Origin of Terraced Hillslopes on Active Folds in the Southern San Joaquin Valley, California
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Geomorphology 42 (2002) 131–152 www.elsevier.com/locate/geomorph Origin of terraced hillslopes on active folds in the southern San Joaquin Valley, California Adam E. Bielecki, Karl J. Mueller * Department of Geological Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309-0399, USA Received 11 July 2000; received in revised form 20 April 2001; accepted 24 April 2001 Abstract The northern-facing forelimbs of the active San Emigdio and Wheeler Ridge anticlines in the southern San Joaquin Valley (SSJV) are marked by numerous, sharply defined terracettes. Terracette treads and risers are 3–5 and 7–11 m wide, respectively. The terracettes are discontinuous along their length, with the longest being ~300 m, although most terminate more abruptly forming lobate mounds. The terracettes form on 10–25° slopes underlain by loosely consolidated coarse conglomerate beds of the Pleistocene Tulare Formation that dip subparallel to terracette risers. Soil developed on the slopes is comprised of a 1- to 2-m-thick calcic Bk horizon, overlain by a 0.5-m-thick argillic claypan Bt horizon, followed by 1- to 3-m-thick AB and A horizons that have been extensively bioturbated. A number of hypotheses have been proposed for the genesis of similar terracettes. The two most viable tectonic models for our study area are based on growth of active fault- bend folds and include (i) sediment onlap with seismic folding and (ii) flexural slip faulting. We produced a very high- resolution digital elevation model (DEM) (1.67-m spatial resolution and F5-cm vertical accuracy) using NASA’s RASCAL (RAster SCanning Airborne Lidar) instrument and completed numerical modeling that we interpret to disprove both of the active fold growth models. The discovery and mapping of similar terracettes on NW- to NE-facing hillslopes on the Kettleman Hills anticline and Comanche Point in the northern Tehachapi Mountains suggest that a northern-facing aspect is an important factor contributing to terracette development. The terracettes are also present only on hillslopes that overlie blind or emergent thrust faults. We propose that a soil creep model based on flow-dominant mass wasting is the most likely cause of terracette development. Creep is confined to the thick A and AB cumulic soil horizons that delaminate above the rigid Bt claypan and occurs predominantly on northern-facing slopes due to increased soil moisture retention. The barrier to creep caused by the decrease in slope at the base of fold limbs leads to the development of terracettes that become more sharply defined in a downslope direction. We interpret the overthickened A and AB soil horizons to form preferentially on northern-facing slopes due to increased bioturbation and deposition of eolian silt. Strong ground motions produced by earthquakes may facilitate soil creep, and thereby contribute to the overall development of the terracettes. D 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. Keywords: Terracettes; Soil creep; Solifluction; Fault-related folds; Flexural slip; Mima-like mounds 1. Introduction * Corresponding author. Fax: +1-303-492-2606. The forelimbs of active folds along the leading E-mail address: [email protected] (K.J. Mueller). edge of the active fold belt in the northern Transverse 0169-555X/02/$ - see front matter D 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. PII: S 0169-555X(01)00082-4 132 A.E. Bielecki, K.J. Mueller / Geomorphology 42 (2002) 131–152 Fig. 1. Topographic map of the northern Transverse Ranges marked with locations of terraces found on the northern-facing front limbs of active folds (A). Oblique aerial photographs of forelimbs on the Wheeler Ridge (B) and San Emigdio (C) anticlines. Slope images of RASCAL DEM data for the eastern (D) and western (E) key areas selected for detailed analysis in this project. A.E. Bielecki, K.J. Mueller / Geomorphology 42 (2002) 131–152 133 Table 1 mited detailed mapping of terrace morphology to List of viable hypotheses applicable to the terrace steps found in two key areas where terracettes are best developed SSJV (Fig. 1). a Hypothesis Reference Laser altimetry data was provided by the National Coseismic folding Mueller and Suppe (1997) Aeronautics and Space Administration under the (fold growth terraces) Topography and Surface Change component of the Flexural slip faulting Mueller and Suppe (1997), Bielecki (1998) Mission to Planet Earth Program. The RASCAL Mima-like mound: Dalquest and Scheffer (1942) instrument was a prototype scanning laser altimeter fossorial-rodent (LIDAR) mounted on a T-39 jet aircraft platform. Mima-like mound: Hilgard (1884) Using a nominal straight-and-level flight pattern, gilgai RASCAL mapped the ground surface in 100-m-wide Mima-like mound: Aten and Bollich (1981) anthropogenic swaths by firing a laser 5000 times a second and Livestock grazing Howard and Higgins (1987) recording the time it takes for the laser pulses to Slumping (slab slides) Sharpe (1938) bounce off the ground and return to the aircraft. This Solifluction Costin (1950), Embleton (1975) time-of-flight data is then corrected for aircraft ori- Soil creep Clayton (1966) entation and a global positioning system (GPS)- a References are for publication(s) that define the hypothesis as derived trajectory for the T-39 platform in order to applied to terrace development. derive accurately georeferenced surface elevation val- ues. With flight speed nominally maintained at 100 m/s, this topographic data has 1.67-m spatial resolu- tion and F5-cm vertical accuracy (Bielecki, 1998). Ranges are consistently covered by flights of closely The end result is longitude, latitude, and elevation (x, spaced terracettes (Fig. 1). These landforms are pre- y, z) data in a geographic lat/lon coordinate system served on northern-facing slopes of Comanche Point using the WGS84 datum (Rabine et al., 1996). The and the Wheeler Ridge, San Emigdio, and Kettleman strips of flight-corrected data were provided by the Hills anticlines. Numerous hypotheses exist for the Goddard Space Flight Center in structured binary origin of the terracettes (Table 1). The motivation for files, which were then parsed and gridded into 14 our work was to test the possible origin of the land- separate digital elevation models (DEMs) using the forms by either tectonic processes related to growth of Interactive Data Language (IDLk) software package. active folds (Mueller and Suppe, 1997), or mass A number of graphical products were derived from wasting on actively rising hillslopes. these DEMs including bytescale, contour, ortho- graphic, aspect, slope, and shaded relief images using the Environment for Visualizing Images (ENVIk). 2. Methods However, slope maps provide the most accurate representation of terracette morphology and distribu- We mapped terraced hillslopes with an airborne tion due to the sharp distinction between flat treads laser altimeter and surveyed topographic profiles and sloping risers (Fig. 2) and are the principal using an electronic distance meter. Soils were des- graphical representation of the RASCAL data illus- cribed in trench excavations (Mueller and Suppe, trated in this paper. 1997) and natural exposures along channel walls Hillslope profiles were acquired with a Total Sta- incised into terraced hillslopes. Numerical analysis tion distance meter at azimuths perpendicular to the of structural models were based on fault-related fold terracette treads (Fig. 1). Spacing of data points varied theory (e.g., Suppe, 1983) and the empirical regres- with a denser accumulation across terracette treads, sion of moment magnitude vs. surface displacement but overall average resolution is one measurement per for recent historic earthquakes in southern California 1.54 m. The profiles were used to measure terracette developed by Dolan et al. (1995). Although the DEM tread widths (w) and riser slope angle (a) (Fig. 3) and covered the entire length of the front limbs of the to test the accuracy of the DEM. In addition, numer- Wheeler Ridge and San Emigdio anticlines, we li- ous measurements related to the tectonic models of 134 A.E. Bielecki, K.J. Mueller / Geomorphology 42 (2002) 131–152 Fig. 2. Slope image of RASCAL data for eastern Wheeler Ridge produced in ENVIk. Bright pixels represent steep slopes, whereas dark pixels coincide with flatter ground. landform development, including likely thickness of internal properties of the terracettes, including shrink– bedding between hypothetical flexural slip faults and swell capacity and rheology. spacing of terracettes, were derived from these pro- files (Fig. 3). Two trench excavations were completed prior to 3. Terracette morphology laser altimetry data acquisition as part of a prelimi- nary study (Mueller and Suppe, 1997) (Fig. 1). The Terracette treads are typically 3–5 m in width as two excavations were approximately 5 m deep and measured from the DEMs and surveyed profiles (Fig. 60 m long. Soil profiles consistent with USDA stan- 3). Terracette risers range from 7 to 11 m in width. The dards (Soil Survey Staff, 1981) were described at four length of terracettes varies markedly; the longest points in one of the excavations (Table 2) and were exceeds 300 m, but most cannot be traced beyond used to complete a trench log (Fig. 4) and establish the 100 m (Fig. 2). Terracette terminations on uneroded A.E. Bielecki, K.J. Mueller / Geomorphology 42 (2002) 131–152 135 Fig. 3. Total station profiles for eastern Wheeler Ridge anticline (A) and San Emigdio anticline (B) key areas. Lower and upper segments of Wheeler Ridge data (A) projected into one profile. Terrace treads and risers defined by straight-line approximation intersections, and all measurements are referenced from those points. Hypothetical flexural slip faults drawn parallel to adjacent risers, creating a dip slightly steeper than average overlying topography. surfaces are typically abrupt where most taper and The terracettes are only found along the lower disappear over a distance of a few meters. Terracettes sections of the front limbs of Wheeler Ridge and terminate at the walls of incised drainages, at merging San Emigdio anticlines (Fig.