TY - JOUR
T1 - Slope, grain size, and roughness controls on dry sediment transport and storage on steep hillslopes
AU - DiBiase, Roman A.
AU - Lamb, Michael P.
AU - Ganti, Vamsi
AU - Booth, Adam M.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
©2017. American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved.
PY - 2017/4/1
Y1 - 2017/4/1
N2 - Existing hillslope sediment transport models developed for low-relief, soil-mantled landscapes are poorly suited to explain the coupling between steep rocky hillslopes and headwater channels. Here we address this knowledge gap using a series of field and numerical experiments to inform a particle-based model of sediment transport by dry ravel—a mechanism of granular transport characteristic of steep hillslopes. We find that particle travel distance increases as a function of the ratio of particle diameter to fine-scale (<1 m) topographic roughness, in agreement with prior laboratory and field experiments. Contrary to models that assume a fixed critical slope, the particle-based model predicts a broad transition as hillslopes steepen from grain-scale to hillslope-scale mean particle travel distances due to the trapping of sediment on slopes more than threefold steeper than the average friction slope. This transition is further broadened by higher macroscale (>1 m) topographic variability associated with rocky landscapes. Applying a 2-D dry-ravel-routing model to lidar-derived surface topography, we show how spatial patterns of local and nonlocal transport control connectivity between hillslopes and steep headwater channels that generate debris flows through failure of ravel-filled channels following wildfire. Our results corroborate field observations of a patchy transition from soil-mantled to bedrock landscapes and suggest that there is a dynamic interplay between sediment storage, roughness, grain sorting, and transport even on hillslopes that well exceed the angle of repose.
AB - Existing hillslope sediment transport models developed for low-relief, soil-mantled landscapes are poorly suited to explain the coupling between steep rocky hillslopes and headwater channels. Here we address this knowledge gap using a series of field and numerical experiments to inform a particle-based model of sediment transport by dry ravel—a mechanism of granular transport characteristic of steep hillslopes. We find that particle travel distance increases as a function of the ratio of particle diameter to fine-scale (<1 m) topographic roughness, in agreement with prior laboratory and field experiments. Contrary to models that assume a fixed critical slope, the particle-based model predicts a broad transition as hillslopes steepen from grain-scale to hillslope-scale mean particle travel distances due to the trapping of sediment on slopes more than threefold steeper than the average friction slope. This transition is further broadened by higher macroscale (>1 m) topographic variability associated with rocky landscapes. Applying a 2-D dry-ravel-routing model to lidar-derived surface topography, we show how spatial patterns of local and nonlocal transport control connectivity between hillslopes and steep headwater channels that generate debris flows through failure of ravel-filled channels following wildfire. Our results corroborate field observations of a patchy transition from soil-mantled to bedrock landscapes and suggest that there is a dynamic interplay between sediment storage, roughness, grain sorting, and transport even on hillslopes that well exceed the angle of repose.
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U2 - 10.1002/2016JF003970
DO - 10.1002/2016JF003970
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85018557641
VL - 122
SP - 941
EP - 960
JO - Journal of Geophysical Research: Earth Surface
JF - Journal of Geophysical Research: Earth Surface
SN - 2169-9003
IS - 4
ER -