Spatial Dynamics of Soil Moisture in a Complex Terrain in the Semi‐Arid Loess Plateau Region,China1

Abstract: Soil moisture is an important hydrological variable in reforestation practices in a water‐limited region of the Loess Plateau of northwestern China. The objective of this study was to quantify the spatial dynamics of soil moisture on a complex terrain. During 2004‐2006, a total of 313 sample points in two kinds of grid (2 × 2 m and 20 × 20 m) were arranged for soil moisture measurements (two soil layers: 0‐30 and 30‐60 cm) with Time Domain Reflectometry. The geostatistical properties of soil moisture patterns, the variance and correlation structure of the soil moisture, and the effects of terrain factors on soil moisture were analyzed. The results suggested that our sampling grid captured the spatial variability of soil moisture distributions for this complex terrain. Principal Component Analysis and Cluster Analysis statistics showed that soil moisture decreased as slope gradient increased; that sunny aspects (112.5°‐292.5°) had relatively lower soil moisture than did shady aspects (292.5°‐112.5°); that soil moisture was lowest in the SWW direction and highest in the NWN direction; and that hillslope aspect was the main factor affecting soil moisture in the 0‐ to 30‐cm soil layer, whereas the main factor for the 30‐ to 60‐cm layer was slope gradient. It was found that the relative values of soil moisture for steep slopes (>36%) with shady aspect (292.5°‐112.5°), gentle slopes (<36%) with sunny aspect (112.5°‐292.5°), and steep slopes with sunny aspect were 99, 82, and 80, respectively – assuming a soil moisture value of 100 for gentle slopes with shady aspect. The results of this study are expected to be relevant to and useful for reforestation planning and design, parameterization of distributed hydrology models, and land productivity assessment in the study region.     

Development and Comparison of Multiple Regression Models to Predict Bankfull Channel Dimensions for Use in Hydrologic Models

Channel dimensions are important input variables for many hydrologic models. As measurements of channel geometry are not available in most watersheds, they are often predicted using bankfull hydraulic geometry relationships. This study aims at improving existing equations that relate bankfull width, depth, and cross‐sectional area to drainage area (DA) without limiting their use to well‐gauged watersheds. We included seven additional variables in the equations that can be derived from data that are generally required by hydrologic models anyway and conducted several multiple regression analyses to identify the ideal combination of additional variables for nationwide and regional models for each Physiographic Division of the United States (U.S.). Results indicate that including the additional variables in the regression equations generally improves predictions considerably. The selection of relevant variables varies by Physiographic Division, but average annual precipitation (PCP) and temperature (TMP) were generally found to improve the models the most. Therefore, we recommend using regression equations with three independent variables (DA, PCP, and TMP) to predict bankfull channel dimensions for hydrologic models. Furthermore, we recommend using the regional equations for watersheds within regions from which data were used for model development, whereas in all other parts of the U.S. and the rest of the world, the nationwide equations should be given preference.     

Spatial Relations Between Floodplain Environments and Land Use – Land Cover of a Large Lowland Tropical River Valley: Pánuco Basin, México

Large lowland river valleys include a variety of floodplain environments that represent opportunities and constraints for human activities. This study integrates extensive field observations and geomorphic data with analysis of satellite remote sensing data to examine spatial relations between land use/land cover (LULC) and floodplain environments in the lower Pánuco basin of eastern Mexico. The floodplain of the lower Pánuco basin was delineated by combining a digital elevation model with a satellite image of a large flood event. The LULC was classified by combining a hybrid classification strategy with image stratification, applied to 15-m-resolution ASTER data. A geomorphic classification of floodplain environments was performed using a dry-stage image (ASTER data) and a 1993 Landsat image acquired during a large flood event. Accuracy assessment was based on aerial photographs (1:38,000), global positioning satellite ground-truthing, and a Landsat 7ETM⁺ image from 2000, which resulted in an overall accuracy of 82.9% and a KHAT of 79.8% for the LULC classification. The geomorphic classification yielded 83.5% overall accuracy, whereas the KHAT was 81.5%. LULC analysis was performed for the entire floodplain and individually within four valley segments. The analysis indicates that the study area is primarily utilized for grazing and farming. Agriculture is primarily associated with coarse-grained (sandy/silty) natural levee and point bar units close to the river channel, whereas cattle grazing occurs in distal and lower-lying reaches dominated by cohesive fine-grained (clayey) deposits, such as backswamps. In the Pánuco valley, wetlands and lakes occur within backswamp environments, whereas in the Moctezuma segments, wetlands and lakes are associated with relict channels. This study reveals considerable variation in LULC related to spatial differences in floodplain environments and illustrates the importance of considering older anthropogenic influences on the landscape. The research design should be applicable for other large lowland coastal plain river valleys where agriculture is a major component of the floodplain landscape.     

论泥石流及其学科性质

目前对泥石流性质的认识还不十分清楚,从而导致对其学科性质的认识还存在着不同的看法,纵观近70年来与泥石流发展有关的学科,通过对50余部代表学科成熟度的中外学术教材和专著的透视可知,地貌学是孕育泥石流的母学科,在泥石流这一学科生长点的发展壮大过程中,新兴的灾害学与其结合得最紧密,从而诞生了一门新的边缘交叉学科－灾害地貌学或称地貌灾害学,泥石流学科性质即定位于此,本文虽是仁者见仁,难免管中窥豹,其目的旨在引起同行的讨论和争鸣,以促进泥石流学科的更快发展。     

鞍山市区岩溶分布基本规律及其潜在灾害防治的初步探讨

本文简述了鞍山市区地势及地质构造,分析了隐伏岩溶及塌陷分布的基本规律,探讨了岩溶在漫长的地质时期形成的过程,及其表现的主要特征,指出了岩溶塌陷的形成机理及对建筑物的威胁,划出了防范区,最后,提出了防治对策。     

武汉市工程地貌条件综合评价

结合武汉市的具体情况，在综合分析的基础上选取了２１个工程地貌条件评价因子，采用层次分析法确定权重和主导因子，将各评判因子模糊量化后，对武汉市城市工程地貌条件进行综合评价，作出武汉市工程地貌条件等级评价图。     

南迦巴瓦峰地区自然灾害及其对社会经济的影响

南迦巴瓦峰地区自然变异强烈而频繁,地震、泥石流、崩塌与滑坡、雪害、洪水等自然灾害普遍。探讨了自然灾害的特征和规律、灾害的成因及其对社会经济的影响等问题,认为该地区自然灾害具有连锁性、群发性、突发性和频发性;强烈的新构造运动、高山深谷地貌及温热多雨的气候条件等是该地区灾害发生的最主要自然成因。灾害对该区人民生命财产安全、交通运输、山地农业及森林资源等造成严重影响。     

A Geomorphic Explanation for a Meander Cutoff Following Channel Relocation of a Coarse-Bedded River

The Veteran's Fishing section of the Blackledge River in central Connecticut was relocated in the late 1950s. The relocation resulted in an unstable channel despite extensive efforts to prevent erosion. Overbank erosion and meander cutoffs were investigated using detailed survey data, characterizations of sediment deposits, flow modeling, and a moment-stability analysis. Limited reworking of revetment boulders indicate that riprap bank material was immobile during a 1979 flood event responsible for the formation of the cutoff channel. A moment-stability analysis factor-of-safety value of 1.1 supports the conclusion that riprap was not directly eroded from the banks. Alluvial particles with d₉₅ values ranging up to 120 mm were deposited along a bar downstream from the cutoff channel at flows estimated to be below a 1.5-year recurrence interval flow. Development of the bar deposit resulted in locally elevated water surfaces at high flow. The resulting overbank flow across the meander neck to the adjacent downstream bend led to the creation of an upstream migrating knickpoint, the erosion of approximately 16,000-year-old sediments, and the subsequent meander cutoff. The results of the study indicate that traditional erosion-control measures cannot prevent extreme channel adjustments if the geomorphic processes that control sediment continuity also are not considered.     

Critical Evaluation of How the Rosgen Classification and Associated “Natural Channel Design” Methods Fail to Integrate and Quantify Fluvial Processes and Channel Response1

Abstract: Over the past 10 years the Rosgen classification system and its associated methods of “natural channel design” have become synonymous to some with the term “stream restoration” and the science of fluvial geomorphology. Since the mid 1990s, this classification approach has become widely adopted by governmental agencies, particularly those funding restoration projects. The purposes of this article are to present a critical review, highlight inconsistencies and identify technical problems of Rosgen’s “natural channel design” approach to stream restoration. This paper’s primary thesis is that alluvial streams are open systems that adjust to altered inputs of energy and materials, and that a form‐based system largely ignores this critical component. Problems with the use of the classification are encountered with identifying bankfull dimensions, particularly in incising channels and with the mixing of bed and bank sediment into a single population. Its use for engineering design and restoration may be flawed by ignoring some processes governed by force and resistance, and the imbalance between sediment supply and transporting power in unstable systems. An example of how C5 channels composed of different bank sediments adjust differently and to different equilibrium morphologies in response to an identical disturbance is shown. This contradicts the fundamental underpinning of “natural channel design” and the “reference‐reach approach.” The Rosgen classification is probably best applied as a communication tool to describe channel form but, in combination with “natural channel design” techniques, are not diagnostic of how to mitigate channel instability or predict equilibrium morphologies. For this, physically based, mechanistic approaches that rely on quantifying the driving and resisting forces that control active processes and ultimate channel morphology are better suited as the physics of erosion, transport, and deposition are the same regardless of the hydro‐physiographic province or stream type because of the uniformity of physical laws.     

上海城市地貌形变的生态环境效应及应对策略

地貌环境与城市化相互关系是城市自然地理学研究的核心,从城市地貌学角度分析了上海城市地貌特点和地貌形变过程,探讨了城市地貌形变与城市生态环境之间的关系,特别是城市地貌形变引起的一系列生态环境效应,如城市防汛压力增大、地面积水愈加严重、城市河流淤积加厚、城市植被生境趋于单一等。在此基础上提出了三大应对策略:(1)在黄浦江下游河口尽早修建挡潮闸;(2)沿黄浦江、苏州河修建生态防汛墙;(3)及时进行城市规划调整,在再城市化过程中合理规划城市水面率和城市蓝线宽度,依据地貌形变的强弱来增加负地形(河流、湖泊)的比例,使已经损失的地面标高得到一定的补偿。上海只有充分重视城市地貌特点才能走上安全、健康、持续的城市发展道路。