Studying soils along a slope, is one of the simplest, yet, most elegant ways to discern spatial interrelationships between soils and topography. The geometry and nature of slopes can be used to define and describe the slope, and can be used as a predictor of soil character on the slope. The characteristics that are used to describe a slope are the factors of gradient, length, aspect, curvature and elevation. These characteristics/factors describe the term catena.
Slope Gradient: is the steepness or inclination of a lope from a horizontal plane. It is used to predict soil patterns. Slope gradient changes along most catenas along flowlines and laterally. For example, a steep slope will cause the rate of movement of water and debris down the slope to be more rapid. Water can either infiltrate or run-off, promoting soil development when it infiltrates and does not when it runs-off, instead it may cause erosion. Therefore, steep slopes are associated with thinner soil profiles and less developed soils. According to Vreeken (1973), less water moves into and through the soil as soil gradient increases.
Slope Length: slope length is directly correlated to erosion potential, and therefore correlates with soil development (Musgrave 1935, Gard and Van Doren 1949).
Slope Aspect: According to Schaetzl and Anderson, slope aspect indicates the compass direction towards which the slope faces, looking downslope. It becomes a major factor in the amount of solar radiation received.
Slope curvature: “sloe curvature refers to the change in aspect along the slope face, and is normally best demonstrated by the manner in which contour lines (lines of equal elevation) bend to curve (Schaetzl and Anderson, 2005).
Slope Elevation: slope elevation affec...
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...y become increasingly important to soil development. Soils impact one another on parts of the landscape especially those downslope. Soils vary along catenas for two main reasons:
The slope affects fluxes of water and matter and water table effects. Fluxes are divided into debris flux (sediment and organics) and moisture flux.
REFERENCES
• Gardiner, D. T. and Raymond, W. M. 2004. Soils in our environment, Pearson Prentice Hall, New Jersey.
• Henry, D. Forth. 1990. Fundamentals of Soil science, John Wiley and Sons
• Knapp B.J.1979. Soil Processes, George Allen & Unwin
• Peter W. Birkeland. (1999) Soils and Geomorphology, Oxford University Press
• Schaetzl, R. and Anderson, S. 2005. Soils: Genesis and Geomorphology, Cambridge University Press.
• Weyman D. And Weyman V.1977. Landscape Processes: An introduction to Geomorphology, George Allen & Unwin
* A decrease in pebble size in the direction of long shore drift. * An increase in pebble roundness in the direction of long shore drift. I visited the two extreme ends of the beach, Gore point at the west and Hurl stone point at the east, at each end I measured: * The shape of the beach known as the beach profile, using a tape measurer and a clinometer. A clinometer measures the angle of a slope. * The size and shape of a sample of pebbles.
Depending on the type of path that was created, it would largely influence the rate and distance to which the sediment was transported.
As can be seen from the photo( Image 1), looking downstream, there were steep sections of bank where it appeared the erosive forces of the river when high have cause part of the bank to fall away leaving steep about 1m high drops on the bank with exposed rocky soil visible. The phenomenon also illustrate that it is an alluvial landforms, which will find erosional feature from fluvial
Of course, you can’t forget the abiotic factors! Basically, just telling a bit more about the landscape. First, we have the physical features. The landscape of the slope impacts plant growth, hurts natural ecosystems by erosion, and unfortunately destroys the homes of animals. Although, animals and structures adapt to the slopes. T...
How does the vegetation surface type affect the amount of runoff? Speculate why this happens.
A topographic profile is a side view of the land surface that can be constructed from a topographic map (Figure 6-4). Profiles are often exaggerated vertically to show more detail. For example, if the horizontal scale is 1 in = 1,000 ft and the vertical scale is 1 in = 250 ft, the vertical exaggeration would be 1,000/250 = 4.
Erosion often causes landforms such as cliffs, rocky platforms, headlands, caves, stacks and arches. (See Appendix B). When waves break, it carries material on and off the shore. When more material is carried in the backwash, the wave is destructive. This is the process of hydro-orientated erosion.
Both high-latitude and high-altitude regions are subject to climates that are dominated by extreme cold for at least part of the year. This extreme characteristic creates within these regions a stark environmental contrast to most other geographic regions of Earth, pairing with climate a different and uncommon set of geomorphologic features on the thin surficial layer of the planet. Dokuchaev (1886 & ca. 1900; and 1899, as quoted by Afanasiev (1927); and Gerasimov (1956), respectively) made progressive early studies in soil science in the Caucausus Mountains and in Arctic Russia and applied a theory that drew an analog between vertical and horizontal zonality. He observed that biota and temperature changed drastically at increasing elevations in much the way that the same characteristics vary with increasing latitude. Dokuchaev then extrapolated that the variation in biota and temperature would also indicate similar changes in soil types, but did so without sufficient observed support. While this hypothesis was a brilliant step in ea...
Davis, J. G., R. M. Waskom, and T. A. Bauder. Managing Sodic Soils. Colorado State
· Beach Face - is the sharp break of slope that the zone affected by
I predict that the as I increase the height of the slope (or the angle
This Inverted topography is the result of gravitative flow process (a tectonic diapirism) due to the differential loading or unloading caused by the excavation of valleys. As for as faulting is concerned,... ... middle of paper ... ... f plastic rocks.
the the change in sea level is due to a change in the level of land
There are many different glacial landforms created by glacial erosion, one of these landforms is U-shaped valleys or glacial troughs. This glacial landform has many distinct characteristics. One of these characteristics is that it has very steep valley sides caused by the glacier as it moves down the valley eroding the sides of the valley by the processes of abrasion and plucking. Abrasion is when the boulders and moraine carried by the glacier rubs and erodes the valley side as it physically moves down the valley. Plucking happens when the water in the glacier freezes inside of the cracks in the individual rocks on the valley side then the water freezes and as the glacier moves the rock is plucked or torn from the valley side producing the steep side to the valley.
The cross section of horizons from the surface to the parent material is known as the soil profile. The degree of profile development is dependent on the intensity of the activity of the different soil-forming factors, on the length of time they have been active, and on the nature of the materials from which the soils have developed. Soils are dynamic in character, they are constantly undergoing change but they normally reach a state of near equilibrium with, their environment, after a long period of exposure to a given set of conditions,