Earth Surface Dynamics Research Articles

Gidakiimanaanawigamig’s Circle of Learning: A Model for Partnership between Tribal Community and Research University

Since 2002, the National Center for Earth-Surface dynamics has collaborated with the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, the Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College, the University of Minnesota, and other partner institutions to develop programs aimed at supporting Native American participation in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields, and especially in the Earth and Environmental Sciences. These include the gidakiimanaaniwigamig math and science camps for students in kindergarten through 12th grade, the Research Experience for Undergraduates on Sustainable Land and Water Resources, which takes place on two native reservations, and support for new majors at tribal colleges. All of these programs have a common focus on collaboration with communities, place-based education, community-inspired research projects, a focus on traditional culture and language, and resource management on reservations. Strong partnerships between university, tribal college, and Native American reservation were a foundation for success, but took time and effort to develop. This paper explores steps towards effective partnerships that support student success in STEM via environmental education.

The Landlab v1.0 OverlandFlow component: a Python tool for computing shallow-water flow across watersheds

Abstract. Representation of flowing water in landscape evolution models (LEMs) is often simplified compared to hydrodynamic models, as LEMs make assumptions reducing physical complexity in favor of computational efficiency. The Landlab modeling framework can be used to bridge the divide between complex runoff models and more traditional LEMs, creating a new type of framework not commonly used in the geomorphology or hydrology communities. Landlab is a Python-language library that includes tools and process components that can be used to create models of Earth-surface dynamics over a range of temporal and spatial scales. The Landlab OverlandFlow component is based on a simplified inertial approximation of the shallow water equations, following the solution of de Almeida et al.(2012). This explicit two-dimensional hydrodynamic algorithm simulates a flood wave across a model domain, where water discharge and flow depth are calculated at all locations within a structured (raster) grid. Here, we illustrate how the OverlandFlow component contained within Landlab can be applied as a simplified event-based runoff model and how to couple the runoff model with an incision model operating on decadal timescales. Examples of flow routing on both real and synthetic landscapes are shown. Hydrographs from a single storm at multiple locations in the Spring Creek watershed, Colorado, USA, are illustrated, along with a map of shear stress applied on the land surface by flowing water. The OverlandFlow component can also be coupled with the Landlab DetachmentLtdErosion component to illustrate how the non-steady flow routing regime impacts incision across a watershed. The hydrograph and incision results are compared to simulations driven by steady-state runoff. Results from the coupled runoff and incision model indicate that runoff dynamics can impact landscape relief and channel concavity, suggesting that, on landscape evolution timescales, the OverlandFlow model may lead to differences in simulated topography in comparison with traditional methods. The exploratory test cases described within demonstrate how the OverlandFlow component can be used in both hydrologic and geomorphic applications.

Creative computing with Landlab: an open-source toolkit for building, coupling, and exploring two-dimensional numerical models of Earth-surface dynamics

Abstract. The ability to model surface processes and to couple them to both subsurface and atmospheric regimes has proven invaluable to research in the Earth and planetary sciences. However, creating a new model typically demands a very large investment of time, and modifying an existing model to address a new problem typically means the new work is constrained to its detriment by model adaptations for a different problem. Landlab is an open-source software framework explicitly designed to accelerate the development of new process models by providing (1) a set of tools and existing grid structures – including both regular and irregular grids – to make it faster and easier to develop new process components, or numerical implementations of physical processes; (2) a suite of stable, modular, and interoperable process components that can be combined to create an integrated model; and (3) a set of tools for data input, output, manipulation, and visualization. A set of example models built with these components is also provided. Landlab's structure makes it ideal not only for fully developed modelling applications but also for model prototyping and classroom use. Because of its modular nature, it can also act as a platform for model intercomparison and epistemic uncertainty and sensitivity analyses. Landlab exposes a standardized model interoperability interface, and is able to couple to third-party models and software. Landlab also offers tools to allow the creation of cellular automata, and allows native coupling of such models to more traditional continuous differential equation-based modules. We illustrate the principles of component coupling in Landlab using a model of landform evolution, a cellular ecohydrologic model, and a flood-wave routing model.

Humans and the Earth's surface

In the last few years, the suggestion of a new geological epoch has been subject of a progressively intense discussion within the Earth science community: the question as to whether or not we are living in an epoch of extensive anthropogenic influence, not only on the biotic environment, but also on the sedimentary and geomorphological processes that affect the shape of the Earth's surface. Human activities have left signatures (e.g. agricultural practices, Tarolli et al. 2014) on the Earth for millennia, and the magnitude of this fingerprint is currently growing, with clear impacts upon in morphology (Wilkinson, 2005; Wohl, 2013; Tarolli and Sofia, 2016), ecosystems (Ellis, 2011), sediments and climate (Waters et al., 2016). The recognition and the analysis of these changes represents a challenge for understanding the evolution of the Earth's landscape. The scientific community is now discussing a formal definition of the Anthropocene as a geologic epoch, stratigraphically distinct from the Holocene. The purpose of this special issue is to join such a debate, by offering a geomorphologic perspective on the effects of human activities on the Earth. It summarizes the work partly published in the last few years in the journal Earth Surface Processes and Landforms, and partly presented at the EGU General Assembly 2014, representing a synthesis of the state of the science of the role of humans as geomorphology agents. The presented papers are grouped in three different sections: (a) Anthropocene and landscape impact, (b) Anthropocene and Earth surface dynamics, (c) Anthropocene and its formalization as geologic epoch. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Frontiers in Geomorphometry and Earth Surface Dynamics: possibilities, limitations and perspectives

Abstract. Geomorphometry, the science of quantitative land-surface analysis, has become a flourishing interdisciplinary subject, with applications in numerous fields. The interdisciplinarity of geomorphometry is its greatest strength and also one of its major challenges. Gaps are still present between the process focussed fields (e.g. soil science, glaciology, volcanology) and the technical domain (such as computer science, statistics …) where approaches and theories are developed. Thus, interesting geomorphometric applications struggle to jump between process-specific disciplines, but also struggle to take advantage of advances in computer science and technology. This special issue is therefore focused on facilitating cross-fertilization between disciplines, and highlighting novel technical developments and innovative applications of geomorphometry to various Earth-surface processes. The issue collects a variety of contributions which fall into two main categories: Perspectives and Research, further divided into “Research and innovative techniques” and “Research and innovative applications”. It showcases potentially exciting developments and tools which are the building blocks for the next step-change in the field.

Phosphorus in the Minnesota River Basin: The debate over its source and ways to mitigate impacts

Phosphorus in the Minnesota River Basin: The debate over its source and ways to mitigate impacts

An introduction to learning algorithms and potential applications in geomorphometry and Earth surface dynamics

Abstract. “Learning algorithms” are a class of computational tool designed to infer information from a data set, and then apply that information predictively. They are particularly well suited to complex pattern recognition, or to situations where a mathematical relationship needs to be modelled but where the underlying processes are not well understood, are too expensive to compute, or where signals are over-printed by other effects. If a representative set of examples of the relationship can be constructed, a learning algorithm can assimilate its behaviour, and may then serve as an efficient, approximate computational implementation thereof. A wide range of applications in geomorphometry and Earth surface dynamics may be envisaged, ranging from classification of landforms through to prediction of erosion characteristics given input forces. Here, we provide a practical overview of the various approaches that lie within this general framework, review existing uses in geomorphology and related applications, and discuss some of the factors that determine whether a learning algorithm approach is suited to any given problem.

The ancestors of meandering rivers

Modern alluvial plains, in contrast to their pre-Silurian counterparts, are characterized by the presence of meandering rivers in low-downstream-gradient areas, constituting efficient transport systems that maintain high bottom shear stresses in deep channels, which are made possible by bank stabilization, most commonly provided by vegetation in Earth’s recent history. Here we show, through numerical modeling and field-based description of large-scale exposures in Mesoproterozoic successions, that prevegetation rivers in low-downstream-gradient areas were markedly different from both younger meandering rivers and the common prevegetation sheet-braided rivers, showing deeper braided channels and greater floodplain preservation than the latter. These systems were less frequent and had lower transport efficiency than modern meandering rivers, implying differences in global-scale Earth-surface dynamics, from the weathering of silicate minerals in floodplains to the grain size distribution in all clastic depositional systems.

Denudation rates of a subequatorial orogenic belt based on estimates of sediment yields: evidence from the Paleozoic Appalachian Basin, USA

AbstractThe Upper Mississippian (ca. 325 Ma) Pride Shale and Glady Fork Member in the Central Appalachian Basin comprise an upward‐coarsening, ca. 60‐m‐thick succession of prodeltaic‐delta front, interlaminated fine‐grained sandstones and mudstones gradational upwards into mouth‐bar and distributary‐channel sandstones. Analysis of laminae bundling in the Pride Shale reveals a hierarchy of tidal cycles (semi‐diurnal, fortnightly neap‐spring) and a distinct annual cyclicity resulting from seasonal fluvial discharge. These tidal rhythmites thus represent high‐resolution chronometers that can be used in basin analysis. Annual cycles average 10 cm in thickness, thus the bulk of the Pride Shale‐Glady Fork Member in any one vertical section is estimated to have accumulated in ca. 600 years. Progradational clinoforms are assumed to have had dips of 0.3–3° with a median dip of 1.7°; the latter infilled a NE‐SW oriented foreland trough up to 300 km long by 50 km wide in the relatively short time period of 90 kyr. The total volume of sediment in the Pride basin is ca. 900 km3 which, for an average sediment density of 2700 kg m−3, equates to a total mass of ca. 2.4 × 106 Mt. Thus, mass sediment load can be estimated as 27 Mt yr−1. For a drainage basin area of 89 000 km2, based on the scale of architectural channel elements and cross‐set thicknesses in the incised‐valley‐fill deposits of the underlying Princeton Formation, suspended sediment yields are estimated at ca. 310 t km−2 yr−1 equating to a mechanical denudation rate of ca. 0.116 mm yr−1. Calculated sediment yields and inferred denudation rates are comparable to modern rivers such as the Po and Fly and are compatible with a provenance of significant relief and a climate characterized by seasonal, monsoonal discharge. Inferred denudation rates also are consistent with average denudation rates for the Inner Piedmont Terrane of the Appalachians based on flexural modelling. The integration of stratigraphic architectural analysis with a novel chronometric application highlights the utility of sedimentary archives as a record of Earth surface dynamics.

The Influencing Factors of Typhoon Disaster to Populated Islands and Its Defensive Countermeasures Research

Yu, M.; Yu, W., and Cheng, J., 2015. The influencing factors of typhoon disaster to populated islands and its defensive countermeasures research.Island is the meeting place of land and sea. The unique geographical environment makes it highly vulnerable to various natural disasters, especially to typhoons. Natural disaster is a complex phenomenon involving Earth's surface dynamics affected by the combined forces of many elements in nature. Based on the theory of natural disaster risk analysis, this paper will analyze how typhoon disaster affects the populated island from three aspects of disaster-causing factors including vulnerability of hazard-bearing body, disaster prevention and mitigation capacity, as well as the defense strategy and specific measures taken by governments and individuals in response to typhoon disaster. The research results have important theoretical implications for the study of islands' typhoons risk assessment.

Sediment transfer and deposition in slope channels: Deciphering the record of enigmatic deep-sea processes from outcrop

The processes within deep-sea sediment-routing systems are difficult to directly monitor. Therefore, we rely on other means to decipher the sequence and relative magnitude of the events related to erosion, sediment bypass, and deposition within channels that crosscut the seascape, and in particular, continental slopes. In this analysis, we examine the nature of slope channel fill in outcrop (Cretaceous Tres Pasos Formation, southern Chile) in order to evaluate the geological evidence of the full channel cycle, from inception to terminal infill with sediment, and we attempt to provide insight into the enigmatic deep-sea processes that are critical for a comprehensive understanding of Earth surface dynamics. In the stratigraphic record, slope channel fills are typically represented by sandstone- or conglomerate-dominated deposits that define channelform sedimentary bodies tens of meters thick and hundreds of meters across. Despite the prevalence of coarse-grained sediment, key information is recorded in the fine-grained deposits locally preserved within the channelform bodies, as well as a breadth of scours or internal channelform stratal surfaces. These characteristics preserve the record of protracted sedimentary bypass and erosion. In many instances, the life of a slope channel is dominated by sedimentary bypass, and the stratigraphic record is biased by the products of shorter-lived channel filling and abandonment.

Automated geometric correction of multispectral images from High Resolution CCD Camera (HRCC) on-board CBERS-2 and CBERS-2B

China–Brazil Earth Resource Satellite (CBERS) imagery is identified as one of the potential data sources for monitoring Earth surface dynamics in the event of a Landsat data gap. Currently available multispectral images from the High Resolution CCD (Charge Coupled Device) Camera (HRCC) on-board CBERS satellites (CBERS-2 and CBERS-2B) are not precisely geo-referenced and orthorectified. The geometric accuracy of the HRCC multispectral image product is found to be within 2–11km. The use of CBERS-HRCC multispectral images to monitor Earth surface dynamics therefore necessitates accurate geometric correction of these images. This paper presents an automated method for geo-referencing and orthorectifying the multispectral images from the HRCC imager on-board CBERS satellites. Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) Level 1T (L1T) imagery provided by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is employed as reference for geometric correction. The proposed method introduces geometric distortions in the reference image prior to registering it with the CBERS-HRCC image. The performance of the geometric correction method was quantitatively evaluated using a total of 100images acquired over the Andes Mountains and the Amazon rainforest, two areas in South America representing vastly different landscapes. The geometrically corrected HRCC images have an average geometric accuracy of 17.04m (CBERS-2) and 16.34m (CBERS-2B). While the applicability of the method for attaining sub-pixel geometric accuracy is demonstrated here using selected images, it has potential for accurate geometric correction of the entire archive of CBERS-HRCC multispectral images.

What does a mean mean? The temporal evolution of detrital cosmogenic denudation rates in a transient landscape

Research Article| December 01, 2013 What does a mean mean? The temporal evolution of detrital cosmogenic denudation rates in a transient landscape Jane K. Willenbring; Jane K. Willenbring * 1National Center for Earth-Surface Dynamics, St. Anthony Falls Laboratory (SAFL), 2 Third Avenue SE, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55414, USA2Department of Earth and Environmental Science, University of Pennsylvania, 240 S. 33rd Street, Hayden Hall, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104, USA *E-mail: erosion@sas.upenn.edu. Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Nicole M. Gasparini; Nicole M. Gasparini 3Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Tulane University, 101 Blessey Hall, New Orleans, Louisiana 70118, USA Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Benjamin T. Crosby; Benjamin T. Crosby 4Department of Geosciences, Idaho State University, 921 S 8th Ave, Stop 8072, Pocatello, Idaho 83209, USA Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Gilles Brocard Gilles Brocard 2Department of Earth and Environmental Science, University of Pennsylvania, 240 S. 33rd Street, Hayden Hall, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104, USA Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Geology (2013) 41 (12): 1215–1218. https://doi.org/10.1130/G34746.1 Article history received: 17 May 2013 rev-recd: 20 Aug 2013 accepted: 28 Aug 2013 first online: 09 Mar 2017 Cite View This Citation Add to Citation Manager Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn MailTo Tools Icon Tools Get Permissions Search Site Citation Jane K. Willenbring, Nicole M. Gasparini, Benjamin T. Crosby, Gilles Brocard; What does a mean mean? The temporal evolution of detrital cosmogenic denudation rates in a transient landscape. Geology 2013;; 41 (12): 1215–1218. doi: https://doi.org/10.1130/G34746.1 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Refmanager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentBy SocietyGeology Search Advanced Search Abstract In equilibrium landscapes, 10Be concentrations within detrital quartz grains are expected to quantitatively reflect basin-wide denudation rates. In transient landscapes, though detrital quartz is derived from both the incising, adjusting lowland and the unadjusted, relict upland, the integrated 10Be concentrations still provide a denudation rate averaged across the two domains. Because field samples can provide only a snapshot of the current upstream-averaged erosion rate, we employ a numerical landscape evolution model to explore how 10Be-derived denudation rates vary over time and space during transient adjustment. Model results suggest that the longitudinal pattern of mean denudation rates is generated by the river’s progressive dilution of low-volume, high-concentration detritus from relict uplands by the integration of high-volume, low-concentration detritus from adjusting lowlands. The proportion of these materials in any detrital sample depends on what fraction of the upstream area remains unadjusted. Because the boundary of the adjusting part of the landscape changes over time, the longitudinal trend in cosmogenic nuclide–derived erosion rates changes over time. These insights are then used to guide our interpretation of geomorphic and longitudinal cosmogenic nuclide data from the South Fork Eel River (SFER) in the California Coast Range (United States). The northward-propagating crustal thickening and rock uplift associated with the passage of the Mendocino triple junction generates a mobile wave of uplift that progressively sweeps longitudinally down the SFER. The consequences of this forcing can be both replicated in the model environment and observed in the field. The SFER contains transient landforms including knickpoints and river terraces along mainstem and tributary channels that define a clear boundary between an incised, adjusting lowland and an unadjusted, relict upland. We report nine nested, basin-wide denudation rates in the mainstem of the SFER using terrestrial cosmogenic 10Be in river-borne sediment. We find that denudation rates increase in the downstream direction from ∼0.2 mm/yr in the upper catchment to ∼0.5 mm/yr at the outlet. Using comparisons to the modeled landscape, we show that this pattern of denudation rates, paired with the distribution of relict topography throughout the watershed, reflect the immaturity of the landscape’s transient adjustment. Later in this modeled transient, the predicted erosion rates decrease downstream before they become uniform. This interpretation of our data has potentially far-reaching implications for quantifying the uplift history and response time of transient landscapes using cosmogenic nuclides. You do not have access to this content, please speak to your institutional administrator if you feel you should have access.

The National Center for Earth-surface Dynamics: version 2.0

The National Center for Earth-surface Dynamics: version 2.0

Oxygen isotope composition of meltwater from a Neoproterozoic glaciation in South China

The water cycle is an integral part of Earth surface dynamics, and water’s oxygen-isotope composition retains information about the forcing and response of Earth’s local and global climate. Water isotope signals of the recent geological past can be directly obtained from archives such as ice cores, groundwater, or pore fluid. For the more distant past, mineral proxies have to be used. Multiple episodes of global glaciation may have occurred in the Neoproterozoic Era, of which the record of oxygen-isotope composition of glacial meltwater is sparse; the few records that are derived from carbonate minerals are prone to late-burial and metamorphic alteration, and therefore subject to alternative explanations. Here we present a case in which meltwater δ 18 O is retrieved from barite (BaSO 4 ) and malachite (Cu 2 CO 3 (OH) 2 )–associated sulfate (MAS) in a diamictite in Kaiyang, Guizhou, South China. The core of our argument is based on the lowest-ever-published sulfate δ 18 O values found in the barite and MAS, reaching as low as –20.3‰ (Vienna standard mean ocean water, VSMOW). These data suggest that the water involved in the oxidative weathering of these chalcocite clasts had a δ 18 O value of –34‰ ± 10‰, similar to that of polar glaciers today. Excluding the possibility of glacier meltwater alteration during the past 600 m.y. after the deposition of the diamictite, the sulfate mineral assemblage reported here provides an important constraint on the nature of the Neoproterozoic glaciation that the Kaiyang diamictite represents.

Honors

U.S. president Barack Obama recently announced his intent to appoint several people, four of whom are AGU members, to the Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board, an independent agency of the U.S. federal government that provides independent scientific and technical oversight of the Department of Energy's program for managing and disposing of high‐level radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel. The appointees include Jean Bahr, professor in the Department of Geoscience at the University of Wisconsin‐Madison; Susan Brantley, distinguished professor of geosciences and director of the Earth and Environmental Systems Institute at The Pennsylvania State University; Efi Foufoula‐Georgiou, professor of civil engineering and director of the National Center for Earth‐Surface Dynamics at the University of Minnesota; and Mary Lou Zoback, consulting professor in the Environmental Earth System Science Department at Stanford University.

Deformation during the 1975–1984 Krafla rifting crisis, NE Iceland, measured from historical optical imagery

We measure the displacement field resulting from the 1975–1984 Krafla rifting crisis, NE Iceland, using optical image correlation. Images are processed using the COSI‐Corr software package. Surface extension is accommodated on normal faults and fissures which bound the rift zone, in response to dike injection at depth. Correlation of declassified KH‐9 spy and SPOT5 satellite images reveals extension between 1977–2002 (2.5 m average opening over 80 km), while correlation of aerial photos between 1957–1990 provide measurements of the total extension (average 4.3 m opening over 80 km). Our results show ∼8 m of opening immediately north of Krafla caldera, decreasing to 3–4 m at the northern end of the rift. Correlation of aerial photos from 1957–1976 reveal a bi‐modal pattern of opening along the rift during the early crisis, which may indicate either two different magma sources located at either end of the rift zone (a similar pattern of opening was observed in the 2005 Afar rift crisis in East Africa), or variations in rock strength along the rift. Our results provide new information on how past dike injection events accommodate long‐term plate spreading, as well as providing more details on the Krafla rift crisis. This study also highlights the potential of optical image correlation using inexpensive declassified spy satellite and aerial photos to measure deformation of the Earth's surface going back many decades, thus providing a new tool for measuring Earth surface dynamics, e.g. glaciers, landsliding, coastal erosion, volcano monitoring and earthquake studies, when InSAR and GPS data are not available.

Benthic macroinvertebrates as indicators of water quality: The intersection of science and policy

1 Department of Geography and Environmental Engineering, National Center for Earth-surface Dynamics, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland 21218 USA *Corresponding author; e-mail: M.A.KenneyPHD@gmail.com 2 Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, Edgewater, Maryland 21037 USA e-mail: sutton-griera@si.edu 3 Department of Entomology, 4112 Plant Sciences Building, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, 20742-4454 USA e-mail: rsmith9@umd.edu 4 Department of Biological Sciences, Towson University, Towson, Maryland 21252 USA e-mail: esens@tosgrwson.edu Received: 28 April 28, 2009; accepted: 17 July 2009 Summary is review addresses the intersection of water quality policy and benthic macroinvertebrates. Speci“ cally, we examine the role that stream macroinvertebrates have played or could play in informing water quality deci-sions given the current policy framework, using this framework as the organizational structure for the review. Macroinvertebrates, as biological indicators of stream water quality, can be utilized to identify impaired waters, determine aquatic life stressors, set pollutant load reductions, and indicate improvement. We present both current approaches as well as innovative approaches to identify macroinvertebrates and aquatic life stres-sors. We also discuss an example of the environmental management approach, speci“ cally, how macroinver-tebrates can be used to indicate the relative success of stream restoration. For policymakers, this review serves to illuminate opportunities and limitations of using benthic macroinvertebrates as indicators of water qual-ity. For entomologists, this review highlights policy-relevant research questions that would further aid the classi“ cation of impaired waters, the identi“ cation of stressors, or the management of stream ecosystems. © Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2009ds ywore Kiocriteria; B biological criteria; Clean ater ct; biological A W monitoring; bioassessment; essor str identi“ ca-tion; estoration; eam strr benthic tebrates eroinvmacr

The Role of Impulse on the Initiation of Particle Movement Under Turbulent Flow Conditions

Fundamental to our understanding of erosional and transport phenomena in earth-surface dynamics and engineering is knowledge of the conditions under which sediment motion will begin when subjected to turbulent flow. The onset criterion currently in use emphasizes the time-averaged boundary shear stress and therefore is incapable of accounting for the fluctuating forces encountered in turbulent flows. We have validated through laboratory experiments and analytical formulation of the problem a criterion based upon the impulse imparted to a sediment grain. We demonstrate that in addition to the magnitude of the instantaneous turbulent forces applied on a sediment grain, the duration of these turbulent forces is also important in determining the sediment grain's threshold of motion, and that their product, or impulse, is better suited for specifying such conditions.

Research on Earth-Surface Interaction Mechanism, Process and Dynamics of Human-Earth System: Case Study on the Geographic Belt Transect from Shenzhen in Guangdong Province to Bayanhaote in Inner Mongolia Province of China

China epitomizes a rapidly growing economic region typified by human-induced urbanization at a geometric rate. Considering the regional differentia of the Chinese geography, this paper chose a geographic belt transect of human-activity disparity to accomplish the earth-surface system research. The study area is a narrow southeast-northwest geographic belt transect of China, passing through six cities of China. The total study area measures 385600km2 with a width of 100—150km and a length of 2200km. Using the GIS and database technology, this paper integrated the basic geographic information, remote sensing images, statistical data, and special-subject pictures. Subsequently the geographic information system for the Shenzhen-Bayanhaote Geographic Belt Transect was generated. Founded on the database and GIS platform, the related geographic belt transect research on earth-surface interaction mechanism, process and dynamics of Human-Earth system was carried out. This is capable of providing scientific support and the foundation for expressing the impact of human activity on earth-surface system and understanding the differentia of regional geographic process. With regard to the research mechanism of Human-Earth system interaction, the impacts of both temperature and precipitation variation and the human-dimension factors on disaster loss were discussed and analyzed in the research belt transect. When considering the process and dynamics research of Human-Earth system interaction, the spatiotemporal pattern of the ecological assets, land use change and its impact on ecological assets in the research belt transect during the last five years of 1990s were analyzed. The flood-drought disasters and its relation with spatiotemporal pattern of land use in the research belt transect were investigated and discussed. Meanwhile, for performing in-depth research of the typical sample-points in the research belt transect, this study chose the Buji river watershed in Shenzhen. Shenzhen is characterized by population-induced rapid. The land use/cover change were measured and analyzed, and various hydrological process scenarios were simulated using SWAT distributed hydrological model under the situation of lack of observation data. The ultimate objective of this process was to reveal the impact of urbanization on the land use/cover change and improve the relevant research mechanism.