CAREER: Quantifying Erosional Processes on Upland Landscapes

提案标题：PECASE：量化高地地貌上的侵蚀过程机构：达特茅斯学院提出了一个为期五年的研究项目，以量化泥沙生产和输送过程的具体本构关系，整合方法，并将学习和发现之间的协同作用纳入教育计划。研究将检验以下假设：(1)量化具有已知土壤生产功能的景观母质的可擦除性或机械强度，(2)量化以前没有研究过的景观部分的土壤生产率和过程，以及(3)量化相同景观中的泥沙输送机制，以更好地确定广泛适用的侵蚀规律。具体地说，PI将使用实验室和现场测试来确定母质的机械状态，现场生产的宇宙成因核素(10Be和26Al)来确定土壤生产和集水区平均侵蚀率，以及短暂的尘埃核素(7Be、210Pb、137Cs和241Am)，并结合数值模型来量化相同地点的泥沙输送过程。这些独立的方法论将被用来测试三个基本假设，这些假设支撑着我们对积极侵蚀的土壤地貌的理解。这些假说都是可现场测试的，将形成景观的过程联系在一起，可能有助于解释土壤覆盖的景观之间的差异，但它们迄今尚未得到定量测试。此外，每个现场地点的工作将解决有关运输规律的具体问题，最好地描述地点上运行的主要地貌过程以及地点的风化历史。“该项目最初是作为职业奖而资助的，并于2004年9月转变为总统工程师和科学家早期职业奖(PECASE)奖。

Proposal Title: PECASE: Quantifying Erosional Processes on Upland LandscapesInstitution: Dartmouth CollegePI proposes a five-year research project to quantify specific constitutive relationships for sediment production and transport processes, integrating methodologies and building the synergy between learning and discovery into an education plan. Research will test hypotheses to (1) quantify erodability, or mechanical strength, of parent material across landscapes with known soil production functions, (2) quantify soil production rates and processes across portions of the landscape not examined previously, and (3) quantify the mechanisms of sediment transport across the same landscapes to better define widely applicable erosion laws. Specifically, PI will use lab and field testing to determine the mechanical state of the parent material, in situ produced cosmogenic nuclides (10Be and 26Al) to determine soil production and catchment-averaged erosion rates, and short-lived fallout nuclides (7Be, 210Pb, 137Cs, and 241Am) coupled with a numerical model to quantify sediment transport processes on the same sites. These independent methodologies will be used to test three fundamental hypotheses underlying our understanding of actively eroding soil-mantled landscapes. These hypotheses are all field-testable, link the processes shaping a landscape and may help explain the variability among soil-mantled landscapes, yet they have not been quantitatively tested to date. Additionally, work at each field site will address specific questions regarding the transport laws best describing the dominant geomorphic processes operating on the sites as well as the weathering history of the sites."This project was originally funded as a CAREER award, and was converted to a Presidential Early Career Award for Engineers and Scientists (PECASE) award in September 2004.