资源环境科技发展态势分析平台

Wind-driven tree throw is an observable and consequential process that suddenly moves soil downslope, inverts the soil column, and roughens the surface with pit-mound topography. Quantifying fluxes due to tree throw is complicated by its stochastic nature and estimation requires averaging over a large area or long time. Here, we develop theory that leads to a dimensionless metric directly measurable from high resolution topographic data. The theory explains the flux and topographic roughness as a function of tree throw production and decay rate by creep-like processes. We then form a measurable dimensionless variable that is the ratio of fluxes due to tree throw versus creep-like processes. Applying the theory to hillslopes in Southern Indiana, we find that tree throw accounts for 11 to 18% of the hillslope sediment flux. The theoretical and observational findings provide important constraints on quantifying Critical Zone function from topographic parameters such as roughness.