Hostname: page-component-745bb68f8f-5r2nc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-01-09T22:24:50.887Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Dendrogeomorphological Analysis of Mass Movement on Table Cliffs Plateau, Utah

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

John F. Shroder Jr.
John F. Shroder Jr.*
Affiliation:
Department of Geography & Geology, University of Nebraska at Omaha, Omaha, Nebraska 68101 USA
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

A rock glacier-year, with little evidence of long-term surges. Different parts of the slope like boulder deposit on the Table Cliffs Plateau, Utah, has moved slowly over a long period of time and has affected over 220 trees growing on it. Analyses of annual rings of trees affected by this and other slope movements show events such as inclination, shear, corrasion, burial, exposure, inundation, and nudation. Datable responses to these events are reaction-wood growth, growth suppression and release, ring termination and new callous growth, sprouting, succession, and miscellaneous structural and morphological changes. Various events may produce delayed, antagonistic, interfering, or irrelevant event responses, necessitating procedural caution. A modified skeleton plot of yearly event responses was constructed for each sample in this study with only strongly replicating dates from within trees considered valid. The resulting event-response curve shows peak periods of movement centered around the years 1781, 1803, 1827, 1849, 1869, 1885, 1890, 1907, 1910, 1923, 1938, 1942, 1944, and 1958. Spectral analysis of the event-response curve, mean annual precipitation, and an independently derived tree-ring precipitation surrogate suggests a possible relation between precipitation and slope movement. Analyses of temperature data did not produce results in spite of the presence of internal ice which might be expected to contribute to movement. Map plots of movement through time show event responses scattered in linear zones throughout the slope during main episodes of movement in any given move at different times and some parts move more than others.

Type
Original Articles
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 9 , Issue 2 , March 1978 , pp. 168 - 185
Copyright
University of Washington

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Alestalo, J., 1971. Dendrochronological interpretation of geomorphic processes. Fennia. 105, 1 140.Google Scholar
Burrows, C.J., Burrows, 97.L., 1976. Procedures for the study of snow avalanche chronology using growth layers of woody plants. Univ. Colorado Institute for Arctic and Alpine Research, Occasional Paper. 23, 1 54.Google Scholar
Davis, J.C., 1973 Statistics and Data Analysis in Geology. Wiley, New York. Google Scholar
Ferguson, C.W., 1970. Concepts and techniques of dendrochronology. Berger, R., Scientific Methods in Medieval Archaeology. University of California Press, Berkeley, Calif, 183 200.Google Scholar
Freund, J.E., 1960 Elementary Statistics. Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, N. J. Google Scholar
Fritts, H.C., 1971. Dendroclimatology and dendroecology. Quaternary Research. 1, 419 449.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fritts, H.C., 1976 Tree Rings and Climate. Academic Press, London. Google Scholar
Jenkins, G.M., Watts, D.M., 1968 Spectral Analysis and Its Applications. Holden Day, San Francisco. Google Scholar
Kisiel, C.C., 1969. Time series analysis of hydrologic data. Chow, 98.T., Advances in Hydroscience. Vol. 5, Academic Press, New York, 1 119.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
LaMarche, 99.C. Jr., 1963 Origin and Significance of Buttress Roots of Bristlecone Pine, White Mountains, California. C149 C150 U. S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 475-C.Google Scholar
LaMarche, 100.C. Jr., 1968 Rates of Slope Degradation as Determined from Botanical Evidence, White Mountains, California. 341 377 U. S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 352-I.Google Scholar
LaMarche, 101.C. Jr., 1974. Paleoclimatic inferences from long tree-ring records. Science. 183, 1043 1048.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
LaMarche, 102.C. Jr., 1974. Frequency-dependent relationships between tree-ring series along an ecological gradient and some dendroclimatic implications. Tree-Ring Bulletin. 34, 1 20.Google Scholar
LaMarche, 103.C. Jr., Wallace, R.E., 1972. Evaluation of effects on trees of past movements on the San Andreas fault, northern California. Geological Society of America, Bulletin. 83, 2665 2676.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Langenheim, J.H., 1956. Plant succession on a subalpine earthflow in Colorado. Ecology. 37, 301 317.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lawrence, D.B., 1936. The submerged forest of Columbia River gorge. Geographical Review. 26, 581 592.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lawrence, D.B., 1950. Estimating dates of recent glacier advances and recession rates by studying tree growth layers. American Geophysical Union Transactions. 31, 243 248.Google Scholar
Lawrence, D.B., Lawrence, E.G., 1958. Bridge of the Gods legend, its origin, history, and dating. Mazama. 40, 33 41.Google Scholar
Low, A.J., 1964. Compression wood in conifers, a review of literature. Forestry Abstracts. 25, 35 51.Google Scholar
Mitchell, J.M. Jr., Dzerdzeevskii, B., Flohn, H., Hofmeyr, W.L., Lamb, H.H., Rao, K.W., Wallen, C.C., 1966. Climatic change. World Meteorological Organization Technical Note. 79, 1 79 WMO No. 195, TP 100.Google Scholar
Pillow, M.Y., Luxford, R.F., 1937. Structure, occurrence and properties of compression wood. United States, Department of Agriculture, Technical Bulletin. 546.Google Scholar
Polunin, N., 1960 Introduction to Plant Geography. McGraw-Hill, New York. Google Scholar
Potter, N. Jr., 1969. Tree-ring dating of snow avalanche tracks and the geomorphic activity of avalanches, Northern Absaroka Mountains, Wyoming. Geological Society of America, Special Paper. 123, 141 165.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scurfield, G., 1973. Reaction wood: Its structure and function. Science. 179, 647 655.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Shroder, J.F. Jr., 1971. Landslides of Utah. Utah Geological and Mineralogical Survey Bulletin. 90, 1 51.Google Scholar
Shroder, J.F. Jr., 1973. Movement of boulder deposits, Table Cliffs Plateau, Utah: Rocky Mountain Section. Geological Society of America, Abstracts with Programs. 511 512.Google Scholar
Shroder, J.F. Jr., 1973. Tree-ring dating and analysis of movement of boulder deposits, High Plateaus of Utah, U. S. A.. Abstracts, Ninth Congress International Union Quaternary Research. Christchurch, New Zealand 328 329.Google Scholar
Chroder, J.F. Jr., 1975. Dendrogeomorphological analysis of mass movement. Proceedings, Association of American Geographers. 222 226.Google Scholar
Sigafoos, R.S., 1964 Botanical Evidence of Floods and Floodplain Deposition. A1 A35 U. S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 485-A.Google Scholar
Sigafoos, R.S., Hendricks, E.L., 1961 Botanical Evidence of the Modern History of Nisqually Glacier, Washington. 1 20 U. S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 387-A.Google Scholar
Sigafoos, R.S., Hendricks, E.L., 1969 The Time Interval between Stabilization of Alpine Glacial Deposits and Establishment of Tree Seedlings. B89 B93 U. S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 650-B.Google Scholar
Spurr, S.H., Hyvarinen, M.J., 1954. Compression wood in conifers as a morphogenetic phenomenon. Botanical Review. 20, 551 560.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stokes, M.A., Drew, L.G., Stockton, C.W., 1973. Tree-Ring Chronologies of Western America. Chronology Series I. Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research, University of Arizona, Tucson, Ariz. Google Scholar
Stokes, M.A., Smiley, T.L., 1968 An Introduction to Tree-Ring Dating. University of Chicago Press, Chicago. Google Scholar
Terzaghi, K., 1950. Mechanics of landslides. Paige, S., Application of Geology to Engineering Practice: Berkey Volume. Geological Society of America, Boulder, Colo, 83 123.Google Scholar
Thompson, W.F., 1962. Preliminary notes on the nature and distribution of rock glaciers relative to true glaciers and other effects of the climate on the ground in North America. Ward, W., Variations of the Regime of Existing Glaciers. International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics, International Association for Scientific Hydrology Symposium Obergurgl. 212 219 Publication No. 58.Google Scholar
Varnes, D.J., 1958. Landslide types and processes. Eckel, E.B., Landslides and Engineering Practice. Highway Research Board Special Report 29. 20 47 NAS-NRC Publication 544, Washington, D. C..Google Scholar
Wahrhaftig, C., Cox, A., 1959. Rock glaciers in the Alaska Range. Geological Society of America, Bulletin. 70, 383 436.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Westing, A.A., 1965. Formation and function of compression wood in gymnosperms. Botanical Review. 31, 381 480.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zoltai, S.C., 1975. Tree ring record of soil movements on permafrost. Arctic and Alpine Research. 7, 331 340.CrossRefGoogle Scholar