Holocene debris flows on the Colorado Plateau: The influence of clay mineralogy and chemistry

Bulletin of the Geological Society of America

Volumn 120, Issue 7-8, 2008, Pages 1010-1020

  Webb, Robert H ^a   Griffiths, Peter G ^a   Rudd, Lawrence P ^b  

^a U S GEOLOGICAL SURVEY   (United States)

^b NEVADA STATE COLLEGE   (United States)

Author keywords

Clay mineralogy; Colorado Plateau; Debris flow; Geomorphology; Major cation chemistry; Mass wasting; Sedimentary rock

Indexed keywords

CATION CONCENTRATIONS; CLAY CONTENTS; CLAY MINERALOGY; COLORADO PLATEAU; CONVECTIVE PRECIPITATION; DEBRIS FLOW; DEBRIS FLOWS; ELEVATION MODELS; GEOMORPHOLOGY; HOLOCENE; MAJOR-CATION CHEMISTRY; MASS WASTING; MULTI LAYERING; MULTIVARIATE STATISTICS; NORTH AMERICA; SEDIMENTARY ROCK; SINGLE LAYERS; SPECIFIC AREAS; STEEP TOPOGRAPHY;

CATALYST ACTIVITY; CHEMISTRY; CLAY DEPOSITS; CONCENTRATION (PROCESS); CRYSTALLOGRAPHY; DEBRIS; ENGINEERING GEOLOGY; GARNETS; KAOLINITE; LANDFORMS; LAW ENFORCEMENT; LIGHT METALS; LITHOLOGY; MAGNESIUM; MINERALOGY; MINERALS; ORE DEPOSIT GEOLOGY; POSITIVE IONS; SILICA; SILICATE MINERALS; SULFATE MINERALS;

CLAY MINERALS;

BEDROCK; CLAY MINERAL; COLLUVIAL DEPOSIT; DEBRIS FLOW; DIGITAL ELEVATION MODEL; FINE GRAINED SEDIMENT; GEOMORPHOLOGY; HOLOCENE; ILLITE; KAOLINITE; MAPPING METHOD; MASS WASTING; MONTMORILLONITE; MULTIVARIATE ANALYSIS;

ARIZONA; COLORADO PLATEAU; GRAND CANYON; NORTH AMERICA; UNITED STATES;

EID: 49749128046     PISSN: 00167606     EISSN: 00167606     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1130/B26055.1     Document Type: Article

References (48)

1. Baars, D.L., 2000, The Colorado Plateau: Albuquerque, University of New Mexico Press, 254 p.
2. Beverage, J.P., and Culbertson, J.K., 1964, Hyperconcentrations of suspended sediment: American Society of Civil Engineers: Journal of the Hydraulics Division, v. 90, p. 117-126.
3. Birkeland, P.W., 1984, Soils and geomorphology: New York, Oxford University Press, 372 p.
4. Blackwelder, E., 1928, Mudflow as a geologic agent in semi-arid mountains: Geological Society of America Bulletin, v. 39, p. 465-494.
5. Blatt, H., Middleton, G., and Murray, R., 1972, Origin of sedimentary rocks: Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, Prentice-Hall, 634 p.
6. Boison, P.J., and Patton, P., 1985, Sediment storage and terrace formation in Coyote Gulch basin, south-central Utah: Geology, v. 13, p. 31-34, doi: 10.1130/0091-7613 (1985)13<31:SSATFI>2.0.CO;2.
7. Borchardt, G.A., 1977, Clay mineralogy and slope stability: California Division of Mines and Geology Special Report 133, 15 p.
8. Brabb, E.E., Wieczorek, G.F., and Harp, E.L., 1989, Map showing 1983 landslides in Utah: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF-2085, 1 sheet, scale 1:500,000.
9. Brabb, E.E., Colgan, J.P., and Best, T.C., 1999, Map showing inventory and regional susceptibility for Holocene debris flows and related fast-moving landslides in the conterminous United States: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF-2329, 1 sheet, scale 1:2,500,000.
10. Conover, W.J., 1980, Practical nonparametric statistics: New York, John Wiley and Sons, 493 p.
11. Cooley, M.E., Aldridge, B.N., and Euler, R.C., 1977, Effects of the catastrophic flood of December, 1966, North Rim area, eastern Grand Canyon, Arizona: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 980, 43 p.
12. Dufrêne, M., and Legendre, P., 1997, Species assemblages and indicator species: The need for a flexible asymmetrical approach: Ecological Monographs, v. 67, p. 345-366.
13. Elliott, J.G., and Hammack, L.A., 1999, Geomorphic and sedimentologic characteristics of alluvial reaches in the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Monument, Colorado: U.S. Geological Survey Water-Resources Investigations Report 99-4082, 67 p.
14. Garvin, C.D., Hanks, T.C., Finkel, R.C., and Heimsath, A.M., 2005, Episodic incision of the Colorado River in Glen Canyon, Utah: Earth Surface Processes and Landforms, v. 30, p. 973-984, doi: 10.1002/ esp.1257.
15. Griffiths, P.G., 1995, Initiation and frequency of debris flows in Grand Canyon, Arizona [M.S. thesis]: Tucson, University of Arizona, 52 p.
16. Griffiths, P.G., Webb, R.H., and Melis, T.S., 2004, Initiation and frequency of debris flows in Grand Canyon, Arizona: Journal of Geophysical Research, Surface Processes, v. 109, 14 p., F04002, doi:10.1029/2003JF000077.
17. Haan, C.T., 1977, Statistical methods in hydrology: Iowa State University Press, 378 p.
18. Hammack, L., and Wohl, E., 1996, Debris-fan formation and rapid modification at Warm Springs Rapid, Yampa River, Colorado: The Journal of Geology, v. 104, p. 729-740.
19. Hampton, M.A., 1975, Competence of fine-grained debris flows: Journal of Sedimentary Petrology, v. 45, p. 834-844.
20. Hanks, T.C., Lucchitta, I., Davis, S.W., Davis, M.E., Finkel, R.C., Lefton, S.A., and Garvin, C.D., 2002, The Colorado River and the age of Glen Canyon, in Young, R.A., and Spamer, E.E., eds., Colorado River, Origin and evolution: Grand Canyon, Arizona, Grand Canyon Association, p. 129-133.
21. Hereford, R., and Huntoon, P.W., 1990, Rock movement and mass wastage in the Grand Canyon, in Beus, S.S., and Morales, M., eds., Grand Canyon geology: New York, Oxford University Press, p. 443-459.
22. Hereford, R., and Webb, R.H., 1992, Historic variation in warm-season rainfall on the Colorado Plateau, U.S.A: Climatic Change, v. 22, p. 239-256, doi: 10.1007/BF00143030.
23. Hereford, R., Thompson, K.S., and Burke, K.J., 1998, Numerical ages of Holocene tributary debris fans inferred from dissolution pitting on carbonate boulders in the Grand Canyon of Arizona: Quaternary Research, v. 50, p. 139-147, doi: 10.1006/qres.1998.1987.
24. Hereford, R., Webb, R.H., and Graham, S., 2002, Precipitation history of the Colorado Plateau region, 1900-2000: U.S. Geological Survey Fact Sheet 119-02, 4 p.
25. Hintze, L.F., 1988, Geologic history of Utah: Provo, Brigham Young University, 202 p.
26. Hunt, C.B., 1967, Physiography of the United States: San Francisco, W.H. Freeman, 480 p.
27. Iverson, R.M., 1997, The physics of debris flows: Reviews of Geophysics, v. 35, p. 245-296, doi: 10.1029/97RG 00426.
28. Iverson, R.M., Reid, M.E., and LaHusen, R.G., 1997, Debris-flow mobilization from landslides: Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences, v. 25, p. 85-138, doi: 10.1146/annurev.earth.25.1.85.
29. Jibson, R.W., and Harp, E.L., 1996, The Springdale, Utah, landslide: An extraordinary event: Environmental and Engineering Geoscience, v. 2, p. 137-150.
30. Larsen, I.J., 2003, From the rim to the river: The geomorphology of debris flows in the Green River Canyons of Dinosaur National Monument, Colorado and Utah [M.S. thesis]: Logan, Utah State University, 195 p.
31. Larsen, I.J., Schmidt, J.C., and Martin, J.A., 2004, Debris-fan reworking during low-magnitude floods in the Green River canyons of the eastern Uinta Mountain, Colorado and Utah: Geology, v. 32, p. 309-312, doi: 10. 1130/G20235.1.
32. McCune, B., and Grace, J.B., 2002, Analysis of ecological communities: Gleneden Beach, Oregon, MjM Software Design, 300 p.
33. Melis, T.S., Webb, R.H., Griffiths, P.G., and Wise, T.J., 1994, Magnitude and frequency data for historic debris flows in Grand Canyon National Park and vicinity, Arizona: U.S. Geological Survey Water Resources Investigations Report 94-4214, 285 p.
34. Pierson, T.C., and Costa, J.E., 1987, A rheologic classification of subaerial sediment-water flows, in Costa, J.E., and Wieczorek, G.F., eds., Debris flows/avalanches - Process, recognition, and mitigation: Reviews in Engineering Geology, v. 7, p. 1-12.
35. Radbrunch-Hall, D.H., Colton, R.B., Davis, W.D., Skipp, B.A., Lucchitta, I., and Varnes, D.J., 1976, Preliminary landslide overview map of the conterminous United States: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF-771, 1 sheet, scale 1:7,500,000.
36. Rudd, L.P., 2005, Using AVIRIS hyperspectral imagery to study the role of clay mineralogy in Colorado Plateau debris-flow initiation [Ph.D. thesis]: Tucson, University of Arizona, 248 p.
37. Schroder, J.F., 1971, Landslides of Utah: Utah Geological and Mineralogical Survey Bulletin 90, 51 p.
38. Starkey, H.C., Blackmoun, P.D., and Hauff, P.L., 1984, The routine mineralogical analysis of clay-bearing samples: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 1563, 32 p.
39. Stokes, W.L., 1998, Geology of Utah: Salt Lake City, Utah Museum of Natural History, 208 p.
40. Webb, R.H., Pringle, P.T., Reneau, S.L., and Rink, G.R., 1988, The 1984 Monument Creek debris flow: Implications for the formation of rapids on the Colorado River in Grand Canyon National Park: Geology, v. 16, p. 50-54, doi: 10. 1130/009l-7613(1988)016<0050:MCDFIF>2.3.CO;2.
41. Webb, R.H., Pringle, P.T., and Rink, G.R., 1989, Debris flows in tributaries of the Colorado River in Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1492, 39 p.
42. Webb, R.H., Melis, T.S., Griffiths, P.G., Elliott J.G., Cerling, T.E., Poreda, R.J., Wise, T.W., and Pizzuto, J.E., 1999, Lava Falls Rapid in Grand Canyon: Effects of late Holocene debris flows on the Colorado River: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1591, 91 p.
43. Webb, R.H., Griffiths, P.G., Melis, T.S., and Hartley, D.R., 2000, Sediment delivery by ungaged tributaries of the Colorado River in Grand Canyon, Arizona: U.S. Geological Survey Water-Resources Investigations Report 00-4055, 67 p.
44. Webb, R.H., Belnap, J., and Weisheit, J., 2004, Cataract Canyon: A human and environmental history of the rivers in Canyonlands: Salt Lake City, University of Utah Press, 268 p.
45. Wells, W.G., II, Wohlgemuth, P.M., Campbell, A.G., and Weirich, F.H., 1987, Postfire sediment movement by debris flows in the Santa Ynez Mountains, California, in Erosion and sedimentation in the Pacific Rim: Proceedings of the Corvallis Symposium, International Association of Hydrologic Sciences Publication no. 165, p. 275-276.
46. Whipple, K.X., and Dunne, T., 1992, The influence of debris-flow theology on fan morphology, Owens Valley, California: Geological Society of America Bulletin, v. 104, p. 887-900, doi: 10. 1130/ 0016-7606(1992)104<0887:T IODFR>2.3.CO;2.
47. Williams, V.S., 1984, Pedimentation versus debris-flow origin of plateau-side desert terraces in southern Utah: The Journal of Geology, v. 92, p. 457-468.
48. Woolley, R.R., 1946, Cloudburst floods in Utah, 1850-1938: U.S. Geological Survey Water-Supply Paper 994, 128 p.