INSTRUCTOR:

D.J. (Dave) Sauchyn

Room CL 322.1
585-4030
sauchyn@uregina.ca
TEXTBOOK:Ahnert, Frank. 1996. Introduction to Geomorphology.
WEB SITE: http://www.uregina.ca/~sauchyn/geog323
GRADING:
Term assignment 30%
Mid-term (Oct. 27) 30%
Final exam (Dec. 10) 40%

DESCRIPTION
Geography 323 is an introduction to geomorphology, the study of landforms
and the processes that produce and modify them. Emphasis is placed on the
mechanics of geomorphic processes and on the relationships between
properties of earth materials and the forces applied to them by gravity, wind,
ice, water, waves and humans. The lectures address the conceptual basis of
geomorphology, while the assignments are practical and empirical.

SCHEDULE

Week Topics
1 Basic concepts
2 Endogenic geomorphic processes,Term Assignment
3 Structural Landforms
4 Physical properties of rock, soil and water; Field Trip
5 Weathering
6 Mass Wasting
7 Slopes
8 Fluvial processes and landforms, Mid-term exam
9 Eolian processes and landforms
10 Coastal processes and landforms
11 Periglacial geomorphology
12 Glacial processes
13 Glacial landforms

Geomorphology
the systematic description and analysis of landforms and the processes
that create/modify them
Landform
an element of the landscape that can be observed in its entirety and has
consistence of form
Landscape
earth surfaces composed of an assemblage of subjectively defined, lesser
surfaces
Geomorphic system
a set of related landforms and processes, usually defined in terms of a
dominant agent of geomorphic activity (water, gravity, ice, wind, waves,
or organisms)

BASIC CONCEPTS AND APPROACHES

Physical geomorphology
explanatory description, analysis of process mechanics, modelling,
geological and engineering oriented
Environmental geomorphology
regional description, geographical, relationship of unique landscapes to
environmental variables
Climatic geomorphology
regional landscapes (morphogenic regions) are related to distinctive
climates and geomorphic processes
Climatogenetic geomorphology
recognizing successive periods of relief development; explaining
historical development of landscapes in terms of past and present
processes
Quantitative and process geomorphology
focus on rates and mechanics of contemporary exogenous processes,
experimentation, and the evolving modern landscape
Theoretical geomorphology
mathematical expression of processes; deduction of form and landscape
evolution from physical principles

STRUCTURE, PROCESS AND TIME

Structure
the physical and chemical properties of rocks and sediments, the
geological framework, determines resistance to forces generated by
geomorphic agents
Process
a distinctive mechanism for the transfer of rock and sediment, and
thereby the creation of modification of landforms; represent a force
acting on the landscape (work) in response to the availability of energy
(solar, gravitational, molecular and geothermal)

Time
the interval over which driving and resisting forces interact to alter the
landscape to a definable extent (stage)
Frequency and magnitude of geomorphic processes
 which processes do the most work, high frequency/low magnitude
(quasi-continuous) or low frequency/high magnitude (discrete, episodic);
uniformitarianism versus catastrophism
Geomorphic thresholds
limits of equilibrium states, the landscape does not yield continuously
and stresses do not act continuously

Geological Basis of Geomorphology

1. Active role of the geological framework: endogenic processes
 work performed on the lithosphere by internal heat
 tectonic (structural) landforms
o diastrophism
 orogenesis: mountain building
 epeirogenesis: continent building
o vulcanism
2. Passive role of the geological framework: resistance to exogenic
processes
o lithology: physical and chemical properties of rocks and sediment
o structure: orientation of rock units and discontinuities
 determine the morphology of structurally-controlled
landforms (erosional landforms in resistant materials)

Endogenic Processes
 source of energy: internal heat (geothermal energy) from decay of radioactive
isotopes

isotope half-life (yrs)

U238 4.5 x 109

U235 7.1 x 108

Th232 1.4 x 1010

K40 1.3 x 109

 U238 and Th232 have the longer half-lives, so they are presently the
principal sources of radiogenic heat
 2.4 x 1020 cal/yr transmitted to the earth's surface (solar constant: 1.97
cal/sq. cm/min)
 K40 is the most abundant radioactive isotope
 dominant mechanism of heat transfer is conduction, although convection
occurs in the upper mantle and, while accounting for less heat transfer,
the flow of molten rock is the cause of tectonism in the lithosphere

Plate Tectonics
 tekton (Gr): carpenter or builder
 outer 100 km of the earth (lithosphere) is composed of rigid plates
 convection in the partially liquid asthenosphere causes shearing of the
molten rock and shearing stress applied to the lithosphere
 determines continental relief and volume of the ocean basins, and
distribution of rock masses with varying lithology and structure
 three types of contact at plate margins

1. constructive: plates moving apart; molten rock injected adding new rock
to the trailing edge of the plates and creating ridges, mostly on the floors
of ocean basins
2. destructive: collision or, more commonly, subduction of denser oceanic
plates below margins of less dense continental plates, creating oceanic
trenches and mountain belts on the continental margins
3. conservative: transform faults where plates slide past one another (e.g.
San Andreas fault)

Diastrophism (Gr: dia (across), strophe (turn))

 can be up to 10X more rapid then rates of erosion
 e.g. Alaskan earthquake, 1964: 8 m of uplift in a few minutes
New Guinea: long-term uplift of 2000 m/ million years
Postglacial uplift (glaciotectonism): 20,000 m/million years

1. Orogenesis (Gr. oros: mountain)

o folding and faulting
o occurs along destructive plate margins by crustal shortening and
compression and thus in long narrow belts
o associated with volcanoes and earthquakes (e.g. the circum-
Pacific orogenic belt)
2. Epeirogenesis (Gr. epeiros: continent)
 o uniform, widespread crustal deformation with little or no faulting
or folding
o isostasy: the equilibrium maintained by crustal blocks because
with increasing depth crustal rocks are denser and denser;
therefore they subside with increasing mass (e.g. sedimentation or
glaciation) and rebound with decreasing mass (e.g. deglaciation or
erosion)
o thus there is an absolute limit to the earth's relief since the crust is
always moving towards an equilibrium elevation

Vulcanism
 more than 500 active volcanoes and 10s of thousands of extinct ones
 about 2 million km2 of land underlained by 500-3000 m of mostly flat
lava plains or plateaux, e.g. the Columbia Plateau of eastern Washington
State
 62% of all active volcanoes are in the Pacific Rim of Fire; also many on
the mid-Atlantic ridge (sea floor spreading)
 like other structural landforms they form independently of climatically-
controlled (exogenic) processes and thus have the same morphology
everywhere

Types of Volcanic Activity

 defined by the products of vulcanism

1. exhalative: gas
o vents that continuously or intermittently discharge hot water,
steam and other gases, but rarely solid or molten rock
e.g. hot springs, geysers, sinter mounds, fumeroles and mud
volcanoes (where near surface hot water liquifies sediments and
erupts as hot mud; typically 50-100 m high)
2. effusive: lava
o silica poor lava has low viscosity and thus forms low angle
landforms, most lava is silica poor, e.g. basalt is formed from
silica poor lava
o silica rich lava is more viscous and thus form steep angle
landforms, e.g. volcanic plug
o various kinds of lava: scoria is vesicular (bubbly) because alot of
gas escapes as it cools; aa forms an angular blocky surface,
pahoehoe is smooth and twisted (ropy) as it is hot fluid lava,
pillow lava is pahoehoe lava that flow into or erupts into water,
lava tubes flow out of a cooling hardened exterior
 3. explosive: ash or tephra
o solid fragments ejected from ash (silt texture) to lapilli (gravel
sized) to blocks and bombs (boulders)
o size-sorted during wind transport, also decreasing thickness of
tephra deposit with distance from eruption
o nuee ardente (Fr.): 'glowing cloud'
 superheated steam and tephra erupted explosively
o
 temperatures of 650-1060 C
 e.g. May, 1902 killed 30,000 people at St. Pierre,
Martinique
o tephrachronology: dating with the use of extensive ash (marker)
beds
 ashes distinguished by refractive index of glass shards and
trace element chemistry
 dated by correlation to tuffs (rocks composed of ash); K/Ar
isotopic dating, fission track dating, or C14 dating of
adjacent organic deposits (for late-Quaternary ashes)
o significance for geomorphology: provide chronological control for
determining age of landforms and deposits, rates of erosion or
deposition, tectonic displacement, soil formation

Physical Properties of Rock, Soil and Water

Soil and Rock Mechanics

Resistance of soil and rock to
1. tensile, compressive and shear stresses
o is the most important type of resistance governing the stability of rock
masses
o stress: force/unit area (Nm-2), same units as pressure
o tensile stress: pulling apart causing a change in volume (strain, e.g.
angular deformation)
o compressive stress: crushing or collapsing causing a change in volume
o shear stress: deformation involves sliding within a body causing no change
in volume but a change in shape (strain)
o tectonic stresses (isostasy, orogenesis) are often tensile and compressive;
but exogenic stresses (gravity and fluid stresses) are shear stresses
2. abrasion by solids moving over a rock surface (ice or rock fragments carried in
wind, water, snow, ice or under the force of gravity; is controlled by the harness of
constituent minerals and cementing agents
3. transport by fluids, i.e. bed shear stress
Behavior of rock
1. Elastic
o a given stress always produces the same strain
o maintaining a given stress results in constant strain
o removal of stress results in complete recovery of strain
o stress and strain are proportional (Hooke's law) up to the proportional limit
o for rocks, the practical definition of the proportional and elastic limits are
the same point
2. Plastic
o plastic deformation does not occur until the yield stress is exceeded and
bonds between mineral crystals are broken
o beyond the yield stress, a uniform stress causes a constant rate of strain
o typical behavior of most rocks (except dense fine grain rocks like basalt) is
initially plastic as voids and fractures are closed, then elastic up to the
elastic limit then plastic deformation up to the fracture point as shearing
occurs between crystals
3. Brittle
o rupture, complete failure, fracturing of rock

Strength of rock masses

Controls on resistance of rock to stress: lithology and structure

 lithology: mineral composition determines intact rock strength and susceptibility

to weathering, especially chemical weathering
 structure: the spacing and orientation of discontinuities and rock units controls
factors 3-8 below
 maximum relief = compressive strength (resistance to crushing) in Nm-2/ unit
weight in Nm-3 = 1000's of meters for most rock
 but, cliffs of this height are rare, because rock mass strength is << than intact rock
strength; strain is concentrated along discontinuities

Controls on rock mass stability

1. Strength of intact rock: cohesion and friction between mineral crystals and grains
within rock blocks
2. Extent of weathering: from negligible discoloration and disaggregation to total
disaggregation where the rock has weathered to sediment or soil
3. Spacing of joint and fractures: no cohesion along open joints, so the denser is
jointing the weaker is the rock mass; failure in nearly always long preexisting
discontinuities
o caprocks in flat lying strata may have intact rock strength but often are
more massive, i.e. have fewer fractures
4. Orientation of discontinuities (joints, bedding planes): those dipping out of a slope
favour sliding of rock blocks
 5. Width and roughness of fractures: no cohesion across open joints and friction only
at points of contact between crystals or grains
6. Continuity of fractures: governs the likelihood that a fracture will form a failure
surface; also circulation of water promotes deeper weathering
7. Amount of infill: strength along a joint is that of the infill
8. Water flow: excess cleft water pressure in a saturated joint applies a buoyant force
on the overlying rock

Soil strength
shear strength (S)
resistance to shear force = f(normal force, friction, cohesion, pore pressure)

friction
mechanical resistance
 internal friction (phi) = plane friction (between plane surfaces) + interlocking
friction (resistance due to roughness of surfaces)
 angle of repose : angle of rest of dry sediment,typically 25-40o depending on
particle size
 sliding angle: angle at which dry sediment fails, up to 10o greater than the angle of
repose
 angle of static friction > angle of dynamic friction, because failing material has
momentum and usually comes to rest at angles < the angle of repose

cohesion (c)

 produced in rock by fusion of minerals or cementing of grains; eliminated by

fracturing (brittle failure)
 in sediment results from electrostatic forces among fine particles (especially clay)
and water
 with a surface area >> than mass, clay particles carry a negative charge and thus
cohere in the presence of water (bipolar molecules)
 y-intercept on the plot of normal stress versus shear strength
 cohesion increases with soil moisture but only to a threshold above which
porewater pressure forces particles apart counteracting normal force and reducing
friction

pore pressure (p)

portion of the normal stress supported by air and water in interstitial spaces
 when soil is saturated, p = porewater pressure (u) > 0
 effective normal stress = normal stress - u, the stress exerted at grain contacts
producing internal friction

positive porewater pressure is a buoyant force, that is, is supports part of the weight of the
soil and therefore wet sediment has very low shear strength
Coulomb equation
1. dry soil
o u is atmospheric
o c=0
o S = normal stress * tan phi
2. wet soil
o c > 0, u <0
o effective normal stress = normal stress - (-u) = normal stress + u, that is
water increases the normal stress (adds weight to the soil)
o s = c + normal stress * tan phi
3. saturated soil
o u>0
o S = c + (normal stress - u) tan phi

Note

 when c = 0 (# 2 above), tan phi = shear strength/ normal stress, when shear
strength = shear stress, i.e. at the critical stability threshold (failure is imminent)
 therefore, tan phi = shear stress/ normal stress = W sin theta / W cos theta = tan
theta
 or tan phi = tan theta, i.e. slope angle (theta) is governed by friction (phi)

Factor of Safety
shear strength/ shear stress
 = 1, critical threshold
 < 1, slope instability
 > 1, slope stability

Atterberg limits
behavoir of fine sediment:

plastic limit
water content at the transition from solid to plastic behavior, measured when a
wet thread of fine soil begins to crumble
liquid limit
water content at transition from plastic to solid behavior, measured when soil in a
shallow dish flows to close a 12.5 mm groove after 25 drops from 1 cm
plasticity index
liquid limit - plastic limit, that is the range of water content over which sediment
behaves

Sensitive clay
  marine clays cemented with Na+
 "house of cards" or honeycomb structure
 Na+ is leached when the clays are exposed to subaerial conditions
 high porosity such that natural moisture contents can exceed the liquid limit
 sensitivity = undisturbed strength / disturbed strength
o 2-4 for most clays
o 8-16 for sensitive (quick) clays
 sensitive clay fails and flows when disturbed by erosion, heavy rain, heavy traffic,
river ice breakup, etc.
 earth flows in Norway have been slowed by applying NaCl to the slope restoring
the Na+ bonds
 earthflows are common in the glaciomarine (Leda) clay of the St. Lawrence
lowlands
o St. Jean-Vianney, Quebec, 1971; 31 deaths as retrogressive slumps
engulfed 40 houses
o Lemieux, Ontario 1993; a large landslide temporarily blocked the South
Nation River

Weathering
 the set of exogenic (physical, chemical and biological) processes that
alter the physical and chemical state of rocks at or near the earth's
surface
 intensity of most weathering decreases with depth, because variations in
temperature and moistures decrease with depth
 therefore biochemical weathering is generally confined to the uppermost
few metres of soil and rock
 occurs in situ (nontransported alteration), unlike erosion which removes
soil and weathered rock; although the 2 sets of processes proceed
simultaneously with positive feedback
 the 2 forms of weathering act simultaneously and affect the nature and
rate of one another: disintegration produces an increase in rock surface
area while changes in strength with changes in composition

Functions of weathering
1. gives rock lower strength and greater permeability, rendering it more
susceptible to mass wasting and erosion; reduces strength (cohesion and
friction) and increases permeability of rock and therefore decreases
resistance to fluid and gravitational stresses; precursor to erosion
2. produces minor landforms, produces landforms in soluble rock
(especially limestone) and otherwise creates microrelief (e.g. weathering
pits)
 3. releases minerals in solution (e.g. iron oxides, silica, carbonates) which
become concentrated to form hard coatings on rocks and hard resistant
layers in soil (duricrusts) that inhibit seepage and resist erosion
4. first step in soil formation; ultimately produces an unconsolidated mass
of 1) minerals that resisted alteration (e.g. feldspar), 2) new minerals
(e.g. bauxite), 3) organic debris

Physical weathering
 physical weathering is the disintegration of rock and soil aggregates, by
physical (mechanical) processes acting primarily on pre-existing
fractures (e.g. joints, cracks between mineral grains); reduces size of
fragments according to rock and soil structure (producing grains,
crystals, blocks, slabs, etc.), with no change in composition and

Processes
1. stress (pressure) release: disintegration of rock in parallel sheets as it
expands in response to the removal of confining stress
o most common mechanism of stress release is removal of
overlying rock by erosion; thus this process is controlled by
erosion but subsequently controls erosion
o the dilation fractures conform to the surface topography and
increase in spacing with depth (e.g. from a few cm at the surface
to a few metres at 30 m in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of
Yosemite National Park)
o thermal contraction due to cooling counteracts expansion;
therefore stress release is most pronounced near the surface where
the rocks have already cooled and contracted
o also most common in massive rocks: higher thermal conductivity
causes heat loss and thus reduces counter influence of cooling and
contraction, fractured or thinly bedded rock will expand with out
sheeting, massive rocks store stress until overburden pressure is
very low (i.e. about 100 m of overburden)
o stress release causes exfoliation: the separation of concentric
layers of rock

2. thermal expansion and contraction (insolation weathering)

 o the surface temperature of dark colored rock can vary from 0-50 o
C between day and night, since rock (esp. jointed rock) has low
thermal conductivity
o the differential stresses of expansion and contraction of the outer
1-5 cm of rock causes separation of concentric shallow layers
(another form of exfoliation) called spalling or spheroidal
weathering when it effects boulders
o controversy about effectiveness
 re: the ability of solar radiation to generate sufficient
heating and cooling
 rocks disintegrate after fires, especially rocks composed of
minerals with varying coefficients of volumetric expansion
(e.g. granite: volume of quarts increases 3X more than that
of feldspar; versus greater resistance of fine-grained rocks)
 dry granite heated and cooled from 30 to 140o C for 89,400
cycles over 3 years (equivalent of 244 years of diurnal
cycles) produced no perceptible change, even with
microscopic examination (Griggs, D.T. 1936. The factor of
fatigue in rock exfoliation. J. Geol. 44: 783-796)
 but, 244 years is small amount of geologic time

3. growth of foreign crystals (salt weathering)

o mainly hydrated salts which are water soluble at normal ranges of
atmospheric temperature and humidity; they hydrate and
dehydrate repeatedly generating considerable stresses in fractures
and between grain boundaries in permeable rock
o mostly granular disintegration
o minerals are transported in solution and precipitate as soil and
groundwater evaporate; thus most effective in desert landscapes
where water tables are near the surface
o origin of salt: sea water, chemical weathering of marine or
evaporite sediments, dissolved in snow and rain, precipitates in
lakes
o e.g. gypsum: relatively insoluble except in acid rain (dilute
sulfuric acid), thus enhanced weathering with acid rain

4. hydration (slaking)
 o wetting, swelling and disintegration of soil aggregates, layered
and fine grained rocks
o also pressure of air drawn into pores under dry conditions and
then trapped as water advances into soil and rock; suction or -ve
pore pressure (less than atmospheric) can exert considerable stress
o e.g. biotite expands 40% by volume contributing to the weathering of
granite
Expansion of Clay Minerals by Volume

Ca-montmorillonite 45-185%

Na-montmorillonite (bentonite) 1400-1600%

illite 15-120%

kaolinite 5-60%
5.

6. frost shattering and hydration shattering

o freezing of water in pores and fractures
o the specific volume (vol./unit mass) of water increases by 9%
upon freezing producing stress that is greater than the tensile
strength of all common rocks
o therefore the stress generated by the crystallization of ice is the
most pervasive mechanism of weathering, effects all rocks
o however, the effectiveness of freezing water is influenced by
 lack of confinement: if more than 20% of pore space is
empty, then the tensile stress may be less than the tensile
strength, thus frost shattering is most effective in saturated
rock; ice under pressure deforms plastically and thus will
extrude through daylighted fractures and pores
 decreased freezing point with increasing pressure
(supercooled water) and impurities (e.g. salt)
 necessary frequency and magnitude: extent of frost
shattering is a function of the combination of frequency,
duration and intensity (rapidity and degree) of freeze-thaw
cycles
o hypotheses to account for apparent effectiveness of frost
shattering; hydrofracturing:
 thin (monomolecular) films of water do not freeze even at
low temperatures, given strong capillary adhesion to rock;
powerful molecular forces in these thin films of
 semicrystalline water draw water along microfractures
opening and propagating them
 shallow freezing forces films of capillary water along
microfractures, disintegrating rocks well below the depth of
freezing; e.g. hydrofracturing in the Allegheny Mountains
(southern Appalachians of West Virginia and Pennsylvania)
extends to 12-15 m, while frozen ground rarely extends
below 1 m

7. plants
o minor agent of weathering
o maintain cracks created by other processes
o roots may pry rocks apart when tall trees sway in a strong wind;
root throw can break fragments away from bedrock
o as lichens expand and contract or are removed by abrasion they
can pull small rock fragments loose

Chemical Weathering
 chemical weathering is the decomposition of soil and rock (change in
composition) by biochemical processes
 weathering pits form where water collects and accentuates rates of
chemical weathering

Processes
1. oxidation
o process by which an element loses an electron to dissolved
oxygen
+2
o iron is the most commonly oxidized mineral element Fe (ferrous
iron) ——> Fe+3 (ferric iron) or 2FeO + O2 ——> Fe2O3
o other readily oxidized mineral elevments include magnesium,
sulfur, aluminum and chromium
o among the immediate chemical weathering processes
o gives altered earth material a characterisitic yellowish brown to
red color
o water table is boundary between oxidizing and reducing
environments
2. hydroloysis
o decomposition of minerals in water as hydrogen ions replace
cations in minerals
o pure water is a poor H+ donor, however CO2 dissolves in water to
produce carbonic acid:
+ -
o CO2 + H2O ——> H2CO3 (carbonic acid) ——> H + HCO3
(bicarbonate)
o soil air is greatly enriched in CO 2 by decay of humus
o up to 30% of soil air is CO2 as compared to 0.03% of the
atmosphere
o biogenic CO2 is the major source of carbonated groundwater
o solubility of CO2 increases as water temperature decreases (warm
beer is flat)
o hydrolysis is the most important process in the weathering of
silicate minerals
o the most common weathering reaction on earth is the hydrolysis
of feldspars producing clay minerals
o e.g. K-feldspar ——> kaolinte
o 2KAlSi3O8 + 2H2CO3 + 9H2O ——> Al2Si2O5(OH)4 + 4H4SiO4 +
2K+ + 2HCO3-
o the other weathering products (silicic acid and ions) are in
solution, so the residue is clay
o the soil water solution becomes more basic as H+ is consumed

3. carbonation (solution)
o dissolution of calcium carbonate in acidic soil and groundwater
+2 -
o CaCO3 + H2CO3 ——> Ca + 2HCO3
o similar reaction as hydrolosis but the dissolution is congruent, that
is, the products are ionic, there is no residue
o bicarbonate represents the largest constituent of the dissolved load
of most rivers
o carbonation of limesotone results in karst topography
o the insoluble minerals form soil

4. cation exchange
 o substitution of mineral cations in solution for those held by
mineral grains and crystals
o changes spacing in crystal lattice but not molecular structure
o most effective in clay-textured sediments as cations adhere to the
surface of negatively charged clay minerals
o organic matter and sodium zeolites (watert softner salt) have a
high cation exchange capacity (CEC)
o CEC = f(temperature, content and chemistry of interstitial water,
types and abundance of ions)
o colloidal suspensions of clay and organic matter adsorb H +
creating acidic soil and weathering environment

5. chelation
o minerals cations incorporated into hydrocarbon molecules
(complexing agents or chelates)
o chelating agents are produced by alteration of humus in plant
acids and excreted by lichens
o e.g. ethylenediaminetetracedic acid (EDTA) is a common food
additive
o chelates in solution are stable at pH under which the incorporated
cation would normally precicpitate and thus they are leached in
seeping soil water
+
o H released during chelation from organic molecules is available
for hydrolysis
o thus plants contribute to the decomposition of soil and rock waste
at depths to the base of the root zone
o lab experiments with equisetum (horse tail) in crushed rock show
silica uptake equivalent to removing the silica form 30 cm of
basalt in 5350 years
o the dissolved load of runoff from barren basalt plateaus in Iceland
suggest that the rate of weathering is 1/3 as fast as on lichen
covered surfaces

Climate and weathering

 weathering is an exogenic geomorphic process, i.e. climatically-
controlled
 it is controlled by moisture, temperature and seasonality, the same
parameters that define regional climates
  in tropical climates, high temperatures, large annual rainfall and
continuous biological activity maintain high rates of chemical
weathering
 water is the agent of all weatering, except stress release (although water
erosion is a mechanism of unloading of rock)
 all chemical weathering occurs in solution

MASS WASTING PROCESSES AND LANDFORMS

mass wasting
 gravitational movements of earth materials
 especially unconsolidated sediments and weathered rock
 water contributes to reduced strength of materials but is not involved as a
geomorphic agent
 transitional between weathering and erosion, because it is closely related to the
declining strength of weathering earth materials, but does not involve a
transporting medium (e.g. water, wind, ice)

colluvium
earth materials moved by gravity

gravitation
 tendency for matter at the earth's surface to accelerate towards the center of the
earth, given the small mass relative to the earth
 gives all mass above the earth's surface potential energy
o PE = mgh
o acceleration due to gravity (g) is constant (9.8 m sec-2)
o therefore, for a unit mass PE is proportional to height or relief
o slope gradient (h/d) is also an energy gradient governing the rate of
conversion from potential to kinetic (1/2mv2) energy
o high geopotential energy is available for mass wasting in landscapes with
large relief (h) and steep slope (h/d)
 mass moves over hillslopes when the shear stress exceeds the resistance to
shearing (shear strength)

Mass Wasting Processes

Classification
 type of material: rock, sediment, ice, snow, mud, sand
 amount of ice or water involved
 morphology of resulting landform: lobes, levees, talus, slump blocks
 type of movement (mechanism) is the most common and unambiguous criterion:

1. spread (creep)
 o slow, imperceptible, seasonal decline in shear strength
o decreasing velocity with depth
o soil creep: slow spread as soil expands and contracts with freezing and
thawing or wetting and drying
o rock creep: slow continuous failure of rock masses, especially in rocks
with low yield stress and overlain by stronger rocks; often the precursor to
rapid catastrophic mass movements
2. flow
o rapid failure of earth materials by internal shearing (liquid behavior)
o usually related to excessive porewater pressure
o earthflow: flow of unconsolidated materials on an open slope
 Mink Creek Earthflow, Terrace, B.C.
o debris flow: confined fluid mass wasting, i.e. in a stream channel, but
moving independent of the stream
o debris flow fans form at the mouths of steep canyons
3. slide
o slope failure as rock (rockslide) or less consolidated earth materials
(landslide) fail at depth by shearing along a distinct sliding plane
o rotational landslide (slump): curved sliding surface
o translational landslide: planar sliding surface
4. fall
o the free fall, bouncing and rolling of rock (rockfall) over steep weathering
cliffs to from talus

composite failures

 many movements of earth materials involve a combination of processes

o rock avalanche: rapid mass wasting of rock, ice and snow involving
sliding and falling
o solifluction: spread and flow of saturated substrate over an impermeable
stratum (e.g. gelifluction over permafrost )
o landslide is the term most commonly used to refer to mass wasting events,
even though sliding may be only one (often the initial) mode of failure

Mass wasting as a natural hazard

Slumping of the bank of the North Saskatchewan River at Edmonton:

Edmonton Journal, October 24, 1999

Slopes
 Mass wasting dominates the geomorphology of steep slopes in most
environments (i.e. subhumid to humid)
  In dry environments (badlands) slopes are subject to episodic fluvial
erosion

Slope forms
characteristic slopes
the angle of the dominant slope segment that is achieved when the slope
profile is in equilibrium with the predominant slope
 convex slope segments
o form on the upper parts of slopes in response to soil creep and
rainsplash erosion, when slopes are below the threshold for rapid
mass wasting
 concave slope segments
o depositional (e.g. talus) or transporational (e.g. pediments) slope
segments that form near the base of slopes and in the absence of
removal of waste (e.g. river downcutting)
o with increasing runoff downslope, velocity and sediment transport
can be maintained over increasingly lower slopes
 straight slope segments
o mid-slope segments dominated by transfer of debris or removal at
a uniform rate (e.g. shallow slides)
o also the lower parts of slopes where debris is removed from the
base
 composite slopes
o most hillslopes consist of a series of segments, for example,
convex-concave slopes with soil and vegetation: a convex upper
segment, straight mid slope and basal concavity

rock slopes
slope angles are controlled by geologic structure or rock mass strength,
i.e. the resistance of rock units to gravitational and fluid stresses
 strength equilibrium slopes
o rock slope profiles that reflect the strength of the rock units that
underlay the slope
o occur in massive or horizontally bedded rocks
 structurally-controled slopes
o in dipping or folded rocks where slope angles conform to geologic
structures

Slope evolution
  decline
o progressive decrease in slope angle as upper convexities and basal
concavities from by creep, splash and wash and consume the
straight segment
 replacement
o the straight segment retreats and is replaced by a lower wash slope
 parallel retreat
o uniform intensity if slope processes and/or constant rock strength
and removal of debris from the base

Fluvial Landforms and Processes

 fluvius (L.): river
 the work of rivers, but also the erosion of soil and rock on hillslopes by
running water, particularly in semiarid environments (badlands)
 requires understanding of stream and hillslope hydrology and hydraulics
 hydrological cycle: orderly scheme to systematically examine and
analyze the movement of water through the landscape
 flowing water is the result of net precipitation = total precipitation
(input) - evapotranspiration (output or loss)

Erosional processes on slopes

1. raindrop impact

o force of raindrops on bare soil causing disaggregation of surface

soil

2. rainsplash erosion

o displacement of wet soil by raindrops creating small craters in

bare soil
o on slopes the splash is asymmetrical resulting in the progressive
downslope displacement of wet soil during intense rain on bare
slopes

3. sheet wash (rain wash)

o entrainment of loose particles in overland flow

 overland flow
movement of water over slopes when precipitation intensity exceeds the
soil infiltration capacity according to soil porosity and permeability,
vegetation, slope gradient, antecedent moisture and seasonal factors (e.g.
ice)

o shallow overland flow (sheet flow) on smooth slopes is laminar

(layered), so particles can only be displaced but not suspended
o erosion is accentuated by raindrop impact, rainsplash erosion,
surging of the overland flow as small vegetation or soil dams
break, and by turbulence

4. rill erosion

o overland flow deepens downslope, reaching a critical depth where

laminar flow cannot be maintain and turbulence begins to develop
o turbulent eddies suspend soil particles, creating rills

5. subsurface erosion

piping
formation of natural pipes as interflow and baseflow erode macropores
and fractures in fine sediments
sapping
collapse of the roof of a pipe to form a gully

Fluvial landforms on slopes

 rill
o shallow channels eroded by threads of turbulent flow developed in
the sheet flow where turbulence and thus entrainment of soil is
concentrated
o during storms rills erode headward on the steepest local gradient
at cm/minute or faster
o on open slopes they tend to form parallel to one another,
converging in hillside hollows to form dendritic patterns
 o ephemeral, that is, can be destroyed and recreated during major
storms
o terminate at the base of slopes and thus are not part of the regional
drainage network

 gully
o first-order stream channels that develop on slopes at the upper
reaches of watersheds
o carry ephemeral stream flow
o narrow and steep sided
o persist for years or decades, so more persistent than rills but still
not "permanent" features
o agricultural definition: farm machinery can pass through rills but
not gullies

Stream Erosion and Sediment Transport

 streamflow accounts for 85-90% of total sediment transport to the ocean
basins (glaciers account for 7%)
 2-4% of the total potential energy of running water is converted to
mechanical energy for geomorphic work

stream competence
 the maximum particle size transported
 increases with velocity because competence is a function of boundary
(bed) shear stress
 the relationship between particle size and stream velocity is given by the
Hjulstrom curves
o critical erosional velocities determined for uniform bed materials
and for average (versus bed) velocity
o small particles are cohesive and thus have a high erosional
velocity but remain in suspension in running water (low
depositional threshold)
o large particles are continuously transported and deposited because
the erosion threshold is only slightly > the transport threshold
o intermediate particle sizes (coarse silt/fine sand) and most easily
eroded by running water
stream capacity
 the theoretical maximum mass of suspended sediment transported by a
stream
 difficult to determine because a sediment laden stream is transitional to a
debris flow
 increases with the 2-3rd power of discharge (i.e. faster than the increase
of channel width or depth with discharge) as mass wasting and slope
erosion in headwaters deliver sediment to tributary streams

types of sediment load

1. dissolved
o sediment in solution (ionic)
o transport requires no mechanical energy
o reflects solubility of rocks in the watershed, rates of weathering
and proportion of groundwater input versus softer surface water

2. traction (bedload)
o coarse fraction that rolls and slides along bed or moves in long
low paths by saltation
o common where coarse materials are delivered to the channel with
high velocities (flood flows or steep channels)

3. suspended
o accounts for most stream sediment and most of the work
performed by streams, because suspendable (fine) sediments are
always available and all streams are capable of suspending fine
sediment
o measured and expressed as load (mass) or concentration
(mass/unit volume)
o concentration decreases downstream as the number of small
tributaries (sources of much sediment) decrease and the
proportion of baseflow (groundwater) increases

Fluvial Morphology
 the spatial expression of fluvial geomorphic processes as channel,
network and basin morphologies
Channel geometry
 significant difference between bedrock (structurally controlled) versus
alluvial(adjustable) channels

1. plan view
a. meandering
 sinuous single thread, the most stable and efficient channel
geometry (least variable energy distribution) to conduct
water and sediment over any surface (e.g. supraglacial
streams
 formed and maintained by erosion of banks and deposition
on point bars

b. braided
 multiple thread, superimposed meandering channels as
discharge and sediment load vary seasonally and diurnally,
e.g. semiarid and proglacial streams
 bars reforms during flood stage, deposition during falling
stage that splits subsequent flow
 different hydraulic geometry at different stages

c. anatomosing
 permanent multiple channels and mid-channel bars
 channel width increases and depth decreases below a
threshold for sediment transport and flow splits into deeper
more narrow channels

d. straight
 either artificial or structurally controlled

2. longitudinal profile

o concave upward, i.e. slope is an inverse exponential function of

discharge (Q0.5 to -1.0)
 o because flow is more efficient in larger channels, i.e. requires less
slope to maintain velocity and sediment transport
o thus in an influent stream, where Q decreases with distance
downstream (e.g. an irrigation canal) slope must increase
downstream to maintain flow
o straight or convex segment of the long profile (e.g. bedrock
outcrops, waterfalls, other knickpoints represent local deviations
from the gross concave upward profile
o along the profile potential energy (mgh) is converted to kinetic
energy (1/2mv2)according to he rate of decrease in h (i.e. the
slope) and increase in velocity, until PE reaches 0 at base level:
sea level (ultimate base level) or a lake or trunk stream (local base
level)

2. cross-sectional (hydraulic) geometry

o power functions of discharge:

b f m
 width = aQ , depth = cQ , velocity = kQ
 for 20 stations in the central and SW US, for rising stage
and units of feet (Leopold and Maddock, 1953, USGS
professional paper 252):
 b = .26 (i.e. 4th root of Q)
 f = .4 (i.e. ~ square root of Q)
 m = .34 (i.e. cube root of Q)

 change downstream

 b = .5
 f = .4
 m = .1

 that is, width changes most rapidly and the increase in

depth results in a slight increase in velocity (the first
empirical evidence that velocity increases downstream)
 note: Q = Av = wdv = aQb * cQf * kQm
so Q = ackQb+f+m or b+f+m = 1
  at flood stage m = 0, that is, there is no increase in velocity
in the flooded reach (slope of stream is very small), so most
of the increase in Q is increase in depth and especially
width

Graded river (G.K. Gilbert)

 over geologic time, slope and channel characteristics adjust to provide,
with the available discharge, just the velocity required to transport the
sediment supplied from the basin
 analogous to a railway grade
 no excess, erosion or deposition, i.e. only to maintain the channel
morphology
 a change in any of the controlling factors will cause a displacement of
the system in a direction that will tend to absorb the effect of the change
(dynamic equilibrium)
 independent factors
o discharge, sediment from the basin and base level (potential
energy)
o determined by climate and geology, i.e. external to the fluvial
system
o a change in any one of these controlling factors results in an
adjustment of the stream channel by degradation or aggradation
towards a new longitudinal profile, also manifest in plan view by
a change in meander pattern and locally in terms of cross-
sectional (hydraulic) geometry

 semi-dependent factors

o channel width, depth, roughness, velocity, pattern and load grain

size
o depend on the controlling factors but also some self-regulation
(dependence on each other)

 dependent factors

o slope of the water surface

 o the final adjustment, responds to the semi-dependent variable,
cannot change abruptly like the other factors

 rate of adjustment

o depends on resistance of the bed materials and amount of energy,

i.e. mass (Q) and relief (base level)
o thus fastest adjustments with large Q and adjustable materials
o grade can exist locally in alluvial channels bounded by barriers
such as resistant rock (waterfalls) or a landslide (e.g. Battle Creek
valley)
o grade extends to the entire profile as the barriers are eliminated

Network geometry
 all streams in adjustable materials will from a dendritic (tree-like,
branching) network
 all other channel networks (radial, trellis, rectangular, distributary,
annular) result from structural control
 deterministic explanation
o represents the movement of water with the least expenditure of
energy; least path length
o governed by conservation of energy in an open system
o acute junctions involve least rate of work (power) expended and
therefore neither erosion (excess energy) of deposition
(insufficient energy to transport the load)

 probabilistic explanation
o branching networks are high probable random structures
o they can be produced from a random walk model (using random
number, dice or a bingo machine)
o this, however, is only a explanation of the form and not the origin
(e.g. headward erosion or progressive intersection of channels)

Basin morphology: fluvial landforms

river valley
 V-shaped while river degrades
 flat floor with aggradation
 most common landform in the world
 genetic classification (i.e. involves interpretation of drainage network
evolution)

consequent
channel is the consequence of the initial topography and drainage; i.e. on
a newly exposed (deglaciation) or created (tectonism) surface

subsequent
rivers in structurally-controlled valleys that evolve subsequent to the
consequent drainage (e.g. annular drainage in an eroded structural dome)

resequent (renewed consequent)

in the same direction and usually parallel to the consequent drainage

obsequent
opposite to the consequent drainage

antecedent
preceded but not defeated by tectonism, e.g. a gorge eroded into a rising
land mass

superposed
superimposed on underlying strata exposed by denudation, thus often not
controlled by underlying structure because river course established
according to structure of overlying strata

stream capture
 drainage progressively or abruptly diverted from one basin to another as
a stream is beheaded by headward erosion
 scenarios:
o progressive adjustment of drainage network to geologic structure
exposed by erosion
o parallel streams at different elevation and with different base
levels (drainage captures by lower stream)
o one stream has a structural advantage, e.g. degrading more rapidly
in softer rock
 water gap
gorge cut in an interfluve, become wind gaps as drainage is captured and
streams incise to lower elevations
elbow of capture
a sharp change in direction reflecting capture of a low order stream,
tends to have anonymously steep gradient

floodplain
 the surface of low relief developed on the alluvium adjacent to a stream
 becomes the stream bed during flood
 an efficient hydraulic geometry during flood stage (peak annual
discharge); constant velocity and steep shallow and wide relative to the
meandering channel
 floodplain features: point bars (lateral accretion), overbank sediments
(horizontal accretion), levees, levee crevasses, splay deposit, meanders,
neck cutoff, oxbow lake

terraces

 elevated sections of former floodplain

unpaired terraces
fragment of former floodplain “accidentally” preserved (e.g. by a rock
buttress) as a meandering stream slowly degrades it floodplain

paired terraces
occur at same elevations on opposite valley sides; produced by
intermittent downcutting with changes in Q, load or base level, i.e. the
independent factors in the fluvial system

 on the Canadian plains, paired terraces usually reflect downcutting to a

lower base level (drained glacial lake or the floor of meltwater channel)
or response to climate change
 elsewhere paired terraces can be record of tectonism

alluvial fan
 segment of a low-angle cone with its apex at the mouth of a canyon
 convex in cross-section, slightly concave in long-profile
 as a stream leaves a canyon, drainage becomes distributary; these wider,
shallower, lower-gradient streams have less transport capacity
  also water infiltrates the coarse bed materials, losing transport capacity
 debris flows may occur with increased sediment concentration
 adjacent alluvial fans coalesce to produce a peidmont plain at the base of
mountain fronts

delta
 similar morphology to an alluvial fan but deposition results from sharp
reduction in velocity as a stream enters standing water
 also tends to include finer sediments and turbidity currents

EOLIAN PROCESSES AND LANDFORMS

 aeolus: Greek god of the wind
 aeolians: a Greek tribe
 aeolian harp: produces music as air passes over the strings
 wind is an important geomorphic agent in arid environments and in other smaller
areas where fine sediments are exposed to wind, i.e. where surface cover is
lacking: beaches, floodplains, deserts, soil disturbed by agriculture
 otherwise wind is not an important geomorphic agent due to its low density
relative to rock: 1/2000 as opposed to 1/1.6 for water/rock
 given the buoyant force of water, little energy is required to keep sediment
suspended, whereas in air only the finest sediments (dust) remain in suspension

Controls on wind erosion

1. wind velocity
o E = V3rho, where E is erosivity , V is velocity and rho is air density
o thus the erosivity of wind is an exponential function of wind velocity, i.e.
if the wind velocity doubles, the wind is 8X more erodible or, if it triples,
the wind is 27 times more erodible
o that is why we observe massive wind erosion (dust) with a significant
increase in wind speed

2. surface cover
o an extremely important factor since there is no wind erosion on a
vegetated surface
o wind velocity decreases exponentially near the ground and is theoretically
zero on a natural (i.e. rough) surface; thus erosivity (V3 is dramatically
reduced)
o on a windy day, put your nose next to the ground and you will discover
there is no wind; small birds and insects take advantage of this on windy
days
 o the zone of little or no wind is called the laminar sublayer (or the boundary
layer), the rougher the surface (e.g. taller the vegetation) the deeper the
layer of laminar air flow (i.e. no turbulence to entrain and suspend
sediment)
o thus there is no wind in the interior of a closed forest

3. grain size
o threshold erosional velocity is related to the square root of particle size
o thus when the threshold velocities for various particle size plot as a
straight line when the particle size axis is on a square root scale
o the threshold velocities are slightly lower for sand when impact among
grains (saltation and creep) is taken into account
o the fluid threshold velocities (wind shear) plot as two straight lines that
slope down to converge at a minimum threshold velocity for coarse silt
and fine sand (i.e. these are the most easily eroded grains)
o with smaller particle sizes grains tend to cohere when wet and resist
erosion
o larger grains resist erosion by virtue of their greater size (mass)

Erosional processes and landforms

1. deflation: entrainment of loose sediment
o deflation hollow (blowout)
 shallow depression produced by deflation
o often originates from the destruction of vegetation (e.g. fire, recreational
use of dunes)
o depth is limited by lag gravel or the water table, since wet sands resists
deflation and favours the establishment of plants

2. abrasion (sand blasting)

o impact of entrained sand grains against rock surfaces and other grains
o yardangs
 wind abraded ridges oriented with the prevailing winds and
separated by abraded chutes that conduct windblown sand
o ventifacts
 stones faceted (planed) by abrasion
 with changing direction of dominant winds, different facets merge
along sharp ridges to transform rounded stones to angular
ventifacts

Eolian sediment transport

 1. suspension
o air suspends particles less than 0.2 mm in diameter
o this dust is carried 1000s m upward and 1000 kms downwind, held in
suspension by turbulent eddies

2. saltation
o transport of sand grains in long (1 m or more) low (within 1-2 m of the
ground) trajectories as momentum is passed from grain to grain
o grains are momentarily suspended but too heavy to remain in suspension
o most of the transport of dune sand
o at high wind speeds saltation is more or less continuous and appears as a
fuzzy layer next to the ground

3. creep (traction)
o movement of coarse sand and pebbles (up to 6x larger than saltating
grains) as they slide and roll impacting one another and transferring
momentum
o usually does not occur with velocities less than 4.5 m/sec

note similarities and differences with transport by running water

 larger grains are suspended in water than in air
 saltation accounts for most sand transport in air, but is much less common in
water because sand grains tend to remain in suspension in turbulent water
 larger particles (gravel) move as bedload (traction) in water
 air has no dissolved load

sorting
 the finest fraction is removed from the eolian landscape as dust and accumulates
elsewhere as loess
 saltating grains out distance the traction load, leaving a lag of creeping and non-
transported grains
 with exponential increase in sand transport with wind velocity, energy is quickly
diverted from erosion to transport dissipating much of the wind energy
 thus wind velocity increases over barren rock surfaces, where sediment transport
and the friction among saltating grains and with the stationary sand is not a factor
 sand is transported until friction over a rough surface (sand or vegetation) or an
obstruction causes a decrease in wind velocity and deposition
 therefore eolian landscapes are characterized by a mosaic of 1) windswept and
sandblasted surfaces, 2) stony lag deposits, 3) sand sheets or dune fields, and 4)
loess sheets
 unlike other geomorphic processes wind does not result in the lowering of the
landscape (denudation) towards an ultimate base level, rather sediment is usually
 just moved within a closed system in the direction of prevailing winds, unless it
gets exported (e.g. transferred into a river)

Depositional landforms
1. ripples
o small sand waves with a wavelength of about 1 m, i.e. the typical path
length of saltating grains
o they are ephemeral and mobile, i.e. move, disappear and reform during
wind storms
o common the windward slopes of sand dunes

2. dunes
o classic eolian landform
o stable or advancing landform of windblown sand
o originates as a mound of free sand from a sandy surficial deposit (e.g.
beach, weathering sandstone) or from a blowout
o as the mound grows it develops the dune asymmetry characterized by a
gentle windward slope and a leeward slip face at the angle of repose for
sand
o same longitudinal shape as a ripple but several orders of magnitude
difference in size, and thus dunes are much less mobile and more
persistent
o dunes migrate downwind as sand saltates up the windward face (i.e.
ripples migrate), accumulates where the wind dies just over the crest, and
then flows (mass wasting) over the slip face

classification of depositional landforms

1. barchan dune
o classic desert dune
o crescentic in plan view, horns (cusps) project downwind and thus the head
faces into the wind and the slip face is concave downwind
o isolated, freely migrate across desert plains maintaining their form

2. parabolic dune
o associated with vegetation, so form in subhumid and semiarid
environments (rather than arid) where vegetation is nearby (e.g. beaches,
grasslands - sw sask)
o originate as a blowout, dune forms as the head of the dune at the
downwind edge of the blowout develops the dune asymmetry and
advances beyond the horns
 o stability of the sides and horns used to be attributed to vegetation but
recent research (including P. David and S. Wolfe in Saskatchewan) suggest
that water is a more important factor, so the stability of parts of a parabolic
dune and the presence of vegetation are both related to water
o eventually deflation lowers the blowout to the water table or to an
underlying stratum lacking sand (e.g. bedrock or stony clay till) and the
dune becomes impoverished

3. transverse dune
o linear, cuspate and forms perpendicular to the wind, with large sand
supply and low winds
o with stronger winds they evolve into barchans
o usually occur on beaches, floodplain alluvium or erodible sandy bedrock
rather than in dry deserts

4. longitudinal dune
o large (kms in length, ~ one km wide) linear forms parallel to the strong
persistent winds
o form in dry subtropical deserts with irregular sand supply
o separated by lag gravel
o whaleback: a ridge of coarse sand left in the path of a migrating
longitudinal dune

5. erg
o "sand seas", vast sand sheets (Lawrence of Arabia stuff)
o 1/4 - 1/3 of the area of true deserts
o the largest sandy deserts overlie poorly consolidated sandy bedrock

6. fixed sand sheets

o undulating sandy hills in subhumid environments (e.g. large parts of the
Great Sand Hills of Saskatchewan and the Sand Hills of Nebraska)
o deflation hollows interspersed with subdued stable parabolic dunes

7. sand shadow
o accumulation of sand on either side of a fixed obstacle (e.g. shrub or tuft
of grass)
 8. sand drift
o accumulation of sand in the lee of a gap between obstacles or in the still
air at the bas of an escarpment

Coastal Geomorphology

Shorezone
 high-energy geomorphic system where wave energy is dissapated
 a landscape of small height and width but circumscribes the continents
 accounts for less than 10% of the earth's land surface but about 2/3 of the
population

Swell
 waves in the offshore
 represent the transmission of energy but not mass, i.e. the ocean surface
swells as the crests of waves pass by
 created as wind shear stress is applied to the ocean surface
 wave size (height and wave length) is a function of
o wind velocity
o duration of wind from a constant direction
o fetch: the length of water over which the wind is passing

 therefore the large, long duration storms produce the largest waves,
typically 15 m in height , but up to 34 m
 low rounded symmetrical waves move 1000s km with little energy loss,
as the potential energy (PE = mgh) is transmitted with the wave form
 the kinetic energy (KE = mv2/2) is the circular orbit of the water
molecules

Surf
 breaking waves in the shorezone (foreshore)
  as waves drag on the sea floor in the foreshore, the waves decelerate
becoming asymmetric (circular orbit becomes elliptical), shorter and
higher (i.e. increasing PE); waves become higher and steeper until they
are unstable and break to form surf

Wave erosion and sediment transport

Erosional proceses
hydraulic action
force of waves and trapped air
rock is plucked from headlands
attrition
reduction of particle size as clasts bounce in the surf
abrasion (corrasion)
erosion as clasts as cast against headlands

Longshore drift
 movement of nearshore sediment parallel to the shore
3
 a typical drift 80-100 cm/sec can transport more than 1000 m of
sand/day

Controls on wave erosion

1. sea floor geometry

o determines where waves break relative to the shore

o profile geometry
 maximum waver erosion occurs where the sea floor profile
causes waves to gain height in the foreshore and break at
the shoreline
 if the sea floor slopes gradually surf will occur seaward of
the shoreline
 if the sea floor slopes steeply, surf may not form and the
swell will contact the headlands
o planimetric geometry: wave refraction
  waves conform to the sea bottom topography, that is,
decelerate first opposite the headlands and bend around
them into the bays
 wave energy is concentrated on headlands and diverges in
the bays
 wave refraction also generates a longshore drift of water
and sediment from the breaking waves at the headlands to
the lower water in the adjacent bays
 erosion on headlands and deposition in bays causes
coastlines to become less irregular over geologic time

2. storm surges

o water levels rise by 1 cm for every 1 mb drop in atmospheric

pressure
o thus during storms (high wind shear), large waves pass through
elevated sea levels and break in the backshore
o low pressure is common over the oceans in winter (warmer than
land), so winter wave erosion can remove the sand from beaches,
where it is stored offshore and returned to shore with lower wave
energy that favours deposition

3. seismic (not tidal) waves

o tsunamis (Japanese; tsu: harbour, namis: wave): very long low

waves induced by the tectonic disturbance of the sea floor
o tsunamis travel at speeds up to 800 km/hr and reach heights of 15
m or more in the shorezone

4. tides

o the diurnal rise and fall of sea level in response to the gravitational
interaction between the earth and its moon
o distributes wave energy over a range of shoreline elevations
between low tide and high tide
 o also tidal bores move up the mouths of rivers at 15-30 km/hr and
currents can be generated between basins with different tidal
periods

Sea (lake) level change

 with eustatic and isostatic change over geologic time (e.g. Pleistocene
ice ages) coastlines emerge with falling sea level and are submerged with
rising sea level
 thus relict coastal landforms occur at various elevation relative to present
sea level

Subaerial weathering and erosion

 various aspects of coastal environments favour other geomorphic
processes

 eolian
o beaches and mud flats at low tide are unprotected from onshore
winds, thus coastal sand dunes are common landforms

 mass wasting
o wave erosion is concentrated at the water surface producing sea
caves and wave-cut notches
o headlands therefore retreat as sea cliffs are undermined by wave
erosion, and therefore fail by sliding, flowing or falling
o the mass wasted debris can initially protect the base of a sea cliff,
but then contributes to erosion as the material is exported and
reduced in size (attrition) by waves and also contributes to
abrasion of the sea cliff

 weathering
o chemical and mechanical weathering are accentuated at the
shoreline by the presence of water and salt
 o water-level weathering contributes to the planing of shore
platforms

Erosional Landforms
 in resistant rock, erosional landforms tend to relict, because of
significant Quaternary sea level change
 thus most contemporary erosional landforms are in relatively weak rock
or on coastlines with considerable wave energy

1. shore (wave-cut) platform

o gentle rock slope that extends from high tide to low tide
o the remnant of erosion of headlands, because erosion occurs at
and above the water level
o abrasion and water-level weathering have a planing as the
shoreline diurnally transgresses and regresses over the platform
o the platform geometry reflects an equilibrium between wave
energy and rock resistance
o because the platform slopes, the sea cliff becomes progressively
lower and eventually is replaced by a long shore platform, given
enough time and a stable sea level

2. sea caves and wave-cut notches

o the common products of wave erosion at the base of sea cliffs

3. sea stacks and arches

o the subaerial remnants of headlands that project above the shore

platform
 o with wave refraction, headlands are eroded on three sides, causing
sections of headland to be isolated as sea stacks
o the erosion of a cave(s) in a sea stack creates a sea arch

Depositional Landforms
 landforms in the sediment (mostly sand) delivered by rivers and, to a
much lesser extent, generated by headland erosion

1. beach

o average wave energy is sufficient to transport sand from the

shallow sea bed and move it onshore
o higher gradient gravel, boulder or shingle beaches occur at the
base of headlands and behind sandy beaches, that is, where there
is higher wave energy capable of removing sand
o sand is carried onshore in the swash; the backwash seeps into the
beach and flows seaward with has sufficient energy to suspend
and remove only the finer sediments (silt and clay)
o thus beaches are a lag deposit of sand drifting along the shore, as
the swash commonly is oblique to the shoreline whereas the
backwash is always directly seaward (down the beach)
o beaches adjust quickly to changes in wave and tidal energy
resulting in a change in beach mass balance = sediment inputs
(fluvial + from offshore + eolian + mass wasting sea cliffs) -
sediment outputs (eolian + to offshore)

2. barrier bars

o ridges of sand up to a km wide and 100 m high that lie parallel to

about 13% of the world's coasts
o consist of sand blow seaward onto tidal flats during low tide and
sand in the backwash which comes out as suppension as the rip
current meet the incoming surf
 o interupted by tidal inlets so that logoons behind the bars are
subject to tides

3. beach ridges

o a berm (beach crest) usually exist just above high tide

o other beach ridges represent storm deposits or emerged offhsore
bars

4. spit

o extension of a beach from a headland in lower energy

environment (bay or laggon) in the direction of the longshore drift

5. baymouth bar

o spits merge to create bars that extend across the mouths of bays
o waves energy is dissipated on the bar and the bay becomes a
logoon
o logoons fill with sediment, supporting salt marshes
o thereby, sediment progrades towards retreating headlands and
coastlines become less irregular

6. tombolo

o a beach that extends between a headland, or other part of the

mainland, and an island

7. intertidal mud flats and marshes

o at low tide, especially during the slack water interval before the
tide reverses, fine sediment is stirred by the surf and deposited by
streams on the intertidal flats
 o the fine sediment flocculates in the salt water (cemented by Na +)
and resist erosion during the rising tide
o mudflats are be colonized by salt-tolerant plants that reduce wave
and tidal energy and trap sediment
o mangrove swamps along tropical deltaic coats make the shoreline
hard to define; the mangrove trees tolerate tidal immersion

Periglacial processes and landforms

Periglacial
 originally defined as the zone peripheral to glaciers
 now defined as near-glacial in the sense of either location or conditions:
o perennially frozen ground (permafrost)
o seasonally-thawed ground (active layer)
o incomplete vegetation cover of herbaceous plants and dwarf trees
o ground is snow free for part of the year
o
o frequent fluctuations of air temperature across 0 C

Permafrost
 ground with a temperature perennially below 0o C
 by definition does not require the presence of ice
 for example, there is dry permafrost in northeast Greenland (Perryland)
and parts of Antarctica
 however, water is usually present when ground freezes and thus ice is
usually associated with permafrost
 pore or interstitial ice
o ice that forms in pore spaces and fractures and cements the soil
matrix
o forms as freezing plane descends into the ground without
displacing soil
 segregated ground ice
o bodies of pure ice (lenses, veins, wedges) that form as liquid
water and vapour are attracted to the lower vapour pressure (cold
air) at the freezing plane
o intermediate porosity and permeability (i.e. silt) permit the
optimal storage and diffusion of water and thus formation of
segregated ground ice
Origin and distribution of permafrost
o
 with a mean annual temperature less than 0 C, the depth of frost
penetration exceeds the depth of thaw. if this climate persists, an
increment of permanently frozen ground is created each year and
permafrost aggrades by cm per year to thicknesses of several hundred
metres, with maximum depths of about 1500 in parts of siberia.
 permafrost thickness represents an equilibrium between heat loss to the
atmosphere and the increase in geothermal with depth (ca. 1 o/30 m)
 thus distribution of permafrost depends on mean annual air temperature
and the thermal properties of earth materials
 permafrost underlies about 20% of the earth's land surface or about 50%
of canada, in three zones:

continuous
permafrost is everywhere except under deep lakes
discontinuous
permafrost absent under water bodies and warmer sites (e.g. south-facing
slopes), north of about 55o N in Canada
sporadic
permafrost is preserved at scattered sites, e.g. northern-facing slopes or
peat bogs, where the peat prevents melting (insulates) in summer

 permafrost also occurs in submerged sea bottoms (e.g. Beaufort Sea) and
at high altitudes at all latitudes
 much mid-latitude permafrost is relict, that is, inherited from the
pleistocene, when permafrost overlay up to 40% during the earth's land
surface
 thus periglacial conditions have affected a large proportion of the
continents in recent geological time

Geomorphic significance of permafrost

 confines water and frost to the active layer between the permafrost table
and the ground surface
 descent of the freezing plane from the surface pressurizes the soil water,
reducing the freezing temperature and maintaining the thawed (active)
during fall freeze up
 the growth and decay of segregated ground ice causes heave and
subsidence
Periglacial processes and landforms
1. frost action

o dominant set of periglacial processes given freeze thaw cycles and

commonly wet conditions of the active layer
o produces characteristic periglacial landforms and deposits, such as
the mantle of coarse angular debris, which can become relict and
diagnostic features with a change in climate

a. shattering (wedging, splitting)

 mechanical weathering (disintegration) caused by force of

ice and dense water in fractures
b. heave
 displacement of soil and rock with the growth of segregated
ground ice as free water migrates to the freezing plane
(lower vapour pressure)
 produces hills (pingos) and mounds (palsas, thufurs) with a
core of segregated ice
 also results in the size sorting of heterogenous materials, as
larger clasts migrate to the surface at rates up to 5 cm/yr
 frost pull
o the entire soil mantle expands, or is pulled up, as the
freezing plane descends from the surface
o with thawing, the cohesive matrix of fine material
retracts, filling the space beneath clasts and leaving
them in a slightly elevated position relative to the
preceding thaw season
o this process can pull clasts towards the surface, but
not through it
 frost push
o ice forms beneath clasts because of their higher
thermal conductivity (more rapid heat loss)
o thus the clasts are pushed towards and eventually
through the surface, because the cohesive matrix
 retracts into the spaces under the clasts when the ice
melts in the spring
 needle ice
o slender ice crystals that form at night in moist loamy
periglacial soils
o typically 1-3 cm in length, but up to 40 cm
o as the ice needles growth, the soil is dessicated and
disturbed and thus becomes more susceptible to
wind and water erosion
c. cracking
 thermal contraction of sediments and ice at very soil low
temperatures that occur with low air temperatures and a
lack of snow and vegetation cover
 water seeps from the active layer into vertical cracks up to
a metre or more in depth. this water freezes and then
cracks, because ice has less tensile strength than frozen
ground
 the repeated cracking and incremental accretion of ice
creates ice wedges, segregated ice that is wedge-shaped in
cross section and occupies the polygonal network of
thermal contraction cracks
 thus ice wedge polygons are preserved until climate change
when the ice wedges melt and are replaced by ice wedge
casts, fine sediments washed and blown into the cracks

2. mass wasting

o frost creep
 soil creep is enhanced by expansion and contraction of the
active layer with freezing and thawing
o solifluction (gelifluction)
 slow flow of the active layer over the permafrost table
o
 occurs on slope of 5-20
o
 above 20 , periglacial slopes are subject to more rapid mass
wasting
o rockfall and rock avalanches on steep rock slopes
o earthflow and debris flow in unconsolidated materials
o massive landsliding in thawing permafrost and ground ice
2. nivation

o geomorphic activity enhanced by snow that persists into the melt

season
o periglacial environments commonly have less snowfall than
warmer climates, especially temperate mountains, but the duration
of snow cover is long and thus snow has much ecological and
geomorphic significance
o wet snow and slush avalanches tend to be dense and full depth
(unlike mid-winter powder avalanches) and thus can be effective
geomorphic agents on arctic and alpine slopes creating, under
extreme conditions, avalanche plunge pools
o beneath and near the snow pack margins, meltwater erodes fines
and, with depressed temperatures, favours intensified frost action
o erosive creep of water-saturated or refrozen snow can generate
basal shear stresses that are comparable to glacier bed stresses

3. fluvial processes

o much of the year, water is stored as snow and ice, however, water
is released violently during a short melt season
o ice jams floods characterize north-flowing rivers in canadian and
russian arctic, as melt proceed from the headwaters downstream;
floodwater passing over ice tend to erode laterally producing wide
shallow river channels
o bank erosion of frozen sediments involves mechanical (hydraulic)
and thermal erosion
o smaller streams commonly have a diurnal cycle with freezing
nightly temperatures
o there also tends to be much sediment available during the melt
season
o with fluctuating discharge and high variable sediment loads,
periglacial streams commonly are braided

4. eolian processes
 o favoured by incomplete vegetation cover, braided stream deposits,
cryoturbation and dessication (freeze drying) of surface
sediments, and exposure to strong winds
o thus many present and former periglacial environments are
mantled with loess (e.g. northern China; upper Mississippi basin,
mid-western US)

Characteristic periglacial landforms and deposits

1. blockfields (felsenmeer)

o fields coarse angular blocks on high level summits

2. rock streams

o sloping (3-12o) blockfields

o fines at depth permits gelifluction and thus small terraces and
oriented blocks

3. talus

o slopes in coarse angular debris that falls to the foot of steep slopes
o not unique to periglacial environments, but is characteristic given
rates of frost shattering and rockfall on periglacial cliffs

4. rock glacier

o thick deposits of rock debris that move as the result of an ice core
or interstitial ice

5. gelifluction lobes
 o tongue-shaped masses of active layer with a gentle terrace and
steep frontal scarp (1-6 m) where reisistance from adjacent
materials causes the mass to bulge
o occur in fields where lobes overlaps one another to from a
staircase slope profile
o composed of colluvium, angular debris from fines to boulders

6. cryoplanation terraces and nivation hollows

o flattened summits and benched hillslopes from a combination of

periglacial weathering, erosion and deposition, especially nivation

7. asymmetric valleys

o in high arctic, north-facing slopes are perennially frozen and thus

commonly steeper than south-facing slopes which have an active
layer and thus decline by gelifluction
o in the subarctic, the north-facing slopes tend to be more active and
thus lower, because permafrost and thus the active layer can be
confined to these slopes in the zone of discontinuous permafrost

8. patterned ground

o various geometric patterns of sediment and vegetation caused by

the cracking, heaving and size sorting of sediments
o e.g. frost-crack polygons, ice-wedge polygons, sorted and non-
sorted circles and nets, stone stripes, soil stripes, frost boils, stone
garlands

9. pingos (Inuit: hill)

o large ice-cored hills, 10s m high and up to 1200 m in diameter

o as the ground is heaved by the growth of the segregated ice, the
tensile stress causes it to crack, exposing the ice core and leading
 to the degradation of the pingo; thus they a crater is a common
feature
o closed system
 progressive inward and downward freezing of a talik,
typically under a drained lake
 1450 closed-system pingos in the mackenzie delta
o open-system
 lacolith of intruded ice
 develop above a talik in permafrost (i.e. discontinuous
permafrost) , where water escapes from a confined aquifer
underlying the permafrost

10.thermokarst topography

o sinkholes, thaw depressions and ponds, slumps., etc. that form

with the degradation of segregated ground ice
o initiated by climate change or disruption of the thermal regime by
fire, or vegetation or hydrologic changes

Glacial Processes

Glacier
 a body of land ice that moves
 forms from the metamorphosis of snow: new snow (.01-.3 gm/cc) to firn,
snow that has survived a melt season, (.55 gm/cc) to ice (.89-.92 gm/cc)
 rate of transformation from firn to ice depends on temperature, from
about 50 years in humid temperate climates (e.g. coastal mountains) to
100s of years in cold dry climates

Distribution of glacier ice

 about 10% of the earth's land surface
 96% currently is in two glaciers, the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets
 during the Pleistocene glaciation, up to 30% of the earth's land surface
was covered with glacier ice
 thus many of the mid- to high-latitudes landforms of the world,
especially in the northern hemisphere, are glacial in origin
Classification of glaciers, according to
1. morphology

a. niche
 smallest glaciers
 from in hollows, benches or from avalanche snow
 often hanging on a cliff

b. cirque

 cirque have a morphology that favours the accumulation

and persistence of snow and ice
 the source of alpine valley glaciers

c. alpine

 valley glaciers that form when cirque glaciers advance into

the valley and coalesce

d. outlet

 valley glaciers that radiate from an ice field

e. transection

 glaciers that transect drainage divides

 ice fields, caps or sheets

f. peidmont
  "foot of the mountain"
 valley glaciers which have advanced beyond the mountain
front

g. floating

 terminus in deep water

 e.g. margins of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheet

h. ice cap

 forms a cap on a mountain range or upland, i.e. most of the

peaks are under the ice

i. ice sheet

 continental glacier

2. temperature: melting point decreases by 0.7 o per km of ice

a. warm- (wet-) based or temperate

 ice is at the pressure melting point throughout the glacier
o
 thus the mean annual temperature of the ice is about 0
 geothermal heat and melt are concentrated at the glacier
bed
 abundant meltwater and high glacier velocities from sliding

b. cold-based or polar

 the ice is below the pressure melting point throughout the

glacier
 that is the glacier is frozen to its bed (permafrost) and thus
can move only by internal creep
 c. intermediate or subpolar

 pressure melting point occurs only at the bed, otherwise the

glacier is cold

3.

o note: parts of one glacier can fall into different temperature

classes; glaciers usually are cold based at the margins where the
ice is thin and thus there is a higher thermal gradient (= higher
heat loss) between the air and the bed of the glacier

2. activity

a. active
 continuous supply of ice from the zone of accumulation
 thus active glaciers are moving even as they waste away
and retreat
 passive

b. undernourished

 low velocity transfer of ice from the zone of accumulation

c. dead

 detached from zone of accumulation

 usually because ice has been buried in debris or thinned
out, for example, as an ice sheet advances over a
topographic high
 dead ice wastes downward as opposed to retreating from
the terminus
Glacier mass balance
 inputs - outputs = glacier mass balance

o solid precipitation (mostly snowfall) + blown snow + snow

avalanches - melt - evaporation/sublimation - calving [floating
glaciers] = glacier mass balance
o inputs > outputs = +ve mass balance, the glacier expands
o outputs > inputs = -ve mass balance, the glacier retreats, i.e. the
rate of ablation exceeds the rate of flow
o inputs = outputs = balance, the glacier is at a standstill, but still
moving

 equilibrium (firn) line

o the boundary between the zone of accumulation (inputs) and the

zone of wastage (outputs) where the glacier is balanced
o moves up the glacier during the melt season until the highest
annual position is reached in late summer or early fall

 the larger the glaciers the more delayed is the response of the terminus to
a change in mass balance, up to 1000s of years for a continental ice sheet

Glacier flow
Glen's flow law
3
 strain rate is proportional to temperature cubed (T )
 the behavior of glacier ice is mostly plastic; beyond a yield stress of
about 1000 N/m2, it deforms continuously, i.e. flows under its own
weight with no increase in stress
 but its not perfectly plastic, because it creep under low stress, i.e. like a
viscous fluid
basal shear stress
 shear stress = W sin(slope) and the density of ice is fairly constant,
therefore bed shear stress is a function of the thickness and slope of the
ice
 so glacier flow is driven by slope (mountains) or thickness (ice sheets)

mechanisms of glacier flow

creep
internal plastic deformation by slippage within ice crystals and
recrystalization

basal sliding of temperate (wet-based) glaciers

includes regelation (melt and refreezing) around small obstacles and
enhanced creep (local increase in stress and flow rate) around larger
obstacles

variations in velocity
 high velocity in thickest ice, i.e. in the middle of the glacier and near the
equilibrium line
 extending flow
o acceleration with increasing slope or thickness
o flow lines are directed towards the bed promoting erosion
o causes crevasses and, on steep slopes, ice falls

 compressive flow

o deceleration with decreasing slope or thickness (e.g. the terminus)

<LI>flow lines are directed upward, carrying debris to the ice
surface

Glacial erosion and transport

 the low yield stress and plastic deformation of ice around rock obstacles
lessens the effectiveness of glacial erosion, but
 the highest regional denudation rates, estimated from river sediment
loads, are for glaciated mountain landscapes, although high relief, steep
 slopes, and periglacial processes (especially mass wasting) all contribute
to high denudation rates
 besides erosion, glaciers contribute to denudation by exporting debris,
over steepening slopes, and serving as heat sinks and reservoirs of
meltwater

erosional processes
 abrasion
o scouring by rock fragments embedded in the sliding (wet-based)
ice
o directions of glacier flow are reconstructed from striations
o produces rock flour, fine sediment that becomes suspended in
glacial lakes giving them a blue-green colour

 plucking (quarrying)
o freezing of rock fragments to the glacier
o produces chatter marks with removal of the fragments

sediment load
 subglacial
o mostly debris plucked from the bed and embedded in the ice

 englacial
o subglacial debris carried up from the bed along flow lines or
supraglacial debris buried by snow and ice in the accumulation
zone

 supraglacial
o transported on the surface
o mass wasted from adjacent cliffs
o major source of lateral and medial moraines, including ice-cored
lateral moraines

Glacial Landforms
Erosional landforms
Ice sheets
ice scoured basins
the Great lakes and millions of other lakes basins on the Canadian shield
and other glaciated shields

roche mountonnees
"rock sheep", bedrock ridges striated and polished on the stoss (up-
glacier) side and plucked on the lee side where meltwater produced on
the stoss side refroze to the lee side of the ridge

meltwater valleys
large wide valleys eroded by meltwater draining along the ice margin or
spillways draining glacial lakes (e.g. all the major valleys of the southern
Canadian Interior Plains)

Mountain glaciers
cirque
bowl-shaped rock cavity, where alpine glaciers form and then retreat to
and persist; commonly have small lakes called tarns

arete
narrow ridge between glacial cirques and troughs
horn
pyramidal peak faceted by glaciation on all sides

hanging valley
tributary valley that hangs above the trunk valley, i.e. the floors of the
two valley are a t different elevation and separated by a cliff (and thus
usually waterfalls)

glacial trough
the U-shaped valley created when a valley glacier, usually by modifying
a pre-glacial fluvial (V-shaped) valley

truncated spur
the ends of interfluves truncated by valley glaciation

Glacial deposits
glacial drift
all sediment transported by glaciers or glacial meltwater

till
unsorted, unstratified drift deposited directly from glacier ice

ice-contact stratified drift

deposited or modified by meltwater in contact with or close proximity to
ice; some sorting and stratification but large variation in particle size and
sedimentary structure

outwash
glacial-fluvial sediments washed out from the margin of the ice with
more sorting than with ice-contact drift

glacio-lacturine sediments
clays and silts deposited in lakes near or on glaciers

glacio-marine sediments
sediment rained down or ice rafted onto continental shelves from a
floating glacier

glacio-tectonic drifto
frozen or saturated drift and/or bedrock folded and faulted by the force
of a glacier

Depositional landforms
moraine
collective term for landforms of direct glacial origin

 classification of depositional landforms

o morphology
 ridged (terminal, lateral, etc.)
 hummocky (dead ice moraine)
 rolling or undulating (ground moraine)
 o orientation relative to the ice front
 transverse: ice-marginal and recessional
 parallel: medial and lateral moraines, drumlins,
flutings, crevasses fills
 non-oriented: dead ice moraine (kames and kettles)

o origin
 terminal, recessional, lateral and medial moraines
 ground moraine(subglacial)
 ablation moraine (supraglacial)
 dead ice moraine
 glacio-tectonic (ice thrust hills)
 glaciofluvial

eskers
meandering ridges of stratified drift deposited in tunnels in the ice

kame
a landform in ice-contact stratified drift

valley train and outwash plain

valleys floors and undulating plains formed in outwash