Long-term Record of Hurricane Landfalls in Southwest Louisiana: A New Approach to Paleotempestology.

该项目将确定路易斯安那州西南部切尼尔平原的飓风风暴潮沉积物并确定其日期。在研究区，被沼泽地隔开的大约20个海滩山脊或山沟，记录了过去2100年来这一沿海平原约5公里的进积。该项目的目的是检查这些沉积物，以建立这段时间内飓风登陆的记录。这将极大地扩大飓风的长期记录，超过约150年的历史记录。需要长期的飓风记录，以改进飓风风险评估，并探索千年尺度的气候变异性与飓风频率之间的联系。将使用一系列海沟和岩心横断面来研究沿海平原沉积物的地层学、沉积学和微化石含量。通过与2005年丽塔飓风在研究区沉积的沉积物进行比较，这些资料将被用来识别风暴潮砂层。通过对从风暴潮地层下面的土壤中收集的有机物质进行放射性碳测年，将建立已确定的风暴潮沉积的年表。这项研究将为新兴的古温学领域提供一种新的方法，因为这一领域的研究主要集中在沿海湖泊和屏障后潮汐沼泽，尚未包括利用切尼尔平原重建飓风历史。2005年卡特里娜飓风和丽塔飓风的破坏性影响突出表明，需要更多的长期飓风记录，以改进飓风风险评估，并探讨长期气候变异性与飓风频率之间的联系。该项目将确定路易斯安那州西南部切尼尔平原的飓风风暴潮沉积物并确定其日期。该项目的目标是得出2100年来飓风袭击的记录，这将极大地扩展我们对飓风频率的了解，超出目前的历史记录。对于生活在墨西哥湾沿岸的人们来说，这是一个意义重大的话题。为了使该项目受益，将为北得克萨斯大学鹰展览馆和榆树叉子教育中心开发关于飓风的展示和教育模块。此外，研究结果将被用来为北得克萨斯大学为未来的初中和高中数学和科学教师开发一个教学模块。

This project will identify and date hurricane storm surge deposits in far southwest Louisiana's Chenier Plain. In the study area, approximately twenty beach ridges, or cheniers, separated by marshland, record about 5 km of progradation of this coastal plain over the last 2100 years. The aim of the project is to examine these deposits to establish a record of hurricane landfalls during this time interval. This will greatly extend the long-term record of hurricanes beyond the ca. 150-year historical record. Long-term hurricane records are required to improve hurricane risk assessment and to explore linkages between millennial-scale climatic variability and hurricane frequency. A series of trench and core transects will be used to examine stratigraphy, sedimentology and microfossil content of coastal plain sediments. These will be used to identify storm surge sand layers by comparison to sediments deposited in the study area by Hurricane Rita in 2005. A chronology of identified storm surge deposits will be established by radiocarbon dating of organic material collected from soils immediately underlying storm surge layers. The study will contribute a new approach to the emerging field of paleotempestology, because research in this field has focused mainly on coastal lakes and back-barrier tidal marshes and has not yet included the use of chenier plains in reconstructing hurricane history. The devastating impacts of hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005 underscore the need for more long-term hurricane records to improve hurricane risk assessment and to explore linkages between long-term climatic variability and hurricane frequency. This project will identify and date hurricane storm surge deposits in far southwest Louisiana's Chenier Plain. The aim of the project is to derive a 2100-year record of hurricane strikes that will greatly extend our knowledge of hurricane frequency beyond the current historical record. This is a topic of significance to the people who live along the Gulf Coast. In order to make the benefits of the project accessible, a display and educational module on hurricanes for the UNiversity of North Texas Eagle Exhibit Hall and Elm Fork Education Center will be developed. In addition, the study results will be used to develop an instructional module for the University of North Texas' program for future middle and high school math and science teachers.