Presidential Young Investigator: Desert Geomorphology, Focusing on Dating Techniques and Paleoenvironmental Reconstruction

由总统青年调查员进行的研究将 重点发展和应用方法， 利用陆地记录重建环境变化 具有时间控制和广泛分布。 新的约会和 主要开发的古环境方法 岩石清漆涂层的调查员，将允许辐射测量 许多人的年龄分配和计时年龄测定 以前无法描绘的沙漠表面。 化学变化 已经发现表面涂层记录了系统变化 在过去的灰尘水平，碱性和光合作用途径， 邻近的植被。 下一阶段的研究包括 在湿温带环境中的山坡碎片， 岩石清漆测年方法的发展。 理解 环境变化取决于获得“代理”记录， 既适合约会又无处不在 沙漠清漆和斜坡 崩积物有很大的希望提供重要的 历史事件的古环境重建信息 在半干旱和潮湿的环境中。

Research conducted by the Presidential Young Investigator will focus on development and application of methods for reconstructing environmental changes, using terrestrial records having both time control and wide distribution. New dating and paleoenvironmental methods developed by the Principal Investigator for rock varnish coatings, will permit radiometric age assignments and chronometric age-determinations of many previously undateable desert surfaces. Chemical changes in surface coatings have been found to record systematic variations in past levels of dust, alkalinity and photosynthetic pathways of adjacent vegetation. The next phase of research includes study of hillslope debris in humid-temperate environments and further development of rock varnish dating methods. Understanding environmental changes depends on obtaining "proxy" records that are both dateable and ubiquitous. Desert varnish and slope colluvium deposits hold great promise to provide important information for paleoenvironmental reconstruction of past events in both semi-arid and humid environments.