Landform-derived placement of electrical resistivity prospecting for paleotopography reconstruction in the loess landforms of China

Abstract The paleotopography of loess landform represents the initial surface before the evolution of the Aeolian depositional process. This paleotopography served as an indicator of the paleo-geography and erosion base that restrained the evolution of the current landform. In this case study, a landform-derived placement method involving electrical resistivity prospecting is proposed for paleotopography reconstruction. The method consists of extracting terrain feature knowledge and terrain feature-based paleotopography prospecting and reconstruction. The field experiment is validated and used in three typical loess landform areas in the Chinese Loess Plateau. These typical loess landforms include loess hill, loess ridge, and loess tableland. Terrain features considered include peaks, saddles, ridges, and gullies. The results show significant electrical resistivity difference between the paleotopography and loess strata. The electrical resistivity method could effectively detect the paleotopography and different loess layers. The reconstructed paleotopography using the feature-based method could effectively represent the morphology of the paleosurface compared to the result of the interpolation method. The reconstructed paleotopography also appears as a coincident terrain relief compared to modern topography; such a relief demonstrates significant landform inheritance between modern terrain and paleotopography. In the loess hill and ridge landform areas, the relative elevation difference of paleotopography is approximately 50 m whereas that of the modern terrain is roughly 150 m, indicating that the loess deposition process increased the topographic relief from paleotopography to modern terrain by approximately 100 m. Similar altitude of the paleotopographic peaks (roughly 10 m height difference) appears in the two nearby loess ridge and hill areas. The results indicate that paleo-geography of this area should be a landform of peneplain and almost a planation surface.

[1]  M. Meirvenne,et al.  Reconstructing the paleotopography beneath the loess cover with the aid of an electromagnetic induction sensor , 2008 .

[2]  R. Bradley.  Chapter 7 – Loess , 2015 .

[3]  E. Arnau-Rosalén,et al.  Erosion and stabilisation sequences in relation to base level changes in the El Cautivo badlands, SE Spain , 2008 .

[4]  J. Spotila,et al.  Geologic controls on bedrock channel width in large, slowly-eroding catchments: Case study of the New River in eastern North America , 2015 .

[5]  Denis Jongmans,et al.  Paleotopographic control of landslides in lacustrine deposits (Trièves plateau, French western Alps) , 2011 .

[6]  A. Takeuchi,et al.  Influence of paleorelief on the Mid-Miocene climate variation in southeastern Washington, northeastern Oregon, and western Idaho, USA , 2007 .

[7]  H. Mitásová,et al.  General variational approach to the interpolation problem , 1988 .

[8]  A. Zhisheng,et al.  Loess in Kunlun Mountains and its implications on desert development and Tibetan Plateau uplift in west China , 2002 .

[9]  A. Roberts,et al.  Magnetostratigraphy of Chinese loess–paleosol sequences , 2015 .

[10]  N. Theys,et al.  Author ' s personal copy Paleosurfaces , paleoelevation , and the mechanisms for the late Miocene topographic development of the Altiplano plateau , 2008 .

[11]  J. Lamarche,et al.  3D structural modelling of small-deformations in poly-phase faults pattern. Application to the Mid-Cretaceous Durance uplift, Provence (SE France) , 2010 .

[12]  David G. Tarboton,et al.  On the extraction of channel networks from digital elevation data , 1991 .

[13]  J. Roering,et al.  Experimental evidence for hillslope control of landscape scale , 2015, Science.

[14]  Tang Guoan,et al.  Geomorphological inheritance for loess landform evolution in a severe soil erosion region of Loess Plateau of China based on digital elevation models , 2014 .

[15]  Jiajing Wang,et al.  Geomorphological divisions of the Tibet Plateau based on topographical feature point groups from DEMs , 2014, Ann. GIS.

[16]  Sridhar Anandakrishnan,et al.  Evaluating Marie Byrd Land stability using an improved basal topography , 2014 .

[17]  John M. Reynolds,et al.  An Introduction to Applied and Environmental Geophysics , 1997 .

[18]  L. Jozwiak,et al.  The volcanic history of Olympus Mons from paleo-topography and flexural modeling , 2013 .

[19]  Shuzhen Peng,et al.  Onset of Asian desertification by 22 Myr ago inferred from loess deposits in China , 2002, Nature.

[20]  P. Lahitte,et al.  Construction and destruction rates of volcanoes within tropical environment: Examples from the Basse-Terre Island (Guadeloupe, Lesser Antilles) , 2015 .

[21]  K. Stattegger,et al.  Bedrock control on the Assu Incised Valley morphology and sedimentation in the Brazilian Equatorial Shelf , 2016 .

[22]  O. Sass,et al.  Application of field geophysics in geomorphology: Advances and limitations exemplified by case studies , 2008 .

[23]  Z. Ding,et al.  Towards an orbital time scale for chinese loess deposits , 1994 .

[24]  E. Reis,et al.  Reconstructing pre-erosion topography using spatial interpolation techniques: A validation-based approach , 2015, Journal of Geographical Sciences.

[25]  Tomislav Hengl,et al.  Mathematical and digital models of the land surface , 2009 .

[26]  M. Pécsi.  Loess and environment , 1987 .

[27]  Oliver Kuras,et al.  Recent developments in the direct-current geoelectrical imaging method , 2013 .

[28]  G. Richard,et al.  Electrical resistivity survey in soil science: a review . , 2005 .

[29]  G. Retallack,et al.  Late Miocene advent of tall grassland paleosols in Oregon , 2002 .

[30]  M. Thiry,et al.  Variety and relationships of weathering features along the early Tertiary palaeosurface in the southwestern French Massif Central and the nearby Aquitaine Basin , 1997 .

[31]  T. Dahlin.  The development of DC resistivity imaging techniques , 2001 .

[32]  Hansruedi Maurer,et al.  Interpolation of landslide movements to improve the accuracy of 4D geoelectrical monitoring , 2015 .

[33]  Q. Hao,et al.  Eolian origin of the Miocene loess-soil sequence at Qin’an, China: Evidence of quartz morphology and quartz grain-size , 2006 .

[34]  D. Diaz-Doce,et al.  Bedrock controls on subglacial landform distribution and geomorphological processes: Evidence from the Late Devensian Irish Sea Ice Stream , 2010 .

[35]  Kendra E. Murray,et al.  Topographic relief driven by variations in surface rock density , 2014 .

[36]  M. Gómez-Heras,et al.  Multiscale structural and lithologic controls in the development of stream potholes on granite bedrock rivers , 2014 .

[37]  F. Herman,et al.  Controls of initial topography on temporal and spatial patterns of glacial erosion , 2014 .

[38]  H. Anschütz,et al.  Combining airborne electromagnetic and geotechnical data for automated depth to bedrock tracking , 2015 .

[39]  D. Granger,et al.  Distinguishing between tectonic and lithologic controls on bedrock channel longitudinal profiles using cosmogenic 10Be erosion rates and channel steepness index , 2009 .

[40]  A-Xing Zhu,et al.  Paleotopographic controls on loess deposition in the Loess Plateau of China , 2016 .

[41]  Liyang Xiong,et al.  Modeling the evolution of loess-covered landforms in the Loess Plateau of China using a DEM of underground bedrock surface , 2014 .

[42]  Guoan Tang,et al.  Positive and negative terrains on northern Shaanxi Loess Plateau , 2010 .

[43]  F. Schlunegger,et al.  Miocene paleotopography of the Central Alps , 2012 .

[44]  S. Willett,et al.  Dynamic Reorganization of River Basins , 2014, Science.