Eustatic Sea Level Calibrated By Balanced Paleogeographic Maps of Europe

这项研究奖励将帮助研究者利用陆地和近海地区的沉积物类型、厚度、年龄和孔隙度以及全球沉积物质量平衡方程等现有信息，重建西欧和邻近的北大西洋陆架和盆地的平衡古地理图。这种将被侵蚀的沉积物重新装载到大陆上，然后计算大陆地形，从而得出上升和下沉速度的技术是非常富有想象力和创新的。PI使用类似的数据库和质量平衡计算，在重建过去70年代北美大陆及其邻近地区的古地形、古流域、古水深和过去的隆升和沉降方面取得了极大的成功。这种平衡的古地理图将为西欧的海平面曲线提供校准，并将有助于确定每一个流域和沉积盆地的造陆运动相对于海平面上升变化的意义。此外，这种建模技术将产生复杂的气候和海洋环流建模所需的地形信息。在第一年和第二年，PI在慕尼黑大学休假期间将收集必要的数据。接下来将是严格的计算机密集工作，以生成古地理地图。这项研究代表了确定古海平面上升和下降的一种全新的方法，这是目前许多研究的主题。海伊博士是一位非常有能力的科学家，在过去十年中，他在各种学科的开创性研究中发挥了领导作用，毫无疑问，拟议的研究将会发挥作用

This research award will help the investigator to reconstruct balanced paleographic maps of the Western Europe and the adjacent North Atlantic shelves and basins using the available information on the sediment types, their thicknesses, ages and porosities for the onshore and offshore areas and global sedimentary mass balance equations. This technique of loading the eroded sediments back on to the continent and then calculating the continental topography and thereby arriving at the uplift and subsidence rates is extraodinarily imaginative and innovative. The PI using a similar data base and mass balance calculations was extremely successful in reconstructing paleotopography, paleodrainage basins, paleobathymetry and past uplifts and subsidences of the North American continent and the adjoining areas for the last 70 MY. Such balanced paleogeographic maps will provide calibration for the sea level curve for the Western Europe and will help in determining the significance of epeirogenic movements vis-a-vis eustatic sea level changes in each of the drainage and depositional basins. Also this modeling technique will produce the kind of topographic information that is required for sophisticated climate and ocean circulation modeling. During the 1st and 2nd year, the PI while on his sabbatical in University of Munich will gather the necessary data. This will be followed by rigorous computer intensive work to generate paleographic maps. This study represents a wholly new approach in the determination of paleo sea level rises and falls, a subject of much investigation at the present time. Dr. Hay is an extremely capable scientist who for the last decade took leadership in pioneering research in a variety of subjects and there is no doubt that the proposed study will