Variable Hillslope Processes and Sediment Delivery to Tectonically-Quiescent Basins: A Late Miocene to Quaternary Record of Buried, Relict, and Modern Hillslopes and their Deposits

小行星9706051 沉积盆地中的硅质碎屑遵循从风化剖面到山坡体系、河流体系，最后到盆地沉积环境的路径。 沉积盆地的地层学和沉积学是沿着这条路径的复杂步骤的最终结果，它们记录了包括气候、构造和岩石类型在内的外力对地表过程的影响。 沉积学文献中有丰富的关于构造过程的地层记录的解释。 相比之下，第四纪科学家通常解释第四纪地层的气候驱动的水文变化。 只有了解了产生碎屑并将碎屑输送到沉积盆地的山坡过程中气候引起的变化，才能解决构造以及构造和气候在地层记录中的相对作用。 拟议的研究已经刺激了前所未有的实地观察，在构造静止的设置，山坡沉积物，可以追溯到信心横向到新近纪湖泊沉积物或仍然作为残留上新世和更新世的景观功能。 我们建议结合联合收割机沉积学和地貌学的方法在这些存款的研究与假设，显着的气候控制变化的生产和运输的山坡沉积物是显而易见的，新近纪和第四纪记录的山坡沉积可以比较和对比。 这将通过详细分析埋藏和残留山坡沉积物及其相关近端皮埃蒙特沉积物的地层学、沉积岩石学和沉积结构，沿着第四纪地层学和土壤-景观组合的研究来完成。 结果将大大桥梁和受益于两个学科，并填补了我们的理解的差距，山坡和河流系统已联系起来，并在过去的1200万年随着气候的变化。

9706051 Smith Siliciclastic detritus in a sedimentary basin follows a path from a weathering profile, to the hillslope system, to the fluvial system, and finally to the basin depositional environment. The stratigraphy and sedimentology of a sedimentary basin are the net result of the complex steps along this path and they record the effects of exogenic forces including climate, tectonics, and rock type on surficial processes. The sedimentological literature is rich with interpretations of the stratigraphic record in terms of tectonic processes. In contrast, Quaternary scientists generally interpret Quaternary stratigraphy in terms of climatically-driven hydrologic changes. Resolution of the relative roles of tectonics and of tectonics and climate in the stratigraphic record can only be addressed if the climatically-induced variability in the hillslope processes that produce and deliver detritus to the sedimentary basin are understood. The proposed research has been stimulated by unprecedented field observations, in a tectonically quiesent setting, of hillslope deposits that can be traced with confidence laterally into Neogene lacustrine deposits or remain as relict Pliocene and Pleistocene features on the landscape. We propose to combine sedimentologic and geomorphic approaches in the study of these deposits with the hypothesis that significant climatically-controlled variations in the production and transport of hillslope sediment are evident and that the Neogene and Quaternary records of hillslope sedimentation can be compared and contrasted. This will be accomplished through detailed analysis of the stratigraphy, sedimentary petrology, and sedimentary structure of buried and relict hillslope deposits and their correlative proximal piedmont deposits, along with the study of Quaternary stratigraphy and soil-landscape associations. Results will significantly bridge and benefit both disciplines and fill a gap in our understanding of how hillslope and fluvial systems have been linked and have varied with climate over the past 12 million years.