility. Hence, the slope distributions in the OM and OCR reflect distinct relationships between development of threshold bedrock and soil-mantled hillslopes and steady-state topography.

Abstract: Observations from natural rain storms and sprinkling experiments at a steep zero-order catchment in the Oregon Coast Range demonstrate the importance offlow through near-surface bedrock on runoff generation and pore pressure development in shallow colluvial soils. Sprinkling experiments, involving irrigation of the entire 860 m 2 catchment at average intensities of 1.5 and 3.0 mm/h, permitted detailed observation of runoff and the development of subsurface saturation under controlled conditions. A weir installed to collectflow through the colluvium at the base of the catchment recovered runoff equal to one third to one half of the precipitation rate during quasi-steady irrigation. Three key observations demonstrate that a significant proportion of storm runoffflows through near-surface bedrock and illustrate the importance of shallow bedrockflow in pore pressure development in the overlying colluvial soil: (1) greater discharge recovery during both the experiments and natural rainfall at a weir installed approximately 15 m downslope of the weir at the base of the catchment, (2) spatially discontinuous patterns of positive pressure head in the colluvium during steady sprinkling, and (3) local development of upward head gradients associated withflow from weathered rock into the overlying colluvium during high-intensity rainfall. Data from natural storms also show that smaller storms produce no significant runoff or piezometric response and point to a critical intensity-duration rainfall to overcome vadose zone storage. Together these observations highlight the role of interaction betweenflow in colluvium and near- surface bedrock in governing patterns of soil saturation, runoff production, and positive pore pressures.