Collaborative Research: Linking erosional and climatic processes in regions of active mountain building

山区的地形是整个景观中物质侵蚀和输出的产物。这些地区发生侵蚀事件的频率和强度受当地气候的控制。山脉的地形反过来又影响着气候。这表明在活跃造山地区大气和地貌过程之间存在耦合。然而，气候-地形-侵蚀关系的观测研究一直模棱两可。观测结果出现这种差异的一个潜在原因是，大多数研究所依赖的现代气候对景观上的综合气候历史的反映很差。在造山的时间尺度上，由于轨道变化、温室气体浓度和地形的发展，气候会发生变化。这项工作将建立一个耦合的气候-景观演化模型框架，以定量地研究气候、地形和地质时间尺度上侵蚀之间的相互作用。气候和景观的共同演化将在不同纬度（如热带、亚热带和中纬度）和不同轨道配置下进行模拟，以增加我们对耦合气候和景观系统中固有的时空变异性的理解。这项工作将补充以前和正在进行的探索气候和地形相互作用的实证研究。量化气候和地形之间的相互作用与许多社会问题有关，包括水库的沉积物输入速率、陆地碳循环以及农业和高地系统中侵蚀过程的强度。气候在控制侵蚀速率方面的作用还具有更广泛的地质意义，因为它对活跃造山地区的构造过程具有潜在影响。此外，要充分了解地球作为一个系统，包括地表和岩石圈的组成部分，需要一个定量的框架来联系气候、侵蚀和构造。这项研究将有助于实现这一目标。此外，拟议的项目将与密歇根大学自然历史博物馆合作，开发可部署的中学课程和互动博物馆展示。

Topography in mountainous regions is a product of the erosion and export of material across the landscape. The frequency and magnitude of erosion events occurring in these regions is controlled by the local climate. The topography of the mountain ranges, in turn, influences the climate. This suggests a coupling between atmospheric and geomorphic processes in regions of active mountain building. Observational studies of climate-topography-erosion relationships, however, have been equivocal. One potential reason for this disparity in observational results is that the modern climate, for which most studies depend on, is a poor representation of the integrated climate history over landscape. Over the timescale of mountain building, climate can vary due to orbital variations, greenhouse gas concentrations, and the development of topography. This work will develop a coupled climate-landscape evolution model framework to quantitatively investigate interactions between climate, topography, and erosion on geologic timescales. The co-evolution of climate and landscapes will be modeled at different latitudes (e.g. tropical, sub-tropical, and mid-latitude) and for different orbital configurations in order to increase our understanding of the spatial and temporal variability inherent in the coupled climate and landscape systems. This work will complement previous and ongoing empirical studies exploring the interaction of climate and topography. Quantifying the interaction between the climate and topography is relevant to a number of societal issues including the rate of sediment input to reservoirs, the terrestrial carbon cycle, and the intensity of erosion processes in agricultural and uplands systems. The role of climate in controlling erosion rates also has broader geological implications due its potential influence on tectonic processes in regions of active mountain building. Moreover, fully understanding the Earth as a system, including surface and lithospheric components, requires a quantitative framework for linking climate, erosion, and tectonics. This research will contribute towards this goal. Additionally, the proposed project will develop a deployable middle-school curriculum and interactive museum display in collaboration with the University of Michigan Museum of Natural History.