Natural Walls of Anatolia: formation and development of Diş Kayalıkları as a structural landform (Sivas, Türkiye)

The Diş Kayalıkları is one of the largest and most striking examples of crests in the world and is located between Eskidere and Boğazören villages of the İmranlı district of the Sivas province in Turkey. The crests, which resemble castle walls when viewed from afar, have a real wall pattern due to the right-angled crack system of the bedrock when viewed closely. This study aims at investigating the geomorphological features of the Diş Kayalıkları and determining how the geological and geomorphological evolution of the Diş Kayalıkları took place and how the current formation mechanism continues. In the region, the mid-latitude continental climate prevails with cold humid winters and warm dry summers. The bedrock consists of Miocene bedded deposits of different resistance, folded by young tectonic movements. Diş Kayalıkları was formed by selective erosion of less resistant terrain around a pack of resistant rock on the steeper southern slope of an asymmetrical anticline. It has a length of 4750 m in the approximately northwest-southeast direction, a maximum height of 30 m, and a width varying between 5 and 8 m. In the present morphological appearance of the Diş Kayalıkları, it can be stated that the structure formed after the tectonic formation process was eroded under the control of the local climate and crest formation was realized. In the following process, the crest experienced a polycyclic process where different landforms were formed. There are smaller landforms such as karren, cave and rock window on Diş Kayalıkları, and macrofossil beds in some places. This highly attractive geomorphosite, unknown to wider public, should be investigated from various scientific aspects and should be brought to regional tourism by making the necessary infrastructure and promotion studies.

Hierarchical pattern recognition of landform elements considering scale adaptation

Landform elements with varying morphologies and spatial arrangements are recognized as feature indicator of landform classification and play a critical role in geomorphological studies.Differential geometry method has been extensively applied in prior landform element research,while its efficacy in differentiating similar morphological characteristics remains inadequate to date.To reduce reliance on geomorphometric variables and increase awareness of landform patterns,geomorphons method was generated in previous study corresponding to specific landform reclassification map based on lookup table.Besides,to address the problem of feature similarity,hierarchical classification was proposed and effectively utilized for terrain recognition through the analytical strategy of fuzzy gradient features.Thus,combining the advantages of these two aspects,a hierarchical framework was proposed in this study for landform element pattern recognition considering the morphology and hierarchy factors.First,the local triplet patterns derived from geomorphons were enhanced by setting the flatness threshold,and subsequently adopted for the primary landform element recognition.Then,as geomorphic units with the same morphology possess different spatial analytical scales,the unidentified landform elements under the principle of scale adaptation were determined by calculating the spatial correlation and entropy information.To ensure the effectiveness of this proposed method,the sampling points were randomly selected from NASADEM data and then validated against a real 3D terrain model.Quantitative results of landform element pattern recognition demonstrate that our approach can reach above 77%average accuracy.Additionally,it delineates local details more effectively than geomorphons in visual assessment,resulting in a 7%accuracy improvement in overall scale.

Ground fissure development regularity and formation mechanism of shallow buried coal seam mining with Karst landform in Jiaozi coal mine: a case study

A comprehensive study was undertaken at Jiaozi coal mine to investigate the development regularity of ground fissures in shallow buried coal seam mining with Karst landform,shedding light on the development type,geographical distribution,dynamic development process,and failure mechanism of these ground fissures by employing field monitoring,numerical simulation,and theoretical analysis.The findings demonstrate that ground fissure development has an obvious feature of subregion,and its geographical distribution is significantly affected by topography.Tensile type,open type,and stepped type are three different categories of ground fissure.Ground fissures emerge dynamically as the panel advances,and they typically develop with a distance of less than periodic weighting step distance in advance of panel advancing position.Ground fissures present the dynamic development feature,temporary fissure has the ability of self-healing.The dynamic development process of ground fissure with closed-distance coal seam repeated mining is expounded,and the development scale is a dynamic development stage of“closure→expansion→stabilized”on the basis of the original development scale.From the perspective of topsoil deformation,the computation model considering two points movement vectors towards two directions of the gob and the ground surface is established,the development criterion considering the critical deformation value of topsoil is obtained.The mechanical model of hinged structure of inclined body is proposed to clarify the ground fissure development,and the interaction between slope activity and ground fissure development is expounded.These research results fulfill the gap of ground fissures about development regularity and formation mechanism,and can contribute to ground fissure prevention and treatment with Karst landform.

Aspect in Topography to Enhance Fine-detailed Landform Element Extraction on High-resolution DEM

The value of the high-resolution data lies in the high-precision information discovery.The fine-detailed landform element extraction is thus the basis of high-fidelity application of the high-resolution digital elevation models(DEMs).However,the results of landform element extraction generated by classical methods might be ungrounded on high-resolution DEMs.This paper presents our research on using the aspect to reinforce the applicability and robustness of the classical approaches in landform element extraction.First,according to the research of pattern recognition,we assume that aspect-enhanced landform representation is robust to rotation,scaling and affine variance.To testify the role of aspect,we respectively integrated the aspect into three classical approaches:mean curvaturebased fuzzy classification,elevation-based feature descriptor,and object-based segmentation.In the experiment,based on four types of high-resolution DEMs(1 m,2 m,4 m and 8 m),we compare each classical approaches and their corresponding aspect-enhanced approaches based on extracting the rims of two craters having different landforms,and the ridgelines and valleylines of a region covered by few vegetables and man-made buildings.In comparison to the results generated by curvature-based fuzzy classification,the aspect enhanced curvature-based fuzzy classification can effectively filter a number of noises outperforms the curvature-based one.Otherwise,the aspect-enhanced feature descriptor can detect more landform elements than the elevation-based feature descriptor.Moreover,the aspect-based segmentation can detect the main structure of landform,while the boundaries segmented by classical approaches are messing and meaningless.The systematic experiments on meter-level resolution DEMs proved that the aspect in topography could effectively to improve the classical method-system,including fuzzy-based classification,feature descriptors-based detection and object-based segmentation.The value of aspect is significantly great to be worthy of attentions in landform representation.

Automatic recognition of loess landforms using Random Forest method

The automatic recognition of landforms is regarded as one of the most important procedures to classify landforms and deepen the understanding on the morphology of the earth. However, landform types are rather complex and gradual changes often occur in these landforms, thus increasing the difficulty in automatically recognizing and classifying landforms. In this study, small-scale watersheds, which are regarded as natural geomorphological elements, were extracted and selected as basic analysis and recognition units based on the data of SRTM DEM. In addition, datasets integrated with terrain derivatives(e.g., average slope gradient, and elevation range) and texture derivatives(e.g., slope gradient contrast and elevation variance) were constructed to quantify the topographical characteristics of watersheds. Finally, Random Forest(RF) method was employed to automatically select features and classify landforms based on their topographical characteristics. The proposed method was applied and validated in seven case areas in the Northern Shaanxi Loess Plateau for its complex andgradual changed landforms. Experimental results show that the highest recognition accuracy based on the selected derivations is 92.06%. During the recognition procedure, the contributions of terrain derivations were higher than that of texture derivations within selected derivative datasets. Loess terrace and loess mid-mountain obtained the highest accuracy among the seven typical loess landforms. However, the recognition precision of loess hill, loess hill–ridge, and loess sloping ridge is relatively low. The experiment also shows that watershed-based strategy could achieve better results than object-based strategy, and the method of RF could effectively extract and recognize the feature of landforms.

Danxia landform genesis of the Qiyun Mountain, Anhui Province

The Danxia landform of Qiyun Mountain is mainly developed on the red granule conglomerates named Xiaoyan Group （K2x^1） of middle Cretaceous series, which is controlled mainly by three faulted zones, namely, Jingdezhen-Qimen faulted zone, Jiangwan-Jiekou compressional faulted zone and Kaihua-Chun＇an folding faulted zone. During the Cretaceous period, this area firstly experienced massif subsidence to become a continental faulted basin, then having thick Cretaceous red sediments accumulated on it. In the supervened neotectonism, this area experienced an uplifting process, which made the thick Cretaceous sediments into a mountain with an altitude of 500-600 m. After undergoing the processes of vertical joint development, weathering, denudation and transportation, as well as evidently differential weathering and denudation influenced by lithology and structure between sandstone and conglomerate, the grand Danxia landscape consisting of peak forests, steep cliffs, caves, mesas, castellated peaks, natural bridges and so on formed. The three nick points located respectively at 585 m, 400 m and 150 m generally reflect the three dominated uplifting processes during the neotectonism.

Danxia Landforms: Rosy Clouds on Earth

A Danxia landform is a red-bed landform characterized by steep cliffs. It was initially discovered and named by Chinese scholars. Although there are red-bed landforms in many parts of the world, China, with a special fondness for the color red, boasts the most widely distributed Danxia possessing unique characteristics. This is a mesmerizing natural formation and a special gift that nature has bestowed upon this country.

Upper Cretaceous alluvial fan deposits in the Jianglangshan Geopark of Southeast China:implications for bedrock control on Danxia landform evolution

The Jianglangshan Geopark in the western Zhejiang Province of Southeast China is well-known for its spectacular red-colored sandstone landforms. Little is known about the depositional processes of the conglomerate-dominated Fangyan Formation, the lithologic base of the Danxia landforms in this geopark. Based on detailed field investigation of lithology, sedimentary structures, bed thickness and geometry, five facies are recognized: facies A(matrixsupported cobble conglomerate), facies B(pebble conglomerate), facies C(pebbly sandstone), facies D(fine-grained sandstone) and facies E(mudstone). The results show that streamflow-dominated fans were the main depositional processes responsible for the accumulation of the Fangyan Formation along the mountain fronts. These fan conglomerates form the base for the evolution of the Danxia landscapes owing to the uplift and erosion of the study area. In contrast, the fine-grained sedimentary successions produced by fluvial floodplains in the distal part of the fans were thinner and more easily weathered. Such sedimentary facies distribution patterns were thought to be similar during Late Cretaceous across Southeast China. The Danxia landforms are largely the geographical expressions of the conglomerate-dominated redbeds in the proximal-middle fans.

Wind tunnel experiments on dust emissions from different landform types

The measurement and assessment of dust emissions from different landforms are important to understand the atmospheric loading of PM10 （particulate matter ≤10 μm aerodynamic diameter） and to assess natural sources of dust; however, the methodology and technique for determining the dust still present significant research challenges. In the past, specialized field observation and field wind tunnel studies have been used to understand the dust emission. A series of wind tunnel tests were carried out to identify natural sources of dust and measure the magnitudes of dust emissions from different landforms. The method used in this study allowed the measurement of the PM10 emission rate using a laboratory based environmental boundary layer wind tunnel. Results indicated that PM10 emissions demonstrated strong temporal variation and were primarily driven by aerodynamic entrainment. Sand dunes, playa, and alluvial fans had the largest dust emission rates （0.8-5.4 mg/（me.s）） while sandy gravel, Gobi desert and abandoned lands had the lowest emission rates （0.003-0.126 mg/（m2.s））. Dust emissions were heavily dependent on the surface conditions, especially the availability of loose surface dust. High dust emissions were a result of the availability of dust- particle materials for entrainment while low dust emissions were a result of surface crusts and gravel cover. Soil surface property （surface crusts and gravel cover） plays an important role in controlling the availability of dust-sized particles for entrainment. The dust emission rate depended not only on the surface conditions but also on the friction velocity. The emission rate of PM10 varies as a power function of the friction velocity. Although dynamic abrasion processes have a strong influence on the amount of dust entrainment, aerodynamic entrainment may provide an important mechanism for dust emissions. Large volumes of dust entrained by aerodynamic entrainment cannot only occur at low shear velocity without saltation, but may dominate the entrainment process in many arid and semi-arid environments. So it may also be responsible for large magnitude dust storms. Playa and alluvial fan landforms, prior to developing a surface crust, may be the main sources of dust storms in Qinghai Province.

Tectonic Landform of Quaternary Lakes and Its Implications for Deformation in the Northern Qinghai-Tibet Plateau

The Hohxil region in the northern Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is occupied by numerous plateau lakes, which have long been inferred as being tectonic products. However, so far little evidence has been found to support this tentative inference. Field survey and morphotectonic analysis of TM satellite images in the eastern segment of the Hohxil region revealed that Kusai Lake and Yelusu Lake are S- shaped pull-apart basins, which were dominated by left strike-slip master faults trending WNW-ESE. The pull-apart distances of the two lakes are analyzed to be 〈15-20 km and 15 km respectively. Based on studies of the faulting rate, the initiation ages of the pull-apart basins are suggested to be approximately in the Early Pleistocene. The pull-apart basin tectonics is further regarded as a common mechanism for the widely distributed large lake basins in the northern Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. Regional distribution of these pull-apart basins and their substantial intra-block slip suggest that a sinistral shear stress, which is independent of the distinguished strike-slip faults, has been imposed on across the northern Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. Thus, the intra-block slip may be an important expression of the eastward extrusion of the Plateau crustal material in accommodating the ongoing continent-continent convergence between India and Eurasia. The revelation of pull-apart tectonics within the Plateau hinterland provides field evidence and a possible style of deformation for the newly proposed continuous deformation by the global positioning system （GPS） measurement across the northern Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. A model, with respect to systematic tectonic landform development, for pull- apart basins is finally proposed.

Fractal Characteristics of Gravity Landform and Its SOC Mechanism

From the principle of self-organized criticality （SOC）, this work presents our current understanding of the relationship between the morphology and the dynamics of the evolution of landforms. First, we validate the assumption： Erosional slopes may be treated as SOC systems. Thus Sand-pile models will reflect the universal process of energy dissipation within the slope accumulation under the self-organizing actions. And the scale and frequency of deposit landforms will be related by Fractal structure. Then, by analyzing the field data, such as landslides, rockfalls and debris flow fans, in three typical areas, the power law for the magnitude-frequency seems very robust. Furthermore, some problems in application are discussed.

Developmetn stage threshold of watershed Landforms in Loess Plateau and separation of erosion mechanism

Threshold is a limit and marginal point when a qualitative change takes place. Since threshold principle was firstly used in landform research by S.A.Schumm in the 1970s, the quantitative research on watershed landform development stage has come true. Davis proposed a three-stage model on landform evolution: young, mature and old stages. Thereafter Strahler quantified this model by hypsometric analysis method. The authors thought that the material movement stage cannot be expressed by hypsometric method in watershed landform at development stage, because of the uncertainty on stage delimitation. To meet this shortcoming, this paper presents an integral erosion value method. A clear delimitation on landform development stage in the Loess Plateau region has been tested by this method. The result shows that gullied loessial hilly area is at the mature stage, and gullied loessial tableland area is at the young stage. It is estimated that from the point of erosion related sediment yield, natural erosion accounts for 70% of the total erosion amount, and artificial accelerating erosion is 30%. Therefore soil and water conservation is very crucial for the Loess Plateau.

Comparative studies of Danxia landforms in China

Danxia geomorphology originates fi＇om China. This paper studies the spatial distribution and differences in characteristics of Danxia landforms. Based on relevant research and investigations, three congregated areas of Danxia landform in China are discussed in this paper. They are the southeast area （including Jiangxi, Fujian, Zhejiang, Hunan and Guangxi provinces）, the southwest area （the transitional zone of Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau and Sichuan Basin） and the northwest area （including Longshan mountain and along the banks of the Huanghe River and its anabranches）. Not only the conditions of geology and geography of the three areas but also the differences of Danxia landforms of the three areas are analyzed. The Danxia landscape, characterized by upright-shaped peaks, Danxia mesa, stone wall, cave and vertical cave, ＂Danxia natural bridge＂, ＂a narrow strip of sky＂ and so on, often presents in the southeast area. The landscape of southwest area is characterized by Danxia escarpment faces and waterfalls. In the northwest area, the Danxia landscape has the traits of arid areas simultaneously, for example, mud-coating type, columniation type, board type, moreover, it is greatly different between these environmental factors such as the microclimate, water, wind, and the loess cover. Finally it explores the causes which lead differences in landform and also explains the landform formation process and its mechanism with reference to the rates of crustal uplift, the tectonic red-basin, and the external processes including working of running water, weathering, biogenic, gravity in each area of Danxia Landforms in China.

Species Diversity of Rock Plant Community in Danxia Landform of Zhejiang Province

In order to provide scientific basis for vegetation and biodiversity conservation,species diversity of rock plant in Danxia landform of Zhejiang Province was analyzed in this study.According to the results,there were 195 species belonging to 143 genera and 82 families.The changing trend in Margalef index,Simpson index and Shannon-Wiener index of the same community in different layers was the same,namely herb layer>shrub layer>moss layer>liana layer;the order of Pielou index was moss layer>liana layer>herb layer>shrub layer.Comparing species diversity in different regions,we found that the index of all layers on Jianglang Mountain was higher except the moss layer.

Simulation of the landform change process on a purple soil slope due to tillage erosion and water erosion using UAV technology

Both tillage erosion and water erosion are severe erosional forms that occur widely on sloping agricultural land.However,previous studies have rarely considered the process of landform change due to continuous simulation experiments of alternating tillage erosion and water erosion.To identify such changes,we applied a scouring experiment(at a 60 L min-1 water discharge rate based on precipitation data from the local meteorological station and the catchment area in the Yuanmou County,Yunnan Province,China)and a series of simulated tillage experiments where plots were consecutively tilled 5,10,and 15 times in rotation(representing 5 yr,10 yr,and 15 yr of tillage)at slope gradients of 5°,10°,and 20°.Close-range photogrammetry(CRP)employing an unmanned aerial vehicle(UAV)and a real-time kinematic global positioning system(RTK-GPS)was used to measure landform changes,and highresolution digital elevation models(DEMs)were generated to calculate net soil loss volumes.Additionally,the CRP was determined to be accurate and applicable through the use of erosion pins.The average tillage erosion rates were 69.85,131.45,and 155.34 t·hm-2·tillage pass-1,and the average water erosion rates were 1892.52,2961.76,and 4405.93 t·hm-2·h-1 for the 5°,10°,and 20°sloping farmland plots,respectively.The water erosion rates increased as tillage intensity increased,indicating that tillage erosion accelerates water erosion.Following these intensive tillage treatments,slope gradients gradually decreased,while the trend in slope gradients increased in runoff plots at the conclusion of the scouring experiment.Compared to the original plots(prior to our experiments),interactions between tillage and water erosion caused no obvious change in the landform structure of the runoff plots,while the height of all the runoff plots decreased.Our findings showed that both tillage erosion and water erosion caused a pseudo-steady-state landform evolutionary mechanism and resulted in thin soil layers on cultivated land composed of purple soil in China.

Research on the Genesis and Development of Danxia Landform in the South Sichuan

The South Sichuan is one of the areas in China famous for Danxia Landform. Danxia Landform in the South Sichuan is characterized by wide distribution and square shaped hills. However, there is no systematic research on the genesis of those Danxia Landforms at present. Based on the study of spatial distribution and the genesis of the Danxia Landforms in the South Sichuan, we discovered that the lithostratigraphy, regional tectonic, crustal uplift and external forces contribute together to the formation of the Danxia Landform. On the basis of learning the development experiences from famous scenic spots and the updated national policies and regulations, proposals were made to boost the development of Danxia Landform resources in the South Sichuan by excavating its historic, cultural, natural and scientific connotation in the form of educational tourism.

Landform Design of Urban Landfill Landscapes

Compared with landform design in common urban green spaces, landform landscape design of garbage landfi ll sites require higher technical regulations, and there are more restrictions for the design. This paper explored landform design of three types of landfi ll sites: domestic garbage landfi ll site, building waste landfi ll site and polluted soil landf ill site. Two aspects were included: exploring landform peculiarity of landfi ll sites by sorting out technologies and regulations; exploring landscape design methods of landf ill landscapes.

Revealing the Landform Types and Morphologic Features of Lunar Surface

A lunar geologic map at a scale of 1：5000000 was finished in the 1970s by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, U.S U.S. Geological Survey. Department of the Interior, Till now, the landform classification system and lunar morphologic mapping have not been clarified. The work aims to put forward a new landform classification system and to obtain index and map in the Sheet H010. Some key morphologic features of lunar surface were compared with those of the Earth. This research is very important for whole lunar morphologic mapping and unraveling evolutionary progress.

Automated Landform Classification of China Based on Hammond’s Method

The automatic classification of Macro landforms was processed with the program developed by Hammond’s Manual procedures, which based on properties of slope, local relief, and profile type, which consists of 5 landform types, 24 landform class and 96 landform subclasses. This program identified landform types by moving a square window with size of 9.8 km × 9.8 km. The data includes 816 sheets of topological map with a scale of 1:250,000. The DEM were buildup with the contours and mark points based on this data with a cell size of 200 m, and merge into one sheet. The automated classification was processed on this DEM data with a AML program of ArcGIS 10.X Workstation. The result indicates it produced a classification that has good resemblance to the landforms in China. The maps were produced respectively with 5 types, 16 classes and, 90 subclasses The 5 Landform types of landforms were Plains (PLA), 20.25% of whole areas;Tablelands (TAB) of 3.56%;Plains with Hills or Mountains (PHM) of 32.84%;Open Hills and Mountains (OHM) of 18.72%;Hills and Mountains (HM) of 24.63%. In the result of 24 landform classes, there are not some classes, such as irregular plains with low relief;open very low hills, open low hills;very low hills, low hills, moderate hills. The result of 96 landform subclass is similar to the 24 class.

A PRELIMINARY STUDY ON QUATERNARY GLACIAL LANDFORMS IN MT.MA'AN

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