CAREER: Quantifying Erosional Processes on Upland Landscapes

提案名称：PECASE：量化高地景观侵蚀过程机构：达特茅斯学院我提出了一项为期五年的研究项目，旨在量化沉积物产生和运输过程的具体构成关系，将方法和学习与发现之间的协同作用整合到一个教育计划中。研究将验证以下假设：(1)量化具有已知土壤生产功能的景观中母质的可蚀性或机械强度；(2)量化以前未检查过的景观部分的土壤生产速率和过程；(3)量化相同景观中沉积物运输的机制，以更好地定义广泛适用的侵蚀规律。具体来说，PI将使用实验室和现场测试来确定母质的力学状态，原位产生的宇宙形成核素（10Be和26Al）来确定土壤产生和流域平均侵蚀率，以及短期沉降核素（7Be, 210Pb， 137Cs和241Am），再结合数值模型来量化同一地点的沉积物运输过程。这些独立的方法将被用来检验三个基本假设，这些假设奠定了我们对积极侵蚀的土壤覆盖景观的理解。这些假设都是可以实地检验的，它们将景观的形成过程联系起来，并可能有助于解释土壤覆盖的景观之间的可变性，但迄今为止，它们还没有得到定量的检验。此外，在每个现场的工作将解决有关运输规律的具体问题，这些规律最好地描述了在现场运行的主要地貌过程以及现场的风化历史。该项目最初是作为职业奖资助的，并于2004年9月转换为工程师和科学家的总统早期职业奖（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.