How long is a hillslope?

Hillslope length is a fundamental attribute of landscapes, intrinsically linked to drainage density, landslide hazard, biogeochemical cycling and hillslope sediment transport. Existing methods to estimate catchment average hillslope lengths include inversion of drainage density or identification of a break in slope–area scaling, where the hillslope domain transitions into the fluvial domain. Here we implement a technique which models flow from point sources on hilltops across pixels in a digital elevation model (DEM), based on flow directions calculated using pixel aspect, until reaching the channel network, defined using recently developed channel extraction algorithms. Through comparisons between these measurement techniques, we show that estimating hillslope length from plots of topographic slope versus drainage area, or by inverting measures of drainage density, systematically underestimates hillslope length. In addition, hillslope lengths estimated by slope–area scaling breaks show large variations between catchments of similar morphology and area. We then use hillslope length–relief structure of landscapes to explore nature of sediment flux operating on a landscape. Distinct topographic forms are predicted for end-member sediment flux laws which constrain sediment transport on hillslopes as being linearly or nonlinearly dependent on hillslope gradient. Because our method extracts hillslope profiles originating from every ridgetop pixel in a DEM, we show that the resulting population of hillslope length–relief measurements can be used to differentiate between linear and nonlinear sediment transport laws in soil mantled landscapes. We find that across a broad range of sites across the continental United States, topography is consistent with a sediment flux law in which transport is nonlinearly proportional to topographic gradient

Peak minerals: mapping sustainability issues at local and national scales

Peak minerals adopts the Hubbert metaphor for peak oil to highlight issues associated with initial mining of `cheaper, more accessible and higher quality ores pre-peak, to `lower grade, more remote, complex and expensive ores post-peak. In doing so, it prompts focus on the `services provided by the resource in-use as well as the transition strategy to supply those services following the decline of production post-peak. This paper applies the peak minerals metaphor as a basis for examining the social and environmental implications pre- and post-peak production across spatial scales. Using document review and stakeholder analysis from a National Peak Minerals Forum held in Australia, social and environmental impacts are mapped at local and national scales. This innovative mapping found that currently, consideration is given to local social and environmental issues and global economic issues, however, triple bottom line issues at the national scale are currently overlooked. As minerals resources belong to the people of a nation, this finding will inform future approaches to transition strategies seeking to maximise long term value for the use of the resources

Don Juan Tenorio: A literary comparison between Tirso de Molina and the Baroque era and Jose Zorrilla and the Romantic era

Thesis (B.A.) in Spanish, Italian and Portuguese--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1992.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 57-59)Microfiche of typescript. [Urbana, Ill.]: Photographic Services, University of Illinois, U of I Library, [1992]. 2 microfiches (63 frames): negative.s 1992 ilu n