Collaborative Research: Defining the role of heterogeneous lithology in bedrock incision and terrace formation in the Buffalo National River, Arkansas

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This research will contribute to understanding how landscapes in low topography settings respond to changes in base level (i.e. sea level). These processes are central to interpreting spatial and temporal variation in sediment storage and erosion and have implications for understanding soil loss, pollutant sequestration in soils and floodplains, and flood attenuation over long timescales. The results will also facilitate reconstructions of the changes in the Earth's surface in the mid-continent of North America which can provide baseline information from pre-European human landscapes with which to contextualize modern human impacts and thus guide restoration and management.Through the use of geochronology, field observation, topographic analysis, and GIS we will investigate unresolved problems in geomorphology regarding the impact of variations in lithology on fluvial processes, specifically how lithology impacts bedrock valley and unpaired terrace formation. This project seeks to bring together understanding of processes at variable scales to determine the drivers of river incision in a mid-continent setting south of the glacial limit and to determine whether incision of the Buffalo National River valley has been driven by climate change, base level fall, local processes operating at the scale of the meander, or a combination thereof. The outcomes of this work will improve reconstructions of past landscapes including changes in the hydrologic cycle south of the glacial limit in North America, how bedrock rivers change over time, and how the sedimentary record is created and preserved in caves and alluvial terraces.