Collaborative Research: From rock to regolith to rivers: weathering, grain size, and controls on soil production and fluvial incision

合作研究：从岩石到风化层再到河流：风化、粒度以及对土壤生产和河流切割的控制

• 批准号: 1848633
• 负责人: Nicole Gasparini
• 金额: $ 23.06万
• 依托单位: Tulane University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2019
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2019-02-01 至 2024-01-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1848633&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; rock; regolith; rivers

Soil is a vital resource but processes controlling soil production are not well understood. Data collected in previously NSF-funded studies, along with new data, will be used to better understand how soil is produced in different environments. The depth of soil is likely closely linked to the soil production rate and how rivers erode. How rivers and soils interact has practical consequences for river infrastructure and human impacts on landscapes such as deforestation or forest fires. How sustainable is soil given a changing Earth? Undergraduate and graduate students and a post-doctoral scholar will contribute to this research project. The team will also use 3D printers to make synthetic landscapes to be used as part of outreach to K-12 students who are visually impaired or have Autism Spectrum Disorder.In the Rio Blanco watershed in the Luquillo Critical Zone Observatory, we will map patterns in surface soil thickness, grain size, and soil chemistry across the landscape and tie these to new rates of soil production and soil grain residence time. Theoretical hillslope-channel coupling will be modeled using the Landlab modeling toolkit and a recently published analytical model that predicts the grain size distribution of sediment fed to channels as a function of climate and erosion rate, which controls the residence time of soil particles. We will also build a new fluvial incision modeling component to incorporate the influence of sediment load, including grain size, on bedrock incision rates. Further, data from the Rio Blanco will be used to calibrate a Landlab model.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

土壤是一种重要的资源，但控制土壤生产的过程还不是很清楚。在以前由NSF资助的研究中收集的数据，以及新的数据，将被用来更好地了解不同环境下土壤是如何产生的。土壤的深度可能与土壤生产率和河流侵蚀程度密切相关。河流和土壤的相互作用对河流基础设施和人类对森林砍伐或森林火灾等景观的影响具有实际影响。考虑到一个不断变化的地球，土壤的可持续性如何？本科生和研究生以及一名博士后学者将为这一研究项目做出贡献。该团队还将使用3D打印机制作合成景观，作为帮助视力受损或患有自闭症谱系障碍的K-12学生的一部分。在卢基洛临界区天文台的里奥布兰科流域，我们将绘制整个景观中表层土壤厚度、颗粒大小和土壤化学的模式，并将这些模式与新的土壤生产力和土壤颗粒停留时间联系起来。理论上的山坡-渠道耦合将使用LandLab建模工具包和最近发布的分析模型进行模拟，该分析模型预测输送到渠道的泥沙的粒度分布作为气候和侵蚀速率的函数，从而控制土壤颗粒的停留时间。我们还将构建一个新的河流切割模拟组件，以纳入泥沙负荷(包括颗粒大小)对基岩切割速率的影响。此外，来自里约布兰科的数据将被用来校准陆地实验室模型。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。