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Geomorphic Processes and Remote Sensing Signatures of Alluvial Fans in the Kun Lun Mountains, ChinaThe timing of alluvial deposition in arid and semiarid areas is tied to land-surface instability caused by regional climate changes. The distribution pattern of dated deposits provides maps of regional land-surface response to past climate change. Sensitivity to differences in surface roughness and composition makes remote sensing techniques useful for regional mapping of alluvial deposits. Radar images from the Spaceborne Radar Laboratory and visible wavelength images from the French SPOT satellite were used to determine remote sensing signatures of alluvial fan units for an area in the Kun Lun Mountains of northwestern China. These data were combined with field observations to compare surface processes and their effects on remote sensing signatures in northwestern China and the southwestern United States. Geomorphic processes affecting alluvial fans in the two areas include aeolian deposition, desert varnish, and fluvial dissection. However, salt weathering is a much more important process in the Kun Lun than in the southwestern United States. This slows the formation of desert varnish and prevents desert pavement from forming. Thus the Kun Lun signatures are characteristic of the dominance of salt weathering, while signatures from the southwestern United States are characteristic of the dominance of desert varnish and pavement processes. Remote sensing signatures are consistent enough in these two regions to be used for mapping fan units over large areas.
Document ID
19990009587
Acquisition Source
Headquarters
Document Type
Reprint (Version printed in journal)
External Source(s)
Authors
Farr, Tom G.
(Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA United States)
Chadwick, Oliver A.
(California Univ. Santa Barbara, CA United States)
Date Acquired
August 19, 2013
Publication Date
October 25, 1996
Publication Information
Publication: Journal of Geophysical Research
Publisher: American Geophysical Union
Volume: 101
Issue: E10
ISSN: 0148-0227
Subject Category
Earth Resources And Remote Sensing
Report/Patent Number
Paper 96JE01603
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other

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