Doctoral Dissertation Research: Using Cosmogenic Nuclides to Understand the Interrelationship between Erosion Rates, Environmental Factors, and Landscape Response

更好地了解侵蚀率及其对河流泥沙量的影响，对于评估对水资源供应和农业土地生产力的影响十分重要。 这个博士论文研究项目将调查美国西南部极端温度和降水事件导致的河流突然切入其洪泛区，导致沉积物负荷增加并影响许多社区的水资源。 博士生将提供新的见解如何侵蚀速率和泥沙产量和泥沙供应对这些流的影响将有助于预测未来的渠道调整和管理社会影响。 学生将与当地社区和政府机构密切合作，评估水和农业用地对这些变化的脆弱性。 对水资源的影响对土地和资源管理人员以及利益攸关方具有重要的政策影响。 作为博士论文研究改进奖，该奖项还将提供支持，使有前途的学生能够建立一个强大的独立研究事业。因为侵蚀速率的变化会影响河流的沉积物含量，这些速率的快速变化可能会破坏生产性农业土地并影响水资源的可用性。 该项目将解决核心问题，即侵蚀率如何随气候变量、岩性和地形而变化，以及这种变化如何影响该地区的资源变化。 博士生将收集沉积物样本，从两个集水区在大楼梯埃斯卡兰特国家纪念碑地区在犹他州。 她将分析河流沉积物中的地球宇宙成因核素BCN-10（TCN 10 Be）浓度。 这些分析将对地貌对基岩的反应以及侵蚀率和沉积物供应方面与环境有关的变化进行定量评估。 研究成果将影响资源和景观管理的大片公共土地在一个区域，既塑造和高泥沙负荷受损。

A better understanding of erosion rates and their influence on sediment loads in streams is important for assessing the impacts on water availability and agricultural land productivity. This doctoral dissertation research project will investigate the abrupt incision of streams into their floodplains caused by extreme temperature and precipitation events in the southwestern U.S. that led to increased sediment loads and impacted the water resources of many communities. The doctoral student will provide new insights into how erosion rates and sediment yields and the effects of sediment supply on these streams will help predict future channel adjustments and manage societal impacts. The student will work closely with local communities and government agencies to assess the vulnerability of water and agricultural land to these changes. The impact on water resources has important policy implications for land and resource managers as well as for stakeholders. As a Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement award, this award also will provide support to enable a promising student to establish a strong independent research career.Because variability in erosion rates influences the sediment content of a stream, rapid changes in those rates may damage productive agricultural land and impact water resources availability. This project will address the core question regarding how erosion rates vary as a function of climatic variables, lithology, and topography, and how such variability influences resource variability in the region. The doctoral student will collect sediment samples from two catchment areas in the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument area in Utah. She will analyze the terrestrial cosmogenic-nuclide Beryllium-10 (TCN 10Be) concentrations in fluvial sediment. The analyses will provide a quantitative assessment of the landscape's response to bedrock and environmentally related changes in erosion rates and sediment supply. The research outcomes will influence resource and landscape management of the large tracts of public lands in a region that is both shaped and impaired by high sediment loads.