Abstract
ABSTRACTWe present a 1:50,000 geomorphological map of the Talacasto river alluvial fan (93 km2), located in the Central Andean Precordillera of Argentina. The aim of this map is to identify and classify dynamic and potentially destructive geomorphological processes such as gully erosion, headward erosion, concentrated erosion, laminar erosion and similar features that are present in an alluvial fan, so as to identify unstable sectors for public infrastructure. This map is the result of combining remote sensing data, aerial photographs analysis and fieldwork. Landforms and active geomorphological processes are identified, classified and illustrated for this Quaternary alluvial fan. Four Quaternary landscape subunits were classified, taking into account morphogenetic characteristics and erosional processes such as: (1) Exhumed and erosional landforms inducted by neotectonic activity; (2) Alluvial landforms; (3) Polygenetic landforms covered in glacis; and (4) Playa lake landforms. The presence of desert pavements and salt-hardened subsoil formations contributes to the generation and transmission of surface runoff during summer heavy rains, causing alluvial hazards and damages in routes and roads.
Highlights
The main cities in the province of San Juan in Argentina are built upon Quaternary deposits; and these have received attention for planning civil infrastructure
This paper is based on the principle expressed by St-Onge (1981) that states: ‘An ideal geomorphological map should describe and explain landforms based on the morphogenesis of individual landforms and, more importantly, the explanation should be based on the relation between various landforms affected by processes’
1999), and in this alluvial fan, some landforms are exhumed and elevated by neotectonic processes. These neotectonic processes were evaluated throughout the alluvial fan and classifying the units in exhumed and erosional landforms induced by neotectonic activity
Summary
The main cities in the province of San Juan in Argentina are built upon Quaternary deposits; and these have received attention for planning civil infrastructure. Surface processes and the distribution of materials provides a key information for many of the land use and management practices, especially in these dynamic and complex mountainous systems (Van Asselen & Seijmonsbergen, 2006). Alluvial fans are common landforms around the world, the best places to study alluvial fans are usually in arid or hyper-arid environments, where the surfaces of alluvial fans are more readily preserved, and scarce vegetation makes them easy to study (Hedrick et al, 2013). The development of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) has enabled the progress of new approaches to landform representation (Vitek, Giardino, & Fitzgerald, 1996)
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