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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Mar 19, 2026

Use of Principal Components for Scaling Up Topographic Models to Map Soil Redistribution and Soil Organic Carbon

Use of Principal Components for Scaling Up Topographic Models to Map Soil Redistribution and Soil Organic Carbon

Published on: October 16, 2018

Coevolving topography, patchy soils, and forest structure.

Matthew W Rossi^1,2, Gregory E Tucker^1,3, Suzanne P Anderson^3,4

¹Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America

|March 17, 2026

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Soil-mantled to bedrock landscapes transition gradually, not abruptly. Forested slopes show rockier, equator-facing aspects, influenced by weathering and forest dynamics regulating hillslope morphology.

Keywords:

bedrock exposure forest structure landscape evolution modeling lidar analysis soil production

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Published on: September 12, 2017

Area of Science:

Geomorphology
Ecology
Hydrology

Background:

Classical theory predicts abrupt soil-mantled to bedrock landscape transitions.
Actual landscapes exhibit a more gradual transition, indicating complex coevolutionary processes.
The Rampart Range, CO, offers a natural laboratory to study this transition in an unglaciated, forested environment with uniform lithology.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the coevolution of topography, soil cover, and forest structure across the soil-mantled to bedrock transition.
To quantify the influence of elevation, topographic aspect, and forest cover on bedrock exposure.
To inform hillslope evolution models with new insights into soil production and weathering.

Main Methods:

Utilized drone imagery and airborne lidar for high-resolution topographic data acquisition.
Employed object-based image analysis to segment lidar data into distinct topographic features, such as outcrops.
Developed and applied hillslope evolution models incorporating "humped" soil production functions and depth-dependent soil creep.

Main Results:

Lower elevation hillslopes exhibit significantly higher rockiness compared to higher elevations, attributed to regional landscape incision.
Bedrock exposure is strongly influenced by topographic aspect, with equator-facing slopes being rockier than pole-facing slopes.
A strong correlation exists between higher forest biomass (tree density, canopy height) and lower bedrock exposure on pole-facing slopes.

Conclusions:

Hillslope evolution models require "humped" soil production functions to accurately simulate observed bedrock outcrop patterns.
Aspect-dependent weathering, coupled with depth-dependent soil creep, drives significant variations in bedrock exposure.
Forest dynamics, particularly through root zone weathering, represent a crucial, yet often overlooked, factor in regulating hillslope morphology.