Reversal of Erosion Cycle and Climatic Change

Abstract

Successive surveys of the cross section of ephemeral channels in New Mexico over a period of 15 years 1960–1975, show that arroyos that were actively eroding early in the century have reversed the trend and are alluviating. This appears to be associated with the worldwide cooling trend that began about 1940. If the inference proves to be correct, it is significant hydrologically, for it provides some specific knowledge of the climatic conditions associated with the alternate periods of valley erosion and valley alluviation that created the widespread terraces of the semiarid West.