Geomorphic response of central Texas stream channels to catastrophic rainfall and runoff.

In central Texas the morphology of the streams incised into the Cretaceous limestone bedrock of the Edwards Plateau is controlled by catastrophic floods. This is partly a response to a climatic regime which has produced near record intensity rainfalls of up to 24 hours duration. Flooding on two small streams in 1972, resulting from 406mm of rainfall in four hours, produced spectacular erosion and transport of limestone bedrock. Radiocarbon dates of buried floodplain sediments indicate a minimum recurrence interval of 400 yr for geomorphically significant flooding of these streams. -from Authors Author's address(es) ) Dept. of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Wesleyan Univ., USA. ) Dept of Geological Sciences, Univ. of Texas at Austin, USA.