Backwater Control of the Morphodynamics of Delta Growth

约翰·肖博士已被授予NSF地球科学博士后奖学金，以确定回水流动对河流三角洲沉积环境的影响。这项研究和教育计划将在怀俄明州大学进行。调查将包括实验室规模的实验，以便于详细测量三角洲的属性，并在怀俄明州和犹他州暴露的古代三角洲沉积露头研究。通过迫使实验三角洲在刚性盖子而不是自由表面下建造，实验将更接近于在密西西比河口发现的低坡度三角洲，而不是三角洲实验中通常实现的陡坡。肖博士和感兴趣的本科生和研究生将从实验分析中得出形态和地层关系，并将其应用于河流三角洲的岩石露头，目的是量化古代三角洲系统的大小和形状。作为该计划教育部分的一部分，肖博士将为怀俄明州大学地质博物馆（University of Wyoming Geological Museum）创建一个河流三角洲展览，利用在怀俄明州，特别是附近的美洲原住民保留地（Native American Reservations）发现的古代三角洲地层。河流三角洲供养着大量人口，这些人口受益于多产的生态系统和交通走廊，但也面临着与相对海平面上升相关的风暴和土地流失的危险。通过研究重要变量（河道深度和坡度）对三角洲形态和地层的影响，我们将获得有关三角洲沉积结构的进一步知识，并更好地了解它们在未来将如何变化。

Dr. John Shaw has been granted an NSF Earth Sciences postdoctoral fellowship to determine the effect of backwater flow on the depositional environment of river deltas. This research and education plan will take place at the University of Wyoming. The investigation will include laboratory-scale experiments which facilitate detailed measurement of delta properties, and outcrop study of ancient delta deposits exposed in Wyoming and Utah. By forcing experimental deltas to build under a rigid lid rather than a free surface, experiments will more closely resemble the low-slope deltas found at the mouth of the Mississippi River, as opposed than steeper-slope commonly realized in delta experiments. Dr. Shaw and interested undergraduate and graduate students will take morphologic and stratigraphic relationships drawn from the experimental analysis and apply them to rock outcrops of river deltas, with the goal of quantifying the size and shape of ancient delta systems. As part of the educational component of the plan, Dr. Shaw will create an river delta exhibit for the University of Wyoming Geological Museum, using ancient delta formations found in Wyoming and specifically in nearby Native American Reservations.River deltas support large human populations that benefit from productive ecosystems and transportation corridors, but are at risk from the hazards of storms and land loss associated with relative sea level rise. By investigating the effect of important variables (channel depth and slope) on delta morphology and stratigraphy, we will gain further knowledge regarding the depositional architecture of deltas, and better insight into how they will change in the future.