Soils, Geomorphology, GIS and Paleolakes in Northern Michigan

该项目将解决土壤，表层沉积物，地貌和密歇根州的三个景观冰川历史之间的关系。 本研究将利用县级土壤资料，结合野外调查和对成土母质沉积环境的认识，联合收割机解释这三个地区的冰川历史。 地貌学家现在假设，在冰川消退后，大型湖泊可能立即覆盖了密歇根州的许多景观。 这项工作将辨别这些湖泊的空间和时间细节。 这项研究之所以有趣，是因为这些景观都位于高地上。 这项研究还将开发和完善一种绘图方法，直到最近，由于缺乏数字土壤数据，这种方法一直是不可能的。实地考察将把土壤与它们形成的沉积物联系起来（例如，冰川沉积物、湖相砂、冰碛物）。 在地理信息系统中，将为每个区域制作详细的表层沉积物图。 后续的野外工作将用于（1）通过检查海岸线区域和可能的湖泊出口来检查这些地图的准确性，以及（2）确定深水、浅水和湖泊边缘环境中沉积物的空间变化。 这些数据将为五大湖地区在最后更新世的冰川消退和景观演变提供更多信息，当时气候和景观变化的速度比过去13.5万年来的任何时候都要快，水和冰在塑造景观方面都发挥了重要作用。 研究结果将为土壤科学家提供重要的基线数据，从而有助于更准确地（重新）绘制五大湖地区的土壤和沉积资源图。

This project will address the relationships among soils, surficial sediments, landforms, and the glacial history of three Michigan landscapes. The research will utilize county-level soils data and combine it with fieldwork and a knowledge of the sedimentary environments of the soil parent materials, to interpret the glacial history of the three regions. Geomorphologists now hypothesize that large lakes may have covered many of Michigan's landscapes immediately after the glaciers retreated. This work will discern the spatial and temporal details about some of these lakes. What makes this research intriguing is the fact that these landscapes are on uplands. The research will also develop and refine a mapping methodology that, until recently, has not been possible due to lack of digital soils data. Fieldwork will relate soils to the sediments they have formed in (e.g., glacial outwash, lacustrine sands, glacial till). In a GIS, detailed surficial sediment maps will be created for each region. Follow-up fieldwork will be used to (1) check the accuracy of these maps by examining shoreline areas and possible lake outlets, and (2) establish the spatial variation in sediments from deep water, shallow water, and lake-marginal settings. These data will add to a growing picture of deglaciation and landscape evolution in the Great Lakes region during the Latest Pleistocene, a time when climatic and landscape change were occurring faster than at any time in the past 135,000 years, and one in which water and ice each played a great role in shaping the landscape. Results will provide important baseline data for soil scientists, thereby facilitating more accurate (re)mapping of the soil and sedimentological resources of the Great Lakes region.