Donald O. Doehring (editor) - Geomorphology in Arid Regions: Binghamton Geomorphology Symposium 8

Volume 17

Binghamton Geomorphology Symposium 8

Edited by
DONALD O. DOEHRING

First published in 1977

First published in 1980 by George Allen & Unwin Ltd

This edition first published in 2020

by Routledge

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1977, 1980 Donald O. Doehring

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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN: 978-0-367-18559-6 (Set)

ISBN: 978-0-429-19681-2 (Set) (ebk)

ISBN: 978-0-367-28020-8 (Volume 17) (hbk)

ISBN: 978-0-429-29923-0 (Volume 17) (ebk)

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The publisher has gone to great lengths to ensure the quality of this reprint but points out that some imperfections in the original copies may be apparent.

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DONALD O. DOEHRING,
Editor

A Proceedings Volume of the
Eighth Annual Geomorphology Symposium
held at the State University of New York
at Binghamton, September 23-24,
1977

London
GEORGE ALLEN & UNWIN

Boston Sydney

Cover photograph of a group of inselbergs near the Piute Mountains, eastern Mojave Desert. Courtesy of William B. Bull, University of Arizona.

First published in 1977

First published by Allen & Unwin in 1980

This book is copyright under the Berne Convention. All rights are reserved. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study, research, criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright Act, 1956, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, electrical, chemical, mechanical, optical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner. Enquiries should be sent to the publishers at the undermentioned address:

GEORGE ALLEN & UNWIN LTD

40 Museum Street, London WC1A 1LU

Donald O. Doehring 1977, 1980

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

Geomorphology Symposium, 8th, State University of New York, 1977

Geomorphology in arid regions. (The Binghamton symposia in geomorphology: international series, no. 8).

1. Geomorphology Arid regions Congresses

I. Title II. Doehring, Donald

III. Series

551.4 GB611 80-41450

ISBN 0-04-551041-5

Cover photograph of a group of inselbergs near the Piute
Mountains, eastern Mojave Desert. Courtesy of
William B. Bull, University of Arizona.

Printed in the United States of America

August, 1977

This monograph is the proceedings volume of the Eighth Annual Geomorphology Symposium, which was held at the Department of Geological Sciences, State University of New York at Binghamton on September 2324, 1977. The symposium topic, Geomorphology in Arid Regions, uses the term arid loosely to include studies from climes which might otherwise be considered semi-arid. This was done to provide a diversity of papers dealing with important problems of interest to geomorphologists today.

The volume begins with Tex Reeves overview and summary of geomorphic studies of intermontane basins. Attention then turns to the piedmont with Steve Wells report on his alluvial fan research and a contribution on the long standing pediment problem by John Moss. Ted Oberlander provides an interesting and intriguing study of slope morphology genesis on the Colorado Plateau. Bill Bull and Leslie McFadden contribute a timely and much needed study of the tectonic geomorphology of a portion of the Mojave Desert.

The next group of papers deals with erosion, sedimentation and predominately fluvial processes. Asher Schicks study of a watershed in the Negev provides an insight into the difficulties and useful techniques of determining sediment budgets in arid regions. Ian Campbells paper deals with sediment origin as well as transport rates in a semi-arid setting. Bill Emmett and Luna Leopold compare empirical measures of sediment discharge with those derived by computations. The geomorphic changes resulting from catastrophic rainfall is the subject of Pete Patton and Vic Bakers report. Bob Currys paper on the establishment of vigil networks provides important information on field methods relevant to the geomorphic assessment of environmental impact.

The last three papers constitute a change from fluvial topics. Larry Lattman analyzes and reports on the processes and products of caliche weathering in southern Nevada. Jack McCauley, Maurice Grolier and Carol Breeds comprehensive treatment of yardangs is worldwide in scope and includes new field as well as experimental data. Last, but certainly not least, Bill Melhorn and Dennis Trexler supply a paper on their work with eolian processes in the Great Basin. Due to circumstances beyond the control of the authors and editor, three of the above works are represented here by abstracts. Surely the complete papers will be published in prominent places in the near future.

It is apropos, although fortuitous, that this symposium be held in 1977 for it serves to commemorate the hundredth anniversary of G. K. Gilberts, Report on the Geology of the Henry Mountains. His report contains, among other things, the first description of a pediment, exposition of the base level concept and his dynamic equilibrium model. In the editors opinion, this work constitutes the most important single contribution to geomorphology, a view which I am sure is shared by others. Writing in the proceedings volume for the 1975 Binghamton Symposium, Higgins (p. 5) states; Thus if one were to assign a specific date for the beginning of the modern era in geomorphology, one would most likely choose 1877, the year of publication of T. H. Huxleys Physiography and of G. K. Gilberts chapter on Land Sculpture in his report on the geology of the Henry Mountains.

I wish to thank Marie Morisawa and Don Coates for extending the invitation to organize this years symposium to me. Only after one has done it, can they fully appreciate the difficulty of the task and the magnitude of the service rendered each year by Don or Marie. Especially difficult is the matter of keeping the cost of the proceedings volume down during this time of rising prices and yet having the book available at the time of the meeting. In this regard, my gratitude goes to the authors. For the most part, they adhered to my timetable and provided text requiring relatively little modification.