A peak-cluster assessment method for the identification of upland planation surfaces

ABSTRACT

Residual upland planation surfaces serve as strong evidence of peneplains during long intervals of base-level stability in the peneplanation process. Multi-stage planation surfaces could aid the calculation of uplift rates and the reconstruction of upland plateau evolution. However, most planation surfaces have been damaged by crustal uplift, tectonic deformation, and surface erosion, thus increasing the difficulty in automatically identifying residual planation surfaces. This study proposes a peak-cluster assessment method for the automatic identification of potential upland planation surfaces. It consists of two steps: peak extraction and peak-cluster characterization. Three critical parameters, namely, landform planation index (LPI), peak elevation standard deviation, and peak density, are employed to assess peak clusters. The proposed method is applied and validated in five case areas in the Tibetan Plateau using a Shuttle Radar Topography Mission digital elevation model (SRTM DEM) with 3 arc-second resolution. Results show that the proposed method can effectively extract potential planation surfaces, which are found to be stable with different resolutions of DEM data. A significant planation characteristic can be obtained in the relatively flat areas of the Gangdise–Nyainqentanglha Mountains and Qaidam Basin. Several vestiges of potential former planation areas are also extracted in the hilly-gully areas of the western part of the Himalaya Mountains, the northern part of the Tangula–Hengduan Mountains, and the northeastern part of the Kunlun–Qinling Mountains despite the absence of significant topographical features characterized by low slope angles or low terrain reliefs. Vestiges of planation surfaces are also identified in these hilly-gully upland areas. Hence, the proposed method can be effectively used to extract potential upland planation surfaces not only in flat areas but also in hilly-gully areas.

KEYWORDS:

• Upland planation surface
• peak-cluster assessment
• Tibetan Plateau
• digital elevation model

Acknowledgments

The research is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NO. 41471316, 41431177, 41471331, 41571398, 41401456); A Project Funded by the Priority Academic Program Development of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions-PAPD (Grant No. 164320H101). The support received by A-Xing Zhu through the Vilas Associate Award, the Hammel Faculty Fellow, and the Manasse Chair Professorship from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and through the ‘One-Thousand Talents’ Program of China is greatly appreciated. The authors also express their gratitude towards the journal editor and the reviewers, whose thoughtful suggestions played a significant role in improving the quality of this article.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China [41471316, 41431177, 41471331, 41571398, 41401456]; A Project Funded by the Priority Academic Program Development of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions-PAPD [164320H101].