Caine, Nel; Swanson, F. J. 1989. Geomorphic coupling of hillslope and channel systems in two small mountain basins. Zeitschrift fur Geomorphologie. 33(2): 189-203.
Sediment budgets for two small (10 ha area) mountain catchments, one in the westernCascade Range of Oregon, the other in the Colorado Rocky Mountains, arc presented here. Ifillslope andstream processes have been measured by similar procedures over S-6 years and so the absolute rates ofgeomorphic activity and the relative importance of different processes can be compared. This suggeststhree important contrasts in the behavior of the two systems. (1) Rates of geomorphic activity in theCascade catchment arc 10x greater than those in the Rocky Mountain basin. (2) Delivery of material tothe stream channel in the Cascades is dominated by episodic debris flows with a periodicity of about 400yr. In contrast, material is delivered to the Colorado mountain channel in solution or by non-catastrophicmass wasting. (3) An approximate balance between sediment delivery to the stream channel and exportfrom the basin occurs in the Cascade case whereas the Rocky Mountain catchment exports only about10% of the sediment delivered to its stream channels. Thus, the first behaves as an "equilibrium land-scape" whereas the second corresponds to a "decay model" of landscape development (THoRNEs &BRUNSUEN 1977).