Abstract
A controversy arises concerning relict, ubiquitous, depositional, solifluction, “string lobe” landforms in the Ridge and Valley province of Pennsylvania, reported by other investigators. A distinguishment is made here by defending an original interpretation of the particular landforms which identified these as snowdune meltwater-eroded depressions formed within colluvium during cold phases of the Pleistocene Epoch. Hence, the landforms are reassessed as “steps & risers” in this study which is jargon associated with nival erosion. The reidentification is warranted in the study because of multiple lines of evidence including: the landforms’ detailed geomorphology and sedimentology; the landforms having a highly, unusual, very repetitive, NE-SW orientation; and the landforms incurring a striking, gravity-defying, characteristic of running-water erosion repeatedly occurring irrespective of the steepest part of the general slope. Besides the evidence offered here, the study also gives insight, resolutions and re-confirmations in order to establish absolute identification while differentiating between discussed, periglacial, relict landforms. An agreement is reached however, regarding actual, true solifluction landforms occurring only on slopes that point in a particular, general direction.
Highlights
IntroductionParticular, ubiquitous, relict landforms carved in colluvium originating from snowmelt (nival) erosion during cold phases of the Pleistocene Epoch, occur mostly on south-facing, mountain slopes within the Ridge and Valley province of Pennsylvania (PA), USA, were reported by Marsh [1, 2, 3] and Iannicelli [4] Later, the landforms were reinterpreted by Craul [5] and Merritts et al [6] as having a solifluction origin while being depositional in nature
Particular, ubiquitous, relict landforms carved in colluvium originating from snowmelt erosion during cold phases of the Pleistocene Epoch, occur mostly on south-facing, mountain slopes within the Ridge and Valley province of Pennsylvania (PA), USA, were reported by Marsh [1, 2, 3] and Iannicelli
The controversial landforms were originally concluded to be relict, erosional-topographic, steps & risers formed by erosive meltwater from transverse paleo-snowdunes during cold phases of the Pleistocene Epoch [1 - 4] (Figure 1)
Summary
Particular, ubiquitous, relict landforms carved in colluvium originating from snowmelt (nival) erosion during cold phases of the Pleistocene Epoch, occur mostly on south-facing, mountain slopes within the Ridge and Valley province of Pennsylvania (PA), USA, were reported by Marsh [1, 2, 3] and Iannicelli [4] Later, the landforms were reinterpreted by Craul [5] and Merritts et al [6] as having a solifluction origin while being depositional in nature. The slope-landforms in the study evolved because of a very harsh, cold paleo-climate that created paleo-permafrost in the terrain along with air-borne, snow-bearing, paleowinds depositing snow upon the terrain. These paleo-climatic conditions combined to generate certain geodynamics responsible for the evolution of the landforms
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