DEVELOPING A PROCESS-BASED UNDERSTANDING OF THE FACTORS CONTROLLING THE SEASONAL FORMATION OF PEDOGENIC CARBONATE

建立对控制土壤碳酸盐季节性形成的因素的基于过程的理解

• 批准号: 1625146
• 负责人: Timothy Gallagher
• 金额: $ 8.7万
• 依托单位: Gallagher Timothy M
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Fellowship Award
• 财政年份: 2017
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2017-01-01 至 2018-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1625146&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: DEVELOPING; PROCESS; BASED; UNDERSTANDING; FACTORS

Dr. Timothy M. Gallagher has been granted an NSF EAR Postdoctoral Fellowship to carry out research and education plans at the University of Texas at Austin. The investigation will focus on understanding the seasonal formation of carbonate minerals in soils. The project will consist of three components: laboratory experiments, computer modeling, and application of experimental and modeling results to a geological problem. The anticipated results will be of interest to a wide range of disciplines including those within the earth, biological, and soil sciences. Throughout this fellowship period Dr. Gallagher will actively convey the importance of environmental change to the general public through participation in events such as the University of Texas K-12 oriented Forty Acres Fest. In addition, he will mentor graduate students and develop and supervise independent research projects for undergraduates. Dr. Gallagher will co-teach an undergraduate environmental isotope geochemistry course, developing new assignments designed to expose students to the power and utility of computer modeling.The research project will take the novel approach of pairing experimental soil manipulations with cutting-edge reactive transport modeling in order to gain a thorough understanding of processes drivingpedogenic carbonate formation. The research plan will include (1) experimental manipulation of soil columns where different seasonal patterns of precipitation are simulated, (2) use of reactive transport models to place the experimental results of the research into a quantitative and predictive framework, and (3) application of the experimental and modeling results to a geologic case study centered on pedogenic carbonate derived paleoelevation histories of Andean uplift. Carbonate minerals in soils are an important archive of past environmental conditions, that is widely used by the scientific community for reconstructing past climatological, ecological and tectonic changes. The accuracy of these paleo-reconstructions is hindered, in large part because the processes controlling the seasonal timing of pedogenic carbonate formation have not been fully characterized. It is expected that this investigation will contribute to this knowledge gap.

Timothy M.加拉格尔已被授予NSF博士后奖学金，在得克萨斯大学奥斯汀分校开展研究和教育计划。调查将侧重于了解土壤中碳酸盐矿物的季节性形成。该项目将包括三个组成部分：实验室实验，计算机建模，并将实验和建模结果应用于地质问题。预期的结果将是感兴趣的广泛的学科，包括那些在地球，生物和土壤科学。加拉格尔将积极传达环境变化的重要性，通过参与活动，如得克萨斯州K-12面向四十英亩节的大学向公众。此外，他还将指导研究生，并为本科生开发和监督独立的研究项目。Gallagher博士将共同教授本科生环境同位素地球化学课程，开发旨在让学生接触计算机建模的力量和实用性的新作业。该研究项目将采取将实验土壤操作与尖端反应输运建模配对的新方法，以深入了解驱动成壤碳酸盐形成的过程。研究计划将包括（1）模拟不同季节降水模式的土柱实验操作，（2）使用反应传输模型将研究的实验结果置于定量和预测框架中，以及（3）将实验和建模结果应用于以安第斯隆起的成壤碳酸盐古海拔历史为中心的地质案例研究。土壤碳酸盐矿物是过去环境条件的重要档案，被科学界广泛用于重建过去的气候、生态和构造变化。这些古重建的准确性受到阻碍，在很大程度上是因为控制成土碳酸盐形成的季节性时间的过程还没有得到充分的表征。预计这项调查将有助于填补这一知识空白。