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Topographic Signatures in the Himalaya: a Geospatial Survey of the Interaction Between Tectonics and Erosion in the Modi Khola Valley, Central Nepal

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Topographic Signatures in the Himalaya: a Geospatial Survey of the Interaction Between Tectonics and Erosion in the Modi Khola Valley, Central Nepal ABSTRACT Title of Document: TOPOGRAPHIC SIGNATURES IN THE HIMALAYA: A GEOSPATIAL SURVEY OF THE INTERACTION BETWEEN TECTONICS AND EROSION IN THE MODI KHOLA VALLEY, CENTRAL NEPAL Lisa S. Walsh, M.S., 2009 Directed By: Assistant Professor Aaron Martin, Department of Geology Spurred by the recognition that lithologic resistivity to erosion influences the steepness of terrain, the purpose of this study is to enhance our understanding of feedbacks between erosion and tectonics in the Himalaya. Using spatial statistics, within a Geographic Information Systems (GIS) framework, this study extracts steepness and curvature values from the terrain to identify the unique spatial signature of lithologic units in the Annapurna Range. The spatial relationship of faults and significant changes in river steepness (ksn) and concavity (ș) are examined in this project using high resolution digital elevation models (DEMs), derived from a variety of interpolation methods. Through these quantifications, I explore the possibility of a new model for tectonic activity in central Nepal, in an effort to improve our understanding of how surface processes sculpt the landscape. TOPOGRAPHIC SIGNATURES IN THE HIMALAYA: A GEOSPATIAL SURVEY OF THE INTERACTION BETWEEN TECTONICS AND EROSION IN THE MODI KHOLA VALLEY, CENTRAL NEPAL By Lisa S. Walsh Thesis submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the University of Maryland, College Park, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science 2009 Advisory Committee: Assistant Professor Aaron J. Martin, Chair Assistant Professor Saswata Hier-Majumder Associate Professor Karen L. Prestegaard Assistant Professor Naijun Zhou © Copyright by Lisa S. Walsh 2009 Dedication To Ben Walsh, my husband, for exploring life and the world’s landscapes with me and continuously supporting my research. ii Acknowledgements Knowledge in science is attained by exploring unanswered questions and eliminating unreasonable results. The wisdom and dedication of several people fueled the completion of this thesis. My advisor, Aaron Martin, initiated several insightful discussions and provided an ideal environment where I could finally synthesize geology and geographic information systems (GIS). I greatly appreciate his patience and unprecedented dedication to our research. Tank Ojha supplied the digitized contour lines I used as the main data source in this project and taught me the basics of contour line error correction methods used in GIS. Tank Ojha’s excitement and dedication to producing digital data for Nepal was contagious and enhanced my inspiration for this project. I also thank workers in Nepal who initially digitized the contour lines from the topographic maps I used in this project. Ofori Pearson provided us with an alternative dataset for the Modi Khola valley, which became helpful for assessing the uncertainty of the dataset and examining land cover change. This work would not have been possible without Tom Fedenczuk, who I met at the ExxonMobil Student Education Program at the SEG, and Karl Schleicher, my father, who created high quality digital interpolations of the elevation data. Bodo Bookhagen kindly provided us with the TRMM precipitation data implemented in this project. I appreciate the time and dedication put forth by the members of my committee. Saswata Hier-Majumder introduced the diffusion model to me and helped me devise a series of equations to model erosion of lithologies in the Modi Khola valley. This model, which began as a class project, inspired me and initiated the idea iii of this project. Naijun Zhou, my GIS professor, offered the essential GIS perspective needed to bolster my project. Naijun Zhou advanced my understanding of problems with geographic data, taught me the basics of GIS, and emphasized the importance of scale in geographic data. I greatly appreciate the time Naijun Zhou has spent helping me with my research, even though I am not part of the geography department. Karen Prestegaard offered her expertise in river morphology, and invoked several interesting questions at grad talks which drove important aspects of my research. Nadine McQuarrie’s GSA short course notes greatly aided in my understanding of the ArcGIS stream profiler tool I used to extract ksn and ș values. Bruce Hart, Kurt Marfurt, Chuck Blumentritt, and Karl Schleicher aided greatly in my understanding of curvature calculations and applications. The curvature program that was used to derive the curvature grids in this analysis was provided by Bruce Hart. Josh Roering provided important information about his GIS data of the Oregon Coast Range, allowing me to compare the results from his research in Oregon to our data in the Modi Khola valley. Kate Burgy allowed me to virtually visit and visualize the Modi Khola valley through georectification of her field photographs. Questions and advice from Laurent Montesi significantly improved my project and continuously stimulated my thinking. I also thank all members of the Tectonics Reading Group who provided insight to my research and enlightening discussions of scientific papers. I am grateful to all graduate students who make the University of Maryland a good place to investigate the geosciences. I thank the geology department for funding my research with a teaching assistantship, eliminating the difficult task of balancing an outside job and research. I also recognize our departmental secretaries Sandy iv Romeo, Dorothy Brown, Jeanne Martin, and Wafaa Von Blon for assisting me with my unending questions about paperwork, problems with copy machines, and scheduling. I thank John Merck, Bill McDonough, and Aaron Martin for their helpful discussions concerning teaching philosophy and also my undergraduate advisor, Bill Miller, for introducing me to geologic research at UNC Asheville. I deeply appreciate the love and support my family has provided me throughout my entire education. I thank my Mom, Kay Schleicher, and my Dad, Karl Schleicher, for always encouraging me to pursue my interests. I am fortunate to have experienced camping and hiking trips as a kid, which drove my fascination with the environment and ultimately my decision to study geology. I will never forget canoe trips to collect petrified wood on the Brazos River, in Texas, with the Houston Gem and Mineral Society. These adventures introduced me to geology, and though I pursued other studies for several years, eventually brought me back to the world of Earth Science. I am also grateful to my Aunt, Mimi Schleicher, for discussing my research and for her helpful advice during this process. Jennifer Schleicher, my sister, offered excellent artistic assistance with my understanding of digital image creation and provided a helpful critique of a poster I presented, from which several figures in this paper are derived. My husband, Ben Walsh, inexhaustibly supported me during this process by being a constant sounding board, keeping me sane, and helping me refine my thesis by several edits and grammatical corrections. His encouragement and support is what allowed me to complete this thesis. Lisa S. Walsh July 13, 2009 v Table of Contents Dedication ..................................................................................................................... ii Acknowledgements ...................................................................................................... iii Table of Contents ........................................................................................................ vii Thesis Chapter Guide ................................................................................................ viii List of Tables ............................................................................................................... ix List of Figures ............................................................................................................... x Chapter 1: Introduction ................................................................................................ 1 1.1 Background information .................................................................................... 1 1.2 Motivation for this research ................................................................................ 6 1.3 Geologic Setting .................................................................................................. 8 1.4 Aims of this study ............................................................................................. 11 1.4.1 Hypotheses ................................................................................................. 11 1.4.2 Tests of Hypotheses ................................................................................... 11 Chapter 2: Geospatial investigation of the Modi Khola valley in central Nepal reveals spatial changes in lithology, erosion, and rock uplift ................................................. 14 2.1 Introduction ....................................................................................................... 15 2.2 Geologic setting ................................................................................................ 17 2.3 Methods............................................................................................................. 19 2.4 Results ............................................................................................................... 22 2.5 Interpretations ................................................................................................... 24 2.5.1
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