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Reconstruction of Past Erosional Force from Tree Ring Information around the Rokko Mountains, Japan

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Kenji Kashiwaya  and
Takashi Okimura
Kenji Kashiwaya
Affiliation:
Graduate School of Science and Technology, Kobe University, Kobe 657, Japan
Takashi Okimura
Affiliation:
Faculty of Engineering, Kobe University, Kobe 657, Japan
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Abstract

Torrential rainfalls in the Rokko Mountains have often triggered severe landslides and debris flows, but few such phenomena have occurred in the area just to the north of the mountains during the same rainfall events. The periodicity of 25–30 years in excess rainfall data (i.e., the annual summation of heavy rainfall of more than 100 mm/day during the past 100 years) around the mountains correlates with the increased frequency of landslides and debris flows. Analyses of tree-ring widths that span the past 50–240 years in samples taken from various areas in the mountains and the area just to the north indicate that most sequences have a dominant periodicity of about 25–30 years, the ring series in the mountain areas having a more conspicuous periodicity than those from the area just to the north. These results lead to the conclusion that excess rainfall may provide a first approximation of erosional force in areas affected by slope movement, and that tree-ring width may be used as a proxy for erosional force.

Type
Articles
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 34 , Issue 2 , September 1990 , pp. 240 - 248
Copyright
University of Washington

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