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Erosion and Landscape Evolution . Anatomy of a Drainage System. The Continental Divide, Colorado. The Ideal Stream Cycle (W.M. Davis, 1880). Not a Literal Time Sequence Youth Maturity Old Age Rejuvenation . The Ideal Stream Cycle. Youthful Landscape, Utah.
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The Ideal Stream Cycle (W.M. Davis, 1880) Not a Literal Time Sequence • Youth • Maturity • Old Age • Rejuvenation
Rejuvenation • Some change causes stream to speed up and cut deeper. • Uplift of Land • Lowering of Sea Level • Greater stream flow • Stream valley takes on youthful characteristics but retains features of older stages as well. • Can happen at any point in the cycle.
Why the Stream Cycle Doesn't Explain Everything • Changes in sea level during the ice ages • Most landscapes have been repeatedly rejuvenated • Seems to work best in stable interiors of Africa, Australia and South America.
Superposed (Antecedent) Drainage Streams Cut Right Through High Topography • Crustal Uplift Across River • Rejuvenation • Buried Ridge
The Huang He: “China’s Sorrow” • 1887: 2,000,000 dead • 1931: 3,700,000 dead • 1938: The Chinese dynamite levees to slow the Japanese; half a million Chinese died.
Arid and Humid Weathering Compared • Rain: Rare, May Be Seasonal, Often Violent • Soil: Thin or Absent • Vegetation: Sparse-no Continuous Cover • Chemical Weathering: Weak • Episodic Processes Dominate
Arid Erosion Cycle • Alluvial Fans • Playa Lakes • Pediments
Limited Lifetime Thousands - Millions of Yr. How They Form: Grabens (Faulting) Tahoe 1600' Baikal 5600' Tanganyika 4000' Scour Great Lakes to 1300' Great Slave L. 2000' Lake Winnipeg Damming: Crustal movement, Landslide, etc. Volcanic Collapse - Crater Lake Sinkholes Kettle Ponds Lakes
How Lakes Die • Eutrophication • Infilling - Only Way to Destroy Very Deep Lakes • Drainage at Outlet • Climate Change