Geometric characteristics of valley and basin of Suoshui River in Zhangjiajieof Hunan Province and their implications in landform evolution
Shi Changxing, Qi Deli
Key Laboratory of Water Cycle and Related Surface Processes, Institute of Geographic Sciences andNatural Resources Research,Chinese Academy of Sciences,Beijing 100101
Abstract Using data of DEM,landform and geologic maps and surveys in fields,this study investigated the characteristics of valley geometry,hypsometry and the stage of landform evolution of the Suoshui River basin,in which most of the sandstone forests or pillars,the typical Zhangjiajie landform,are located.Results show that the mainstream of the Suoshui River has a concave longitudinal profile with a slope declining downstream and a concavity value of 0.70,and the principal tributaries of the river have a gradient much higher than that of the mainstream and a concavity in the range of 0.12-0.98.Along the mainstream downstream,the width and the width/depth ratio of the river valley increase and the depth decreases gradually.The cross-sectional concavity of the mainstream of the Suoshui valley is lower in the upper and lower reaches and higher in the middle reaches,and that of all the sampled sections is over 0.5 with an average of 0.63.The valleys of main tributaries in the upper and middle reaches are narrower than those in the lower reaches.They have a wide range of cross-sectional concavity but with an average larger than 0.5.The high cross-sectional concavity of the mainstream and tributaries is a reflection of the formation of U-shaped valleys with strips of floodplains along the valleys by lateral erosion during a long period of weak tectonic uplifting between two tectonic active periods,which are the characteristics of landforms in the middle and late mature stage.The lateral erosion and a higher value of cross-sectional concavity of valleys should be a favorable condition for the formation of the isolated sandstone pillars in Zhangjiajie.In the Suoshui basin,the hypsometric integral is higher in the lower part of the upper reaches and in the middle reaches with the highest values occurring around the Tianzishan peak.No relation of the hypsometric integral with relief and rock property is detected in the basin.The sandstone forests and pillars in Zhangjiajie concentrate in the areas with Devonian sandstone as the bedrock in the lower part of the upper reaches and upper part of the middle reaches,where the fluvial-erosional landforms are in their mature stage indicated by a mean hypsometric integral of 0.46.
About author: Shi Changxing,born in 1963,doctor,is a research professor in Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research,Chinese Academy of Sciences,and he is mainly engaged in fluvial geomorphology,sediment transport and environmental change studies.E-mail: shicx@igsnrr.ac.cn.
Cite this article:
Shi Changxing,Qi Deli. Geometric characteristics of valley and basin of Suoshui River in Zhangjiajieof Hunan Province and their implications in landform evolution[J]. JOPC, 2013, 15(6): 865-874.
Shi Changxing,Qi Deli. Geometric characteristics of valley and basin of Suoshui River in Zhangjiajieof Hunan Province and their implications in landform evolution[J]. JOPC, 2013, 15(6): 865-874.
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