Doctoral Dissertation Research: Pedology and 10-Beryllium Dating of Colluvial Deposits in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina

9405198早在19世纪80年代，威廉·莫里斯·戴维斯等地貌学家就开发并测试了阿巴拉契亚山脉中部和南部的景观变化模型。然而，直到最近才有新的方法和理论被用来解释该地区复杂的地貌混合。新的材料测年方法为开发地貌和材料的年表提供了相当大的希望。这项博士论文研究项目将阐明南蓝岭的地貌和土壤历史，这些历史记录在北卡罗来纳州西部小田纳西河流域的堆积沉积和伴生土壤中。除了从野外获得的其他数据外，还将提取从支流山谷精心挑选的系列中提取的冰盖样品集。堆积样品的相对年龄将通过检查土壤的形态特性、铁物种的比例和不同风化矿物的比例来确定。这些样品还将使用相对较新的测年技术进行检查，该技术测量铍(10-Be)的同位素。使用这种方法确定的日期应该能够确定每个样品的最大表面暴露年龄，从而能够在更定量的参照系中检查这些沉积物和相对土壤的性质和演化历史。该项目将促进对阿巴拉契亚山脉南部蓝岭省地貌和土壤学变化的了解，为研究景观和土壤演变过程提供更坚实的年代学背景。此外，它还将探索10-BE约会程序的实用性。作为博士论文改进奖，该奖项还将提供支持，使有前途的学生建立一个强大的独立研究生涯。

9405198 SCHAETZL As early as the 1880s, geomorphologists like William Morris Davis developed and tested models of landscape change in the central and southern Appalachian Mountains. Only recently have new approaches and theories been used to interpret the complex intermixture of landforms in the region, however. New methods for dating materials offer considerable promise for developing a chronology of landforms and materials. This doctoral dissertation research project will elucidate the geomorphic and soils history of the southern Blue Ridge as recorded in colluvial deposits and associated soils from the Little Tennessee River basin of western North Carolina. Sets of colluvium samples drawn from carefully selected series in tributary valleys will be extracted in addition to other data derived in the field. The relative ages of the colluvial samples will be determined by examining soil morphological properties, ratios of iron species, and rations of differentially weatherable minerals. The samples also will be examined using relatively new dating techniques that measure an isotope of beryllium (10-Be). Dates determined using this method should allow identification of a maximum surface exposure age for each sample, thereby enabling examination of the properties and evolutionary histories of these deposits and relative soils in a more quantitative frame of reference. This project will advance knowledge about geomorphological and pedological change in the Blue Ridge province in the southern Appalachians, providing a much firmer chronological context within which to examine processes of landscape and soil evolution. In addition, it will explore the utility of 10-Be dating procedures. As a doctoral dissertation improvement award, this award also will provide support to enable a promising student to establish a strong independent research career.