Tectonic landforms and quaternary tectonics in Japan

The study of tectonic landforms is one of the main themes of geomophological research in Japan, characterized as a tectonically active area along the subducting oceanic plates. The recent trends in the studies of tectonic landforms which include an arrangement or distribution of major ranges and plains, vertical displacement of low-relief erosion surfaces and of marine terraces, and various kinds of deformed features due to active faulting or folding, are introduced here with special reference to the Quaternary geomorphic development. A regionality of each tectonic landforms is also summarized. Further, some fundamental concept of the Quaternary tectonics, for instance, an accumulative character of each type of deformation and sequence of rate of tectonic movement, reconstruction of former stress field as well as a relation between the Quaternary tectonic movement and seismic deformation in present and historic time are discussed on the basis of analysis of the tectonic landforms. The Quaternary tectonics of the Japanese Islands are essentially characterized by the compressional stress, originated from the subduction of oceanic plates, and regionality can be interpreted as the result of the different response of each tectonic region to island arc tectonics.     

Evolution of landforms in South Africa

Book reviewed in this article:
David M. Helgren: Rivers of Diamonds. An Alluvial History of rhe Lower Vaal Basin, South Africa     

火星水成地貌研究进展

液态水在火星地表的塑造过程中起到了重要的作用,形成了峡谷网、外流河道、古湖泊以及三角洲和冲积扇等多种多样的水成地貌,它们一直是火星探测与研究的热点和焦点.本文对火星水成地貌的探测历史、地形地貌特征、时空分布等方面的研究进展进行总结,探讨水成地貌对火星气候演化及天体生物学研究的指示意义.在此基础上,提出当前火星水成地貌研...     

The age of Canberra landforms

The interpretation of Canberra's landforms as unexhumed survivals from Bowning faulting and mid‐Devonian vulcanicity is opposed. Some major faults are truncated whereas sharp scarps coincide with others. In the nearby Taemas area, the Canberra‐Yass Plains cut across Tabberabberan folds. Summit surface remnants surviving high in the A.C.T. Ranges and discordant river gorges are incompatible with extreme age of the relief. River nick‐points and steps between surfaces are some related and some unrelated to faults, with like import. Stripping of the Murrumbidgee Batholith, also of Bowning age, would have caused substantial filling of the Canberra Rift; during subsequent removal, erosion would not have entirely respected Silurian rocks similar in resistance to Devonian fill. Permian rocks to the east must in part derive from erosion of the Canberra area. Local rates of denudation of 5 cm/1000 y. are hard to reconcile with survival of high steep relief from the mid‐Devonian.

Alternative explanations are given for those characters of the Fyshwick Gravels which led them to be regarded as Permian glaciofluvials.

The same evidence supports Browne's standpoint that the relief is polycyclic through epeirogenic uplift at intervals, together with posthumous movement along some old faults.     

Etch and intracutaneous landforms and their implications

Many landforms, major and minor, and including plains of various types, inselbergs, boulders, flared slopes, Rillen and rock basins, are initiated beneath the land surface, at the weathering front. They have evolved in various lithological settings. Most are formed by differential moisture attack, either controlled, or strongly influenced, by bedrock structure. Such forms of subsurface derivation may be differentiated into etch or subcutaneous features that were initiated at the base of the regolith, and intracutaneous forms that had their origin within the weathering zone. Although the agent or agents responsible for eroding the regolith and exposing the bedrock forms have varied in space and time, the similarity of etch and intracutaneous forms is such that their basic morphology persists regardless of the climatic regime in which they now occur. As the regolith is widely developed on the land surface, the forms initiated beneath and within it cannot be taken as climatic indicators. Indeed, like structural forms, these convergent forms represent a varied but significant azonal element in the physiographic landscape.     

南昌梅岭花岗岩地貌景观特征及其形成发育规律

花岗岩地貌具有独有的景观特征和演化规律,本文对江西南昌梅岭地区新元古代花岗岩地貌景观特征、空间分布规律和成因演化规律进行了系统分析与总结.梅岭花岗岩地貌主要发育于新元古代花岗岩之上,并在岩性、区域断裂和气候控制的风化侵蚀作用下,逐步形成了以崩塌倒石堆积、石蛋为特色的花岗岩低山丘陵地貌;新生代以来,梅岭地区长期受到太平洋...     

Lateroglacial valleys and landforms in the Karakoram Mountains (Pakistan)

Lateroglacial landforms play a major role in the geomorphological landscape assemblage of the Karakoram Mountains. Nevertheless, in the past they have received only little attention in the glacial-geomorphological literature. In this article, the lateroglacial landscape will be presented as a geomorphological landscape unit. The Karakoram glaciers with lengths of up to 60 km are accompanied by lateroglacial sediment complexes over tens of kilometers. Besides their large horizontal distribution, they are spread over a considerable vertical range and occur between 2500 m–5000 m.The traditional view is that primary processes of rock disintegration such as ice avalanches and freeze-thaw processes as well as glaciofluvial sediments are the main debris suppliers for the formation of lateroglacial sediment complexes. However, the investigation of the lateroglacial sediment landscape of the Karakoram glaciers showed, that firstly the secondary debris supply in form of reworking of older glacigenic deposits (Late glacial slope moraines) represents a major debris source. Secondly, the lateroglacial sediments are composed to a major part of debris supplies from the tributary valleys. In this regard, the sediment input by mudflow events accords a prominent role. Therefore a considerable proportion of the lateroglacial sediments is of non-glacial origin. This fact has to be taken into consideration regarding glacier reconstruction in recent unglaciated mountain valleys. Further on, resedimented mudflow deposits could be identified as important parent material for recent lateral moraine formation. The distribution of lateroglacial valleys (`lateral moraine valleys') was traditionally closely linked to differences in insolation, which are in the subtropical latitude very high (`ablation valleys'). Therefore the S-faced valley flank was seen as the favourable location for lateroglacial valleys. However, field observations on more than 20 glaciers in the Karakoram Mountains proved that lateroglacial valleys occur in all exposures, and can be even absent in S-exposure. Topographical factors seem to be more important than insolation differences for the distribution pattern. Only the distribution of `true ablation valleys' can be regarded as a result of insolation differences. In fact, they can act as initial form for the formation of lateral moraine valleys.     

Lichenometry in dating recent glacial landforms and deposits, southeast Iceland

Lichenometry curves were derived for the glacier forelands of Breidamerkurjokull and Skalafellsjökull using measurements of the collective species, Rhizocarpon geographicum , from independently dated surfaces deglaciated during the period since the late-19th century ice maximum episode in the area. The form of the curves appears to be linear. Several methods of predicting the ages of undated surfaces were compared for specific test examples, including single lichenometry curves, families of curves and multiple curves based on randomly selected largest lichens. The last method provided a useful means of assessing the reproducibility of predicted ages. Where substrate conditions were highly variable, a lichenometry curve based on single largest lichens provided a preferred result.     

Nivation landforms in the western Great Basin and their paleoclimatic significance

More than 10,000 nivation landforms occur in the higher mountain ranges of the western Great Basin. They range from small, subtle hollows with head scarps a few meters high and a few tens of meters long to broad, clearly defined terraces as much as 220 m wide bounded by bold, steeply sloping head scarps as much as 30 m high and 1600 m long. Distribution of these nivation hollows is strongly influenced by elevation, slope orientation, local relief, and substrate lithology. About 95% occur between 2200 and 3000 m elevation, and nearly 80% are situated on north-northwest-to east-northeast-facing slopes. They occur mainly in areas of moderately sloping terrain and moderate local relief, and they are preferentially developed on relatively incompetent substrates including terrigenous sedimentary deposits, volcanic and metavolcanic rocks of intermediate composition, and deeply weathered granitoid rocks. Nearly all of these nivation hollows are relict. They are most abundant near areas of late Pleistocene glaciation but rarely occur within such areas. Most are veneered with colluvium and are well vegetated, and many hollows in the Mono Basin area are veneered with volcanic ash at least 700 yr old. Distribution of nivation hollows suggests that (1) the full-glacial nivation threshold altitude (NTA) rose from north to south at 190 m per degree of latitude, subparallel to, and approximately 740 m lower than, the full-glacial equilibrium-line altitude (ELA) and about 1370 m lower than the estimated modern ELA; (2) the difference between the full-glacial and modern ELAs indicates an approximate 7°C full-glacial mean-annual-temperature depression throughout the Great Basin; and (3) the full-glacial mean annual temperature at the NTA is estimated to have been approximately 0° to 1°C, assuming little change in accumulation-season precipitation.     

西藏门巴地区层状地貌特征及其形成机制

西藏门巴地区发育多级层状地貌,即不同高度的山顶面、盆地面与多级河谷阶地地貌。深入研究这些层状地貌的特征、成因和形成时代,是探讨青藏高原隆升年代、幅度和过程的重要途径。对该区层状地貌的研究表明:门巴地区不同高度的山顶面是渐新世晚期形成的老夷平面在高原持续隆升过程中解体后的残留;不同规模和方向的盆地地貌面是高原隆升过程中伸展作用的产物。研究区广泛分布的多级阶地表明0.15 Ma(共和运动)以来该区又进入了强烈的隆升时期。     

Mapping of glacial landforms from Seasat radar images

Glacial landforms in the drumlin drift belt of Ireland and the Alaska Range can be identified and mapped from Seasat synthetic-aperture radar (SAR) images. Drumlins cover 60% of the Ireland scene. The width/length ratio of individual drumlins can be measured on the SAR images, allowing regional differences in drumlin shape to be mapped. This cannot be done with corresponding Landsat multispectral scanner (MSS) images because of lower spatial resolution and because of shadowing effects that vary seasonally. The Alaska scene shows the extent and nature of morphological features such as medial and lateral moraines, stagnant ice, and fluted ground moraine in glaciated valleys. Perception of these features on corresponding Landsat MSS images is limited by seasonal differences in solar illumination. Because SAR is not affected by such differences or by cloud cover, it is particularly well suited for monitoring glacial movement. The disadvantage of distorted high-relief features on Seasat SAR images can be reduced in future SAR systems by modifying the radar illumination geometry.     

Microstructure of mylonites and their descriptive terminology

The microstructural transition from amphibolite facies, gneissic country rock, with increasing deformation, to a fine-grained phyllitic mylonite is described in detail. All microstructures (e.g. polygonization, subgrains, serrated grain boundaries, kink bands, grain aggregates) are attributed to ductile deformation, recovery and recrystallization processes. The similarity of these structures to other described mylonites suggests that brittle deformation is not widespread in mylonitic rocks, and that terminology with brittle connotations should be discontinued. A new definition for the term ‘mylonite’ is proposed.     

The subsurface initiation of some minor granite landforms

Flared slopes originate as concave weathering fronts beneath the regolith, and several other minor granite landforms found in association with them (tafoni, Rillen) may be initiated subsurface also. Other features, particularly incipient gnammas and gutters, have been observed on surfaces that have only recently been cleared of granite debris in situ.