A natural resource condition assessment for Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks: Appendix 3 – erosion and mass wasting
Austin JT. 2013. A natural resource condition assessment for Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks: Appendix 3 – erosion and mass wasting. Natural Resource Report. NPS/SEKI/NRR—2013/665.3. National Park Service. Fort Collins, Colorado
Erosion and mass wasting is important to Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks (SEKI) for a number of reasons. It shapes the landscape. It is a dynamic force that influences the composition and successional direction of vegetation. It influences the distribution and abundance of aquatic resources, particularly benthic invertebrates and fish. It impacts infrastructure and puts lives at risk. This report contains many examples of storms, landslides, debris flows, etc. Because of space limitations, those events are presented here in summary form without details. Fuller descriptions of the events are presented in the document, Floods and Droughts of the Tulare Lake Basin (Austin 2012), complete with citations. Many other examples are also included in that document. When describing various geomorphic processes, this report relies on the best available literature. Because relatively little geomorphic research has been conducted in SEKI, that results in the discussion of those processes being somewhat general in nature, as opposed to specific to SEKI. However, an understanding of these processes is necessary prior to describing the geodynamics that have been researched specifically in SEKI.
- Type
- Published Report
- Authors
- Austin, John
- Date of Issue
- 2013-06
- Publisher
- National Park Service
- Units
- NRSS , SEKI
- Keywords
- Debris Flows, erosion and mass wasting, Landslides, NRCA, SEKI, Storms
- Subjects
- Ecological Framework: Geology and Soils | Geomorphology | Hillslope Features and Processes , Ecological Framework: Geology and Soils | Geomorphology | Stream/River Channel Characteristics , Ecological Framework: Landscapes | Extreme Disturbance Events | Extreme Disturbance Events