Landforms Evolution of Wadi Qudaid Area, West Central Arabian Shield, Saudi Arabia: An Example of the Role of the Geological Factors in the Urban Extensions

Wadi Qudaid is located in the west central part of Saudi Arabia. It about 135 km to the northeast of Jeddah city along Al Haramein highway and it represents the upstream of the very large alluvial plain along the Red Sea coast. It runs in NE direction parallel to many wadis of the west central part of Saudi Arabia i.e. Wadi Fatima, wadi Sitarah. The wadi floor is filled by Quaternary deposits which represent good groundwater aquifer. Geologically, the present-day residual landforms of Wadi Qudaid are composed mainly of Precambrian Arabia shield rocks overlained by Tertiary sedimentary rocks and finally harrat (Tertiary volcanic). The Precambrian rocks are represented by 1) a lower layered basic and intermediate volcanic and the intercalated volcaniclastics. This unit is correlatable with Samran Group, 2) an upper layered acidic volcanic and the intercalated acidic volcaniclastics. The Arabian shield rocks are intensively folded and dragged along the major NE faults. They are directly overlain by Tertiary basic volcanic (harrat) and the related volcanoclastic red beds). The main geomorphologic elements of the study area include plateau, scarps, and the wadi floor. The plateau is represented by the black basaltic sheet that contains some semi-rounded depressions filled with Quaternary eolian sands. The scarps of the main wadi and its tributaries are nearly steep and contain many asphaltic roads with some isolated cone hills detached from the scarps. Geomorphological, Wadi Qudaid represents the incomplete erosion cycle that begins with the formation of deep galleries and very steep and narrow wadies formed along the major NE faults and related fractures and folds. The progress of the erosion processes led to the formation of narrow interfluves as a result of pedimentation and sculpturing of the wadies sides by scarp retreat. The peniplanation stages of the erosion cycles are reached in the southwestern and the central part of the wadi where fast peniplained areas were formed. The results of this study revealed the role of the different geological processes (lithology, structural elements and climatic conditions) in the distribution of present-day human populations in urban extensions. Qudaid, Dhubaya-Jumah, Dabyah, Al Khamrah, Almansa and Al Massamah are the main villages of Wadi Qudaid area.

Extraction and Analysis of Gully Head of Loess Plateau in China Based on Digital Elevation Model

In China′s Loess Plateau area, gully head is the most active zone of a drainage system in gully areas. The differentiation of loess gully head follows geospatial patterns and reflects the process of the loess landform development and evolution of its drainage system to some extent. In this study, the geomorphic meaning, basic characteristics, morphological structure and the basic types of loess gully heads were systematically analysed. Then, the loess gully head′s conceptual model was established, and an extraction method based on Digital Elevation Model(DEM) for loess gully head features and elements was proposed. Through analysing the achieved statistics of loess gully head features, loess gully heads have apparently similar and different characteristics depending on the different loess landforms where they are found. The loess head characteristics reflect their growth period and evolution tendency to a certain degree, and they indirectly represent evolutionary mechanisms. In addition, the loess gully developmental stages and the evolutionary processes can be deduced by using loess gully head characteristics. This study is of great significance for development and improvement of the theoretical system for describing loess gully landforms.

Planation Surfaces on the Tibet Plateau,China

A planation hypothesis is proposed to explain landform evolution of the Tibet Plateau. A denudation threshold （T）, the maximum potential denudation rate for a certain type of rock, is introduced to explain the combined effects of lithology and tectonics on landform evolution. If the tectonic uplifting rate （U） is equal to or less than the threshold rate （U ≤ T）, the tectonic uplifting and terrain denudation are in dynamic equilibrium, and landforms are in a steady state. The end product should be planation surfaces whether the original landforms are flat plains or deeply dissected mountains. If U 〉 T, uplift and denudation are not able to reach a dynamic equilibrium state. The plateau surface is mostly underlain by soft rocks, such as the Mesozoic epimetamorphic argillites and Tertiary sedimentary rocks, while the mountain ranges comprise hard rocks, such as granite, gneiss and limestone. In soft rock regions, hills are low with a relative relief of mostly less than 100 m and the slopes are gentle at a gradient of 〈200. In contrast, hills can maintain steep slopes in hard rock regions. The Tibet Plateau has been under an equilibrium condition between tectonic uplifting and denudation except for the mountain ranges. The plateau might have reached the present altitudes before the Quaternary.

Assessment of Recent Tectonic Activity along the Yamuna Basin, Garhwal Region, NW-Himalaya, India: Based on Morphotectonic Analysis

Decoupling between climate and tectonics, transform the elevation of earth surface regionally by denudation and displacement of land. To extract the tectonic footprints on morphology of landform, geormophometry is widely accepted tool due to visible responses in Drainage architecture to an intense tectonic environment. The present morphology of Yamuna basin in the Garhwal Himalaya, India is a result of continuing crustal deformation;erosion and deposition in the area. The drainage system and geomorphic expression of topography have been significantly influenced by active tectonics in this basin. In present study, for numerical modelling to detect the influence of tectonic signals on landform, we used morphotectonic parameters, to gradient index (SL), valley floor height to width ratio (Vf), asymmetry factor (Af), basin shape index (BS) and hypsometric integral (HI), extracted from SRTM DEM with resolution of 30 m. All these morphotectonic parameters are integrated to produce an index of relative active tectonics (IRAT). The Yamuna basin is classified into three groups based on IRAT, very high (<2.0);moderate (2.0 - 2.25) and low (>2.25) based on the degree of tectonic activity. Result shows approx. 56% of Yamuna basin experience high tectonic activity. This along strike deformation pattern pronouncedly emulates subsurface geometry based tectonic model.

The Fractal Characteristics of Drainage Networks and Erosion Evolution Stages of Ten Kongduis in the Upper Reaches of the Yellow River, China

The fractal characteristics of drainage in the ten kongduis of the upper Yellow River were obtained using the box counting dimension, and the evolution stages of the watershed topography were defined by different ranges of the fractal dimensions of river networks（D_g）. The results show that the fractal scaleless range of the Maobula River is 20–370 m based on a combination of artificial judgment, correlation coefficient test and fitting error. Other kongduis show good fractal characteristics in this fractal scaleless range as well. The box counting dimension can be used as a quantitative index of watershed topography fractal characteristics. The fractal dimension of stream networks is independent of the threshold contributing area used for extracting the drainage networks from the DEM. The values of D_g in the upper ten kongduis are in the range of 1.08-1.14. Both the runoff yield and the sediment yield are positively and linearly related with D_g. The positive relation between the sediment yield and D_g reflects the effect of landform features on sediment yield in the young and/or mature stages of landform evolution of the study area. By revising the critical value of D_g, the value of D_g of the basin in the young evolution stage is less than 1.06, while it is more than 1.06 for the basin in mature or old evolution stage. The upper ten kongduis are in the mature stage of landform evolution.

A review on anthropogenic geomorphology

With the continuous development of man＇s ability to reshape naturehuman activities have become the third geomorphologic agent in the modern geomorphological process. Man-made landform is a landform unit characterized by human activities and is a result of synergizing human and nature geomorphologic agents under the physical geographical background. This article provides an overview on the major progresses in research on anthropogenic geomorphology from aspects like the origin of anthropogenic geomorphologyman-made landform agents and classificationman-made landform evolution and its influencing mechanismmap presentation of man-made landformand environmental impact of man-made landforms. In additionin the articlethe future development of anthropogenic geomorphology is forecasted. It is pointed out that future studies on anthropogenic geomorphology should pay more attention to the following directions： construction of discipline system of anthropogenic geomorphologymaterial composition and morphological features of man-made landformsspatial expansion process and development laws of man-made landformsregional disparity and accumulative environmental effects of man-made landformsand environmental management on man-made landforms and comparative analyses of relevant international management policies.