Numerical simulation of the evolutionary process of Danxia landforms

Abstract

Danxia landforms are defined as a landscape type that developed in red terrestrial clastic rocks generally with near-horizontal strata. Lithology, vertical joint sets, tectonic history, and rainfall play important roles in shaping Danxia landforms, leading to increased difficulty and complexity in quantitatively understanding their evolution. Integrating the factors mentioned above, this study represents the first attempt to investigate the evolutionary process of Danxia landforms using a numerical simulation. Parameters used in this study were employed from earlier studies on Danxia Mountain in southeastern China. The results quantitatively present a complete dynamic course shaping Danxia landforms that could not be seen from field observation alone. The process arises from interactions between tectonics and fluvial erosion and displays typical characteristics of Danxia landforms in different evolutionary stages. The results also show that the features of fractures and joints have significant constraints on the evolutionary process. Through comparative analysis of the earlier conceptual results and our simulation, we conclude that the model used in this study can reasonably represent the typical, physical formation process of Danxia landforms. Although the model is robust and thus might not be precise, our results still reveal the interesting dynamic behavior shaping Danxia landforms.