Collaborative Research: Quantitative Sediment Routing across Pristine Foreland Basins

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Collaborative Research: Quantitative Sediment Routing across Pristine Foreland Basins: Transport, Accumulation, and Floodplain-Channel Interactions within Three Fluvial Dispersal SystemsCharles A. Nittrouer and Rolf E. Aalto, Washington University, EAR-0310339Thomas Dunne, University of California, Santa Barbara, EAR-0309688ABSTRACTLarge lowland rivers comprise the primary arteries through which water and sediment are conveyed across continents, from mountain sources to estuarine and marine sinks, providing critical habitat, fertile agricultural land, vital water resources, and land for tens of millions of people. River sediment also serves as the primary vehicle to transport carbon, nutrients, and pollutants. This project will document and model the mechanisms of sediment transport, accumulation, and floodplain-channel interaction within three large rivers traversing pristine foreland basins in Bolivia and Peru. In trio, these rivers exemplify the continuum of fluvial processes and rates for lowland rivers within a wide range of tectonic scenarios, providing an ideal natural laboratory. This project will also continue the development of new methods for floodplain geochronology and computer analysis of river morphology and migration using satellite imagery. PIs collaboration with French scientists represents a productive new international partnership. They will generate data products useful to educators, researchers, digital libraries, and navigators, as well as research and results to be used for teaching at the university level. The research benefits anyone interested in the full natural range of morphologies, rates, or mechanics of water and particulate flux, channel-floodplain interaction, and sedimentary basin dynamics for sand-bedded fluvial dispersal systems.