Transport Mechanisms across Geomorphic Transitions: Capturing Spatial and Temporal Evolution of River-Floodplain Connectivity within the Trinity River System

河流和泛滥平原之间的联系控制着水、营养物质、污染物和其他物质通过河流系统的传输，从而影响河流的功能、泛滥平原上的碳储存、泥沙运动和生态系统功能。该项目利用高分辨率地形分析和建模能力的最新进展，应用于德克萨斯州的三一河，以使人们能够对河流和泛滥平原之间的相互作用有新的了解。采用了一种创新的方法来分析河流和泛滥平原之间的动态边界，以提高对水和其他材料如何通过这个复杂界面的理解。项目活动还有助于发展和传播河流建模能力，促进高中生和大学生基于研究的学习经验的发展。该项目结合了广泛的现场观测、激光雷达数据集、数值建模以及用于特征提取和分析的高级工具，以量化德克萨斯州三一河的河流-泛滥平原连通性。这项研究围绕着一个由两部分组成的总体假设，即(I)准确描述河流及其泛滥平原之间的水、溶质和固体交换需要将河岸视为移动的内部边界，以及(Ii)这些移动边界以不同的时间和空间方式调节两个区域之间的水和泥沙流动。这项研究改变了人们通常看待和分析河流和泛滥平原之间边界的方式；从划分河流终点和泛滥平原起点的静态边界转变为地貌过渡，其时空演变控制着河流和泛滥平原之间的相互作用。多项计划的活动将研究和教育结合在一起，以促进不同群体在地球科学和工程领域的纳入，并弥合数据分析师和建模人员之间的差距。该奖项由地貌学与土地利用动力学和水文科学项目共同资助。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Connections between rivers and floodplains control the transport of water, nutrients, pollutants, and other materials through river systems, thus affecting the functioning of rivers, storage of carbon on floodplains, sediment movement, and ecosystem functioning. This project harnesses recent advancements in high-resolution topographic analyses and modeling capabilities, applied to the Trinity River in Texas, to enable new understanding of the interactions between rivers and floodplains. An innovative approach to analyzing the dynamic boundary between river and floodplain is used to improve understanding of how water and other materials move through this complex interface. Project activities also contribute to development and dissemination of river modeling capabilities and the advancement of research-based learning experiences for high school and college students.This project combines an extensive collection of field observations, lidar data sets, numerical modeling, and advanced tools for feature extraction and analysis, to quantify river-floodplain connectivity of the Trinity River, Texas. The research is articulated around a two-part overarching hypothesis that (i) accurate characterization of exchanges in water, solutes, and solids between a river and its floodplain requires treating channel banks as moving internal boundaries, and (ii) these moving boundaries regulate the flow of water and sediment between the two domains in ways that differ in time and space. This research changes the way in which the boundary between the river and its floodplain is commonly viewed and analyzed; from a static boundary demarcating where the river ends and the floodplain begins, to a geomorphic transition whose spatial and temporal evolution controls the interactions between a river and its floodplain. Multiple planned activities integrate research and education to advance the inclusion of diverse groups in the geosciences and engineering and to bridge the gap between data analysts and modelers.This award is co-funded by the Geomorphology & Land-use Dynamics and Hydrologic Sciences programs.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.