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CRITICAL DATA REQUIREMENTS FOR PREDICTION OF EROSION AND SEDIMENTATION IN MOUNTAIN DRAINAGE BASINS 1
Author(s) -
Dunne Thomas
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
jawra journal of the american water resources association
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.957
H-Index - 105
eISSN - 1752-1688
pISSN - 1093-474X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1752-1688.1998.tb01516.x
Subject(s) - landslide , hydrology (agriculture) , drainage basin , sedimentation , geology , structural basin , colluvium , channel (broadcasting) , erosion , environmental science , terrain , debris flow , spatial analysis , debris , sediment , geomorphology , soil science , soil water , remote sensing , geotechnical engineering , geography , cartography , oceanography , engineering , electrical engineering
The potential for understanding and, where necessary, managing sedimentation in humid mountain drainage basins increases with awareness of the conditions that lead to shallow landsliding, debris flows, and catastrophic sedimentation in stream channels. Progress in understanding has involved: improved recognition of source areas and the potential for downstream effects of slope failure; improved understanding of hydrological conditions required for failure; and a general theory of slope stability in shallow colluvium, including the role of plants, fires, timber harvest, and other disturbances. The theory acknowledges spatial variability in topographic and geotechnical terrain characteristics, the stochastic nature of climatic triggering events such as forest fires and rainstorms, and the integrating nature of channel networks in modulating the cumulative effects of transient processes within a basin. Anthropogenic fire regimes, road effects, and timber harvest can readily be included. Continued application and modification of the theory over an expanded geographical range require improvements in field data and their systematic storage in spatial databases. Improvements in digital topographic data for mountain basins, systematic network‐wide surveys of channel conditions, and new technology for rapid documentation of soil depths in landslide source areas would enhance the prediction of mass failure, its consequences for channel habitat, and the basin‐wide or regional distribution of hillslope and channel conditions. Computations of the probabilities of transient effects throughout basins could then form the basis of ecological risk analyses. Large‐scale spatial data sets of a few critical variables are required before this next level of understanding can be developed and applied to sedimentation impacts on ecosystems and other resources.