Collaborative Research on Responses to Fluvial, Estuarine, and Barrier-Island Systems to Climate and Sea-Level Change on the Central Texas Coast

[9423249]布卢姆：人们对了解地球系统不同方面的当代动力学已经投入了相当多的注意力。特别令人关注的是分析与气候变化和海平面上升有关的陆地、大气和海洋系统之间的相互联系。越来越多的科学家将注意力转向分析过去的变化，以便更好地了解现在和未来的变化。通过加强更新世和全新世时期条件的经验记录，扩大了对变化动态和这些变化后果的认识，可用于验证当代过程的模型，并改进对未来变化影响的预测。这个合作研究项目将研究德克萨斯州中部海岸的河流、河口和堰洲岛系统的发展，以响应晚更新世和全新世的气候和海平面变化。该项目的主要目标是：(1)为过去1万至2万年的不同环境建立一个按年代控制的一般地层格架；(2)将这一框架与德克萨斯州中部和墨西哥湾独立定义的气候和环境变化记录进行比较；(3)完善全新世海平面变化记录，作为未来事件的潜在模拟；(4)评估海平面变化对河流、河口和屏障-岛屿系统的影响，作为未来变化的可能类似物。将使用多种地貌学、沉积学、地球物理、微古生物学和考古学技术来收集本研究中使用的数据。考古工作将集中于审查人类利用河口资源的变化，以便确定在自然系统发生人为和自然变化时渔业资源的生产力将来可能发生的变化。该项目将提供有关沿海环境更新世和全新世变化的不同方面的新信息。对这些和其他数据的分析将为河流、河口和堰洲岛系统变化的时间和特征提供有价值的新见解。该项目还将有助于确定基于历史的模型用于预测未来变化的程度。

9423249 BLUM Considerable attention has been devoted to understanding the contemporary dynamics of different facets of the Earth system. Of particular concern have been the analysis of interconnections among terrestrial, atmospheric, and ocean systems related to climatic change and sea-level rise. A growing number of scientists are turning their attention to analyses of past changes in order to better understand present and future changes. By enhancing the empirical record of conditions during the Pleistocene and Holocene epochs, expanded knowledge of the dynamics of change and of the consequences of those changes can be used to validate models of contemporary processes and to improve predictions of the impacts of future changes. This collaborative research project will examine the development of fluvial, estuarine, and barrier-island systems along the central Texas coast in response to late Pleistocene and Holocene climate and sea-level changes. The primary goals of this project are (1) to develop a chronologically controlled general stratigraphic framework for different environments over the last 10,000 to 20,000 years; (2) to compare this framework with independently defined records of climate and environmental change for central Texas and the Gulf of Mexico; (3) to refine the record of Holocene sea-level change as a potential analog for future events; and (4) to evaluate the effects of sea-level change on fluvial, estuarine, and barrier-island systems as possible analogs for future changes. A diverse set of geomorphological, sedimentological, geophysical, micropaleontological, and archeological techniques will be used to gather data used in this study. The archeological work will focus on examining changes in human use of estuarine resources in order to ascertain possible future changes in productivity of fisheries resources when natural systems undergo human-induced and natural change. This project will provide new information about different facets of Pleistocene and Holocene change in coastal environments. Analyses of these and other data will provide valuable new insights into the timing and character of change in fluvial, estuarine, and barrier-island systems. This project also will help determine the degree to which historically based models can be used to predict future changes.