Signals of Relative Sea Level perturbations: Defining the divide between signal shredding versus preservation in the stratigraphic record.

相对海平面变化的拖曳力影响着沿海环境的演变，包括土地的增长或损失以及三角洲环境中河流形态的变化。相对海平面的变化也影响到构成大陆边地层的沉积物的结构。 这些沉积物通常含有能源和水资源，可以作为碳捕获和储存的宿主。需要改进解释和预测地层模式的方法，以便（i）管理这些资源，（ii）反演地层记录以获得古气候记录，这可以为预测未来地球系统对气候变化的反应提供信息。最近的理论工作表明，沉积物输运系统内部产生的过程有能力破坏，或“撕碎”，外部环境信号锁定到地层记录之前。通过实验和现场数据分析相结合，该小组将确定相对海平面周期的必要速率和幅度，以便在地层学中记录它们。这项工作将提高从沿海地层数据集恢复有关过去气候变化的有意义的数据的能力，并生成沿海对气候变化的响应的预测模型。最近的理论工作表明，沉积物输运系统中的自生过程有能力在转移到地层记录之前粉碎环境和构造扰动的信号。许多人认为，相对海平面（RSL）的变化是影响大陆边输运系统的最重要的边界条件。然而，我们仍然缺乏定量的理论来解释RSL周期的必要属性，以便将它们存储在地层学中，从而限制了地层学用于定义古环境的有用性。 从以前的实验结果表明，RSL周期振幅小于一个通道的深度，和周期小于所需的时间量的存款一个通道深度的地层在三角洲顶部，容易受到信号粉碎。该团队将使用现有的数据集和新的实验室实验来验证这一假设。从这项工作中产生的定量理论和预测将基准对地层从晚中新世到第四纪地层的密西西比三角洲。

The tug of relative sea level change influences the evolution of coastal environments, including land growth or loss and changing river patterns in deltaic settings. Relative sea-level change also influences the architecture of sediments that form continental margin stratigraphy. These sedimentary deposits frequently contain energy and water reserves and can serve as hosts for carbon capture and storage. Improved methods are needed for interpreting and predicting stratigraphic patterns in order to (i) manage these resources and (ii) invert the stratigraphic record for paleo-climatic records, which could inform predictions of future Earth system response to climate change. Recent theoretical work suggests that internally generated processes in sediment transport systems have the capacity to destroy, or "shred", external environmental signals prior to locking them into the stratigraphic record. Through a combination of experiments and analysis of field data, the team will determine the necessary rates and magnitudes of relative sea level cycles for them to be recorded in stratigraphy. This work will advance the ability to recover meaningful data about past climate change from coastal stratigraphic datasets and generate predictive models for coastal response to climate change.Recent theoretical work suggests that autogenic processes in sediment transport systems have the capacity to shred signals of environmental and tectonic perturbations prior to transfer to the stratigraphic record. Many argue that changes in Relative Sea Level (RSL) represent the most important boundary condition affecting continental margin transport systems. However, we still lack quantitative theory to explain the necessary properties of RSL cycles in order to store them in stratigraphy, thus limiting the usefulness of stratigraphy for defining paleo-environments. Results from previous experiments suggest that RSL cycles with amplitudes less than one channel depth, and of periodicities less than the amount of time necessary to deposit one channel depth of stratigraphy over a delta-top, are susceptible to signal shredding. The team will test this hypothesis using existing data sets and new laboratory experiments. Quantitative theory and predictions produced from this work will be benchmarked against stratigraphy from the Late Miocene to Quaternary stratigraphy of the Mississippi Delta.