CNIC: U.S. - Czech Geomorphologic Study of Soil Erosion, Floodplain Sedimentation, and Agricultural Sustainability over Decadal to Centennial Timescales

该项目启动了由丹佛大学首席研究员领导的跨学科研究协作，与捷克共和国的三个机构的合作伙伴合作。他们将一起开始研究土壤侵蚀、洪泛平原沉积和农业可持续发展之间的关系，时间跨度从十年到百年。土壤侵蚀是21世纪社会面临的紧迫环境问题。美国许多地区和世界各地的侵蚀率已被证明超过了土壤形成的自然速度，并与农业生产力的下降直接相关。以前关于农业景观中土壤侵蚀和下游沉积的大多数工作都是使用基于过程的方法进行的；这项工作产生了一些模型，可以很好地预测几天到几年的时间尺度上的侵蚀率。然而，地貌学理论表明，这些模型可能不容易按比例预测数十年至数百年的侵蚀速度。这些较长的时间尺度很重要，因为它们与土壤形成的自然速率相对应，而且影响更广泛，因为它们可以为远程农业土地利用管理提供信息。项目开发工作将聘请一名美国研究生作为美国-捷克团队的成员，进行基于野外的数据收集、水文和沉积学建模以及土壤和洪泛平原沉积物的地球化学分析。与捷克科学家的合作研究是必不可少的，原因有几个。首先，捷克共和国南部的研究区自中世纪早期以来一直保持着农业土地利用模式。它代表了一种独特的环境，在这种环境中可以经验性地评估十年到百年时间尺度上的侵蚀速度。捷克生命科学大学的合作者与研究地区的土地使用管理人员和业主合作，将使该项目的实地部分可行。其次，捷克技术大学的合作者在年度时间尺度上对这些农业景观的现有侵蚀模型进行了校准。第三，捷克科学院无机化学研究所的合作伙伴开发了记录泛滥平原沉积速率的新的地球化学和年代地层学方法。为这个项目组建的团队是高度跨学科的，拥有解决基本研究问题的技术专长。初步结果有可能导致后续的、更长期的联合研究工作，促进地貌学、空间科学和土地利用动态的理论理解。

This project initiates an interdisciplinary research collaboration led by the principal investigator at the University of Denver with partners in the Czech Republic from three institutions. Together they will begin to examine relationships between soil erosion, floodplain sedimentation, and agricultural sustainability over decadal to centennial timescales. Soil erosion is a pressing environmental concern facing 21st century society. Erosion rates in many regions of the United States and throughout the world have been shown to exceed natural rates of soil formation and have been directly linked to declines in agricultural productivity. Most previous work on soil erosion and downstream sedimentation in agricultural landscapes has been conducted using process-based approaches; this work has resulted in a number of models that predict erosion rates reasonably well over timescales of days to years. However, geomorphological theory suggests that these models may not be easily scaled to predict erosion rates over decades to centuries. These longer timescales are important because they correspond with natural rates of soil formation, and for broader impact, because they can inform long-range agricultural land-use management.Project development efforts will engage a U.S. graduate student as part of the U.S.-Czech team for combined field-based data collection, hydrologic and sedimentologic modeling, and geochemical analyses of soils and floodplain sediments. Cooperative research with Czech scientists is essential for several reasons. First, the study area in southern Czech Republic has an agricultural land-use pattern that has persisted since the early medieval era. It represents a unique setting in which to empirically assess erosion rates over decadal to centennial timescales. Collaborators at Czech University of Life Sciences work with land-use managers and property owners in the study region that will make the field component of the project feasible. Second, existing erosion models for these agricultural landscapes have been calibrated over annual timescales by collaborators at Czech Technical University. Third, novel geochemical and chronostratigraphic methods for documenting floodplain sedimentation rates have been developed by the partner from Czech Academy of Sciences' Institute for Inorganic Chemistry. The team assembled for this project is highly-interdisciplinary and has the technical expertise to address fundamental research questions. Preliminary results have the potential to lead to follow-on, longer-term joint research efforts that advance theoretical understanding in geomorphology, spatial science, and land-use dynamics.