US-France Cooperative Research: Effects of Amazon Sediment Migration on Mangrove Recruitment and the Geological/Geochemical Evolution of the Guianas-Amapa Coast, South America

这一为期两年的奖项为美法合作研究南美洲圭亚那-阿马帕海岸亚马逊沉积物堆积的性质提供了支持。由德克萨斯农工大学的米德·艾利森和南加州巴黎大学的弗雷德里克·巴尔策领导的研究小组参与了这项合作。该项目的目标是确定：(1)泥滩迁移和泥滩生长之间的相互作用如何控制阿马帕-圭亚那海岸的淤积和侵蚀，以及(2)海岸红树林沼泽的补充、增长速度和生存如何依赖这些机制。研究人员将在法属圭亚那进行联合实地研究，并将这些研究小组在之前的实地研究中收集的信息汇集在一起。美国调查人员将沉积学、地质年代学和海洋地球物理学方面的专业知识带到了这次合作中。法国在红树林沼泽的生态、植物学和沉积学研究方面的专业知识对此起到了补充作用。该项目将促进对控制泥泞海岸系统演变的自然过程的理解。这些系统构成了世界海岸带的很大比例，是在人类入侵下正在消失的关键栖息地。

This two-year award provides support for US-France cooperative research on the nature of Amazon sediment accumulation along the Guianas-Amapa coast of South America. The collaboration involves the research groups led by Mead Allison of Texas A & M University and Frederic Baltzer of the University of Paris, Sud. The objectives of the project are to determine: (1) how the interplay between mudbank migration and mudcape growth controls accretion and erosion on the Amapa-Guianas coast and (2) how recruitment, growth rates, and survival of coast mangrove swamps are dependent on these mechanisms. The researchers will conduct a joint field study in French Guiana and bring together information collected by these research groups in previous field studies. The US investigators bring to this collaboration expertise in sedimentology, geochronology and marine geophysics. This is complemented by French expertise in ecological, botanical and sedimentological studies of mangrove swamps. The project will advance understanding of the natural processes that control the evolution of a muddy coastal system. These systems make up a significant proportion of the world's coast zones and are critical habitats that are disappearing under human encroachment.