Earth Surface Processes and Landforms

Themed Topics

Earth Surface Processes and Landforms' Virtual Themed Issues are collections of papers brought together by one of the journal’s Associate Editors or the Managing Editor, that flag a coherent set of manuscripts published over the past few years, addressing a topical geomorphological theme.

21st Century climate change: where has all the geomorphology gone? - Themed Topic, November 2012

Introductory background

21st Century climate change: where has all the geomorphology gone?
Stuart N. Lane

Climate change and sediment flux from the Roof of the World
X.X. Lu, Shurong Zhang, Jianchu Xu

Holocene flood histories in south-western USA
Harden, T., Macklin, M.G. and Baker, V.R

Enlightenment and the GM floodplain
Lewin, J

Reconstructing paleoenvironments and palaeoclimates in drylands: what can landform analysis contribute?
Thomas, D.S.G.

The geomorphic signature of high frequency climatic variability

Dendrogeomorphic reconstruction of past debris-flow activity using injured broad-leaved trees.
Arbellay, E., Stoffel, M. and Bollschweiler, M

Geomorphic coupling between hillslopes and channels in the Swiss Alps
Savi, S., Schneuwly-Bollschweiler, M., Bommer-Denns, B., Stoffel, M. and Schlunegger, F.,

Impact of the magnitude and frequency of debris-flow events on the evolution of an alpine alluvial fan during the last two centuries: responses to natural and anthropogenic controls
Colombera, L. and Bersezio, R

Climatic influence on the inter-annual variability of late-Holocene minerogenic sediment supply in a boreal forest catchment.
Petterson, G., Renberg, I., Sjostedt-de Luna, S., Arnqvist, P. and Anderson, N.J

Post-glacial range of variability in the Conejos River Valley, southern Colorado, USA: fluvial response to climate change and sediment supply.
Layzell, A.L., Eppes, M.C., Johnson, B.G. and Diemer, J.A

Without power? Landslide inventories in the face of climate change
Oliver Korup, Tolga Görüm,, Yuichi Hayakawa

Effect of ENSO events on sediment production in a large coastal basin in northern Peru
Tote, C., Govers, G., Van Kerckhoven, S., Filiberto, I., Verstraeten, G. and Eerens, H.,

Response of a mid-latitude cirque glacier to climate over the last two decades: Mangaehuehu Glacier, Mt Ruapehu
Martin S. Brook, Josh F. Dean, Harry J. R. Keys

Rate of floodplain reworking in response to increasing storm-induced floods, Squamish River, south-western British Columbia, Canada
Gregory D. Bauch, Edward J. Hickin

A multi-century record of linked nearshore and coastal change
T. Thomas, M. R. Phillips, A. T. Williams, R. E. Jenkins

Climate-driven decrease in erosion in extant Mediterranean badlands
Michèle L. Clarke, Helen M. Rendell

Response of surface processes to climatic change in the dunefields and Loess Plateau of North China during the late Quaternary
Huayu Lu, Joseph A. Mason, Thomas Stevens, Yali Zhou, Shuangwen Yi, Xiaodong Miao

From climate change impacts to futures and feedbacks

Is climate change responsible for changing landslide activity in high mountains?
Christian Huggel, John J. Clague, Oliver Korup

Rock damage and regolith transport by frost: An example of climate modulation of the geomorphology of the critical zone
Anderson, R.S., Anderson, S.P. and Tucker, G.E.

Evaluation of meteorological controls of reconstructed rockfall activity in the Czech Flysch Carpathians
Silhan, K., Brazdil, R. Panek, T., Dobrovolny, P., Kasickova, L., Tolasz, R., Tursky, O. and Vaclavek, M.

Effects of Holocene climate and sea-level changes on coastal gully evolution: insights from numerical modelling
Leyland, J. and Darby, S.E.

Numerical modelling of climate change impacts on Saint-Lawrence River tributaries
Verhaar, P.M., Biron, P.M., Ferguson, R.I. and Hoey, T.B.

Contemporary glacigenic inputs to the dust cycle
Bullard, J.E.

Geomorphic processes, carbon flux and climate change mitigation

Agricultural soil erosion and global carbon cycle: controversy over?
Kuhn, N.J., Hoffmann, T., Schwanghart, W. and Dotterweich, M.

Effects of soil compaction, rain exposure and their interaction on soil carbon dioxide emission
Novara, A., Armstrong, A., Gristina, L., Semple, K.T. and Quinton, J.N.

Towards constraining the magnitude of global agricultural sediment and soil organic carbon fluxes
Sebastian Doetterl, Kristof Van Oost, Johan Six

Soil erosion in New Zealand is a net sink of CO2
John R. Dymond

Accelerated sediment fluxes by water and tillage erosion on European agricultural land
Van Oost, K., Cerdan, O. and Quine, T.A.

Mind, the gap in landscape-evolution modelling
Wainwright, J. and Millington, J.D.A.

Carbon fluxes from eroding peatlands – the carbon benefit of revegetation following wildfire
F. Worrall, J. G. Rowson, M. G. Evans, R. Pawson, S. Daniels, A. Bonn

Fluvial carbon flux from headwater peatland streams: significance of particulate carbon flux
Pawson, R.R., Evans, M.G. and Allott, T.E.H.A.

Carbon dioxide fluxes and DOC concentrations of eroding blanket peat gullies
Clay, G.D., Dixon, S., Evans, M.G., Rowson, J.G. and Worrall, F

Landslide impact on organic carbon cycling in a temperate montane forest
Robert G. Hilton, Patrick Meunier, Niels Hovius, Peter J. Bellingham, Albert Galy

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Distance, Time and Scale in Soil Erosion Processes – Themed Topic, December 2010

Edited by M. J. Kirkby

Soil erosion has long concerned geomorphologists. It is a classic conundrum as the physics of particle motion reveals fundamental controls on the erosion, transport and deposition process at the particle scale, but in relation to landform development, our concerns are at the hillslope or even larger scales. This special issue draws together the very contrasting interpretations of soil erosion and seeks to show where these overlap and where they diverge so steering where soil erosion research needs to develop over the next decade.

Articles in this issue:

Distance, time and scale in soil erosion processes

M. J. Kirkby

Hillslope scale surface runoff, sediment and nutrient losses associated with tramline wheelings

M. Silgram, D. R. Jackson, A Bailey, J. Quinton, C. Stevens

Soil erosion resistance effects on rill and gully initiation points and dimensions

A. Knapen and J. Poesen

Catchment scale analysis of the effect of topography, tillage direction and unpaved roads on ephemeral gully incision

Tal Svoray, Hila Markovitch

The implications of data selection for regional erosion and sediment yield modelling

Joris de Vente, Jean Poesen, Gerard Govers, Carolina Boix-Fayos

Effects of the largest daily events on total soil erosion by rainwater. An analysis of the USLE database

J.C. González-Hidalgo, M. de Luis, R. J. Batalla

Agricultural soil erosion and global carbon cycle: controversy over?

Nikolaus J. Kuhn, Thomas Hoffmann, Wolfgang Schwanghart, Markus Dotterweich

Comment on ‘A transport-distance based approach to scaling erosion rates’: Parts 1, 2 and 3 by Wainwright et al.

P. B. Hairsine, G. C. Sander

Response to Hairsine's and Sander's ‘Comment on “A transport-distance based approach to scaling erosion rates”: Parts 1, 2 and 3 by Wainwright et al.’

John Wainwright, Anthony J. Parsons, Eva N. Müller, Richard E. Brazier, D. Mark Powell

Scale relationships in hillslope runoff and erosion. Reply

Anthony J. Parsons, Richard E. Brazier, John Wainwright and D. Mark Powell

Comment on 'Scale relationships in hillslope runoff and erosion' (ESPL 31: 1364-1383 (2006))

P. I. A. Kinnell

A transport-distance approach to scaling erosion rates: 3. Evaluating scaling characteristics of MAHLERAN

John Wainwright, Anthony J. Parsons, Eva N. Müller, Richard E. Brazier, D. Mark Powell, Bantigegne Fenti

A transport-distance approach to scaling erosion rates: 1. Background and model development

John Wainwright, Anthony J. Parsons, Eva N. Müller, Richard E. Brazier, D. Mark Powell, Bantigegne Fenti

Causes and underlying processes of measurement variability in field erosion plots in Mediterranean conditions

M. C. Boix-Fayos, M. Martínez-Mena, A. Calvo-Cases, E. Arnau-Rosalén, J. Albaladejo, V. Castillo

Multi-year tracking of sediment sources in a small agricultural watershed using rare earth elements

A. Kimoto, M. A. Nearing, M. J. Shipitalo, V. O. Polyakov

Scale relationships in hillslope runoff and erosion

Anthony J. Parsons, Richard E. Brazier, John Wainwright, D. Mark Powell

Is sediment delivery a fallacy?

Anthony J. Parsons, John Wainwright, Richard E. Brazier, D. Mark Powell

Predicting catchment sediment yield in Mediterranean environments: the importance of sediment sources and connectivity in Italian drainage basins

Joris de Vente, Jean Poesen, Paolo Bazzoffi, Anton Van Rompaey, Gert Verstraeten

Soil detachment and transport on field- and laboratory-scale interrill areas: erosion processes and the size-selectivity of eroded sediment

O. Malam Issa, Y. Le Bissonnais, O. Planchon, David Favis-Mortlock, Norbert Silvera, John Wainwright

Soil erosion modelling with EUROSEM at Embori and Mukogodo catchments, Kenya

B. M. Mati, R. P. C. Morgan, J. N. Quinton

Evaluation of the LISEM soil erosion model in two catchments in the East African Highlands

Rudi Hessel, Rik van den Bosch, Olga Vigiak

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Reappraising the Geomorphology - Ecology Link – Themed Topic, October 2009

Edited by Stephen E. Darby

There has been a progressive recognition that the interface between the biosphere and earth surface processes matters. This themed issue highlights a personal selection of 18 recent (2007-2009) contributions to Earth Surface Processes and Landforms which show our state of the art understanding of how the biosphere interacts with the physical and chemical processes of sediment transfer/transformation. It shows that not only does sediment response depend sensitively on biospheric processes but that the biosphere itself is strongly influenced by geomorphology.

Articles in this issue:

Reappraising The Geomorphology – Ecology Link

Stephen E Darby

Modeling fluvial response to in-stream woody vegetation: implications for stream corridor restoration

SJ Bennett, W Weiming, CV Alonso, SSY Wang

Assessing the effect of vegetation-related bank strength on channel morphology and stability in gravel-bed streams using numerical models

BC Eaton, TR Giles

Infilled pocket gopher tunnels: seasonal features of high alpine plateaux

J Knight

The effect of single vegetation elements on wind speed and sediment transport in the Sahelian zone of Burkina Faso

JK Leenders, JH van Boxel, G Sterk

Enhanced application of root-reinforcement algorithms for bank-stability modeling

N Pollen-Bankhead, A Simon

Modelling increased soil cohesion due to roots with EUROSEM

S De Baets, D Torri, J Poesen, MP Salvador, J Meersmans

Vegetation and topographic controls on sediment deposition and storage on gully beds in a degraded mountain area

A Molinda, G Govers, F Cisneros, V Vanacker

Modified MMF (Morgan-Morgan-Finney) model for evaluating effects of crops and vegetation cover on soil erosion

RPC Morgan, JH Duzant

Role of a reophyte in bench development on a sand-bed river in southeast Australia

W Erskine, A Chalmers, A Keene, M Cheetham, R Bush

Stabilization of fine gravels by net-spinning caddisfly larvae

MF Johnson, I Reid, SP Rice, PJ Wood

Microbiotic crusts as biomarkers for surface stability and wetness duration in the Negev Desert

GJ Kidron, A Vonshak, A Abeliovich

Darwinian origin of landforms

D Corenblit, J Steiger, AM Gurnell, E Tabacchi

Vegetation as a major conductor of geomorphic changes on the Earth surface: toward evolutionary geomorphology

D Corenblit, J Steiger

Sediment transport due to tree root throw: integrating tree population dynamics, wildfire and geomorphic response

JM Gallaway, YE Martin, EA Johnson

Investigating parabolic and nebkha dune formation using a cellular automaton modelling approach

JM Nield, ACW Baas

The effects of interdune vegetation changes on eolian dune field evolution: a numerical-modeling case study at Jockey's Ridge, North Carolina, USA

JD Pelletier, H Mitasova, RS Harmon, M Overton

Biogenic silica: a neglected component of the coupled global continental biogeochemical cycles of carbon and silicon

FA Street-Perrott, PA Barker

Biogeomorphological disturbance regimes: progress in linking ecological and geomorphological systems

HA Viles, LA Naylor, NEA Carter, Chaput

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Landslides, Erosion and Landscape Evolution – Themed Topic, April 2009

This themed issue highlights ten recent innovative, unconventional, or otherwise significant contributions to ESPL that help advance the state-of-the-art in research on linkages between landslides, hillslope erosion, and landscape evolution. The selected studies address this feedback within a temporal spectrum that ranges from the event to the millennial scale, thus underscoring the importance of detailed field observations, high-resolution digital topographic data, and geochronological methods for increasing our capability of quantifying landslide processes and hillslope erosion. Central to the issue is the recognition that mass movements are not just engineering challenges but fundamental to understanding the way the landscapes function and evolve.

Articles in this issue:

Linking Landslides, Hillslope Erosion, and Landscape Evolution

Oliver Korup

Analysing the relationship between typhoon-triggered landslides and critical rainfall conditions

KT Chang, SH Chiang

Significance of geomorphological and subsurface drainage controls on failures of peat-covered hillslopes triggered by extreme rainfall

AP Dykes, J Warburton

Hillslope-channel sediment transfer in a slope failure event: Wet Swine Gill, Lake District, northern England

RM Johnson, J Warburton, AJ Mills

Effects of earthquake and cyclone sequencing on landsliding and fluvial sediment transfer in a mountain catchment

GW Lin, H Chen, N Hovius, MJ Horng, S Dadson, P Meunier, M Lines

Quantifying hillslope erosion rates and processes for a coastal California landscape over varying timescales

CR O'Farrell, AM Heimsath, JM Kaste

Epigenetic gorges in fluvial landscapes

WB Ouimet, KX Whipple, BT Crosby, JP Johnson, TF Schildgen

Interpreting erosion rates from cosmogenic radionuclide concentrations measured in rapidly eroding terrain

LJ Reinhardt, TB Hoey, TT Barrows, TJ Dempster, P Bishop, LK Fifield

Contemporary versus long-term denudation along a passive plate margin: the role of extreme events

KM Tomkins, GS Humphreys, MT Wilkinson, D Fink, PP Hesse, SH Doerr, RA Shakesby, PJ Wallbrink, WH Blake

Use of LIDAR-derived images for mapping old landslides under forest

M Van Den Eeckhaut, J Poesen, G Verstraeten, V Vanacker, J Nyssen, J Moeyersons, LPH van Beek, L Vandekerckhove

Time-lapse video observation of erosion processes on the Black Marls badlands in the Southern Alps, France

T Yamakoshi, N Mathys, S Klotz

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Aeolian Processes and Landforms – Themed Topic, October 2008

The last two decades has seen a revolution in our ability to measure Aeolian processes and to model Aeolian landforms. This themed issue brings together recent papers published in ESPL on this topic, addressing the transport of sand, deposition and erosion processes in relation to Aeolian landforms and the role played by key drivers such as wind. It demonstrates the vibrant nature of Aeolian research but also points to important new research directions.

Articles in this issue:

Synthesis of recent ESPL research: aeolian processes and landforms

Joanna E. Bullard

Measurement of water content as a control of particle entrainment by wind

Cheryl McKenna Neuman, Greg Langston

The effects of surface moisture on aeolian sediment transport threshold and mass flux on a beach

Robin G. D. Davidson-Arnott, Yanqi Yang, Jeff Ollerhead, Patrick A. Hesp, Ian J. Walker

The effect of single vegetation elements on wind speed and sediment transport in the Sahelian zone of Burkina Faso

J. K. Leenders, J. H. van Boxel, G. Sterk

Aeolian sediment transport on a human-altered foredune

Karl F. Nordstrom, Nancy L. Jackson, Jean Marie Hartman, Mark Wong

Embryo dune development on a large, actively accreting macrotidal beach: Calais, North Sea coast of France

Edward J. Anthony, Stéphane Vanhée, Marie-Hélène Ruz

Aeolian fetch distance and secondary airflow effects: the influence of micro-scale variables on meso-scale foredune development

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/esp.1582/abstract

Kevin Lynch, Derek W. T. Jackson, J. Andrew G. Cooper

Morphodynamics and climate controls of two aeolian blowouts on the northern Great Plains, Canada

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/esp.1367/abstract

C. H. Hugenholtz, S. A. Wolfe

Dune phases in the Otaki-Te Horo area (New Zealand): a geomorphic history

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/esp.1292/abstract

R. M. Hawke, J. A. McConchie

The termination of the last major phase of aeolian sand movement, coastal dunefields, Denmark

Lars B. Clemmensen, Andrew Murray

Wind erodibility of soils at Fort Irwin, California (Mojave Desert), USA, before and after trampling disturbance: implications for land management

J. Belnap, S. L. Phillips, J. E. Herrick, J. R. Johansen

Erodibility of some crust forming soils/sediments from the Southern Aral Sea Basin as determined in a wind tunnel

E. Argaman, A. Singer, H. Tsoar

Wind erosion of blanket peat during a short period of surface desiccation (North Pennines, Northern England)

Simon A. Foulds, Jeff Warburton

Dust emission from wet and dry playas in the Mojave Desert, USA

Richard L. Reynolds, James C. Yount, Marith Reheis, Harland Goldstein, Pat Chavez Jr., Robert Fulton, John Whitney, Christopher Fuller, Richard M. Forester

Aeolian deposition of dust over hills: the effect of dust grain size on the deposition pattern

Dirk Goossens

Dust deposition near an eroding source field

L. J. Hagen, S. Van Pelt, T. M. Zobeck, A. Retta

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Water Resources – Themed Topic, April 2008

The next century will see the interaction between water and sediment undergoing renewed emphasis as we seek to move our understanding of climate change impacts from hydrological changes to the geomorphological consequences of those hydrological changes. This themed issue shows that geomorphologists will be well-placed to do this, recognizing the complex feedbacks that exist between earth surface processes, landforms, hydrology and the biosphere.

Articles in this issue:

Soil degradation in central Spain due to sheet water erosion by low-intensity rainfall events

M. J. Marques, R. Bienes, R. Pérez-Rodríguez, L. Jiménez

Decadal and century-long changes in the reconstruction of erosive rainfall anomalies in a Mediterranean fluvial basin

N. Diodato, M. Ceccarelli, G. Bellocchi

The use of agent based modelling techniques in hydrology: determining the spatial and temporal origin of channel flow in semi-arid catchments

S. M. Reaney

Evolution of channel morphology and hydrologic response in an urbanizing drainage basin

Peter A. Nelson, James A. Smith, Andrew J. Milleratajc, Ivan Kodri

Curtailing water erosion of cultivated land: an example from north Norfolk, eastern England

Robert Evans

Impact of groundwater flow on meandering; example from the Geul River, The Netherlands

R. T. van Balen, C. Kasse, J. De Moor

Measuring streambank erosion due to ground water seepage: correlation to bank pore water pressure, precipitation and stream stage

Garey A. Fox, Glenn V. Wilson, Andrew Simon, Eddy J. Langendoen, Onur Akay, John W. Fuchs

Channel adjustments, bedload transport and sediment sources in a gravel-bed river, Brenta River, Italy

Nicola Surian, Alberto Cisotto

Stream geomorphology in a mountain lake district: hydraulic geometry, sediment sources and sinks, and downstream lake effects

C. D. Arp, J. C. Schmidt, M. A. Baker, A. K. Myers

Wood as a driver of past landscape change along river corridors

Robert A. Francis, Geoff E. Petts, Angela M. Gurnell

A new model to analyse the impact of woody riparian vegetation on the geotechnical stability of riverbanks

Marco J. Van De Wiel, Stephen E. Darby

Ecosystem expansion and contraction dynamics along a large Alpine alluvial corridor (Tagliamento River, Northeast Italy)

M. Doering, U. Uehlinger, A. Rotach, D. R. Schlaepfer, K. Tockner

Modeling fluvial response to in-stream woody vegetation: implications for stream corridor restoration

Sean J. Bennett, Weiming Wu, Carlos V. Alonso, Sam S. Y. Wang

Interactions between sediment delivery, channel change, climate change and flood risk in a temperate upland environment

S. N. Lane, V. Tayefi, S. C. Reid, D. Yu, R. J. Hardy

Temporal relations between meander deformation, water discharge and sediment fluxes in the floodplain of the Rio Beni (Bolivian Amazonia)

E. Gautier, D. Brunstein, P. Vauchel, M. Roulet, O. Fuertes, J. L. Guyot, J. Darozzes, L. Bourrel