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

沉积盆地中的硅屑碎屑遵循一条从风化剖面到山坡体系，再到河流体系，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源力对地表过程的影响。沉积学文献中有丰富的构造过程对地层记录的解释。相比之下，第四纪科学家通常根据气候驱动的水文变化来解释第四纪地层学。只有了解产生并向沉积盆地输送碎屑的山坡过程中气候引起的变化，才能解决构造和构造与气候在地层记录中的相对作用。提出的研究受到了前所未有的野外观测的刺激，在构造静止的环境中，山坡沉积物可以在横向上可靠地追溯到新近纪湖泊沉积物或作为遗存的上新世和更新世特征留在景观上。我们建议将沉积学和地貌学方法结合起来研究这些沉积物，并假设在山坡沉积物的产生和运输中有明显的气候控制变化，并且可以比较和对比新近纪和第四纪的山坡沉积记录。这将通过对隐伏和残坡矿床及其相关近山前矿床的地层学、沉积岩石学和沉积结构的详细分析，以及第四纪地层学和土壤景观组合的研究来完成。结果将极大地连接和受益于这两个学科，并填补我们对山坡和河流系统在过去1200万年中如何与气候联系和变化的理解的空白。

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.