Tan DEM‐X Preserves the Relationship Between Hilltop Curvature and Erosion Rate in the Qilian Shan.
In: Journal of Geophysical Research. Earth Surface, Jg. 128 (2023-09-01), Heft 9, S. 1-17
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Zugriff:
Hilltop curvature (CHT) can record erosional responses to tectonic forces and/or climate change. Although CHT has a linear relationship with the erosion rate, which is a significant advantage over traditional indicators, it is not widely used, mainly because it requires high‐resolution terrain data. Previous studies show that terrain steepness is strongly correlated with catchment‐wide erosion rates in the Qilian Shan. This relationship enables us to test the potential of CHT based on medium‐resolution terrain data (e.g., Tan DEM‐X with a resolution of ∼12 m) as an indicator of the erosion rate. We selected three typical sites in the Qilian Shan with evenly spaced ridge valleys and a continuous soil cover. At each site, we produced a high‐resolution digital surface model (DSM) using uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAVs), and then compared CHT from the UAV DSM with that from Tan DEM‐X, via LSDTopoTools. The results show that both Tan DEM‐X and the UAV DSM record similar spatial patterns of CHT, although the magnitudes vary between the three selected areas. We then examined the relationship between CHT based on Tan DEM‐X and the catchment‐wide erosion rate in the Qilian Shan. CHT has a linear relationship with the erosion rate in an area of clastic rocks, where the erosion rate is below 400 mm/Kyr. CHT extracted by Tan DEM‐X is superior to the mean basin slope in predicting the erosion rate in this clastic rock landscape. Overall, our results demonstrate the utility of Tan DEM‐X in calculating CHT to indicate the erosion rate. Plain Language Summary: Erosion occurs when Earth surface material is worn away and moved by natural forces such as wind and water. The erosion rate represents the rate at which the surface elevation decreases. Hilltop curvature extracted by terrain analysis software combined with terrain data can provide a rapid estimate of the erosion rate. However, the coverage of high‐resolution terrain data used in previous studies is very sparse. At present, the most widely terrain data with global coverage is Tan DEM‐X. In this study, we determined whether the hilltop curvature extracted based on Tan DEM‐X can predict the erosion rate. This was done by comparing the hilltop curvature extracted from Tan DEM‐X with that from high‐resolution terrain data, and then examined the linear relationship between hilltop curvature based on Tan DEM‐X and the erosion rate in the Qilian Shan in China. The trends of hilltop curvature between different areas recorded by Tan DEM‐X and high‐resolution terrain data were consistent, and the hilltop curvature based on Tan DEM‐X was linearly related to the erosion rate in an area of clastic sedimentary rocks. We suggest that Tan DEM‐X can be used to estimate the erosion rate in areas lacking high‐resolution terrain data. Key Points: We compared hilltop curvatures extracted from Tan DEM‐X and high‐resolution terrain data on different spatial scalesHilltop curvature based on Tan DEM‐X can indicate the erosion rate at the catchment scaleIn an area of clastic rocks with erosion rates below 400 mm/Kyr, hilltop curvature has a linear relationship with the erosion rate [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
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Titel: |
Tan DEM‐X Preserves the Relationship Between Hilltop Curvature and Erosion Rate in the Qilian Shan.
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Autor/in / Beteiligte Person: | Zhang, Yunbo ; Geng, Haopeng ; Cai, Shun ; Pan, Baotian |
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Zeitschrift: | Journal of Geophysical Research. Earth Surface, Jg. 128 (2023-09-01), Heft 9, S. 1-17 |
Veröffentlichung: | 2023 |
Medientyp: | academicJournal |
ISSN: | 2169-9003 (print) |
DOI: | 10.1029/2023JF007118 |
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