Signals of Climate Change in Erosion and Sedimentation Systems

地球表面景观起到传送带的作用，将沉积物从侵蚀来源(例如，隆起的山脉)转移到沉积下沉(例如，盆地)。因此，地表过程产生了陆地沉积记录，这是为数不多的关于地球表面环境如何随时间演变的物理记录之一。地貌及其内部过程占据了固体地球和大气之间的界面，可能对气候变化高度敏感，反过来，它们的沉积产品可能记录下过去气候如何变化的有价值的信号，以及这对地表过程产生了什么后果。目前尚不清楚地貌对气候变化的敏感程度，也不清楚我们可以在多大程度上逆转它们的沉积沉积，以获得有关过去气候的有用信息。拟议的研究旨在通过将有针对性的野外地貌学和沉积学、地球化学和地质年代学以及气候、景观演变和地层学的定量模型结合在一起来解决这些问题。我正在提出一项研究计划，将推进我们对以下问题的理解：(1)侵蚀景观如何对气候变化做出反应；(2)我们如何从陆地沉积物中提取古气候信号；(3)地球古代历史上由温室气体驱动的全球变暖的具体事件如何影响沉积物的侵蚀和沉积。这些问题构成了地球科学中一个重要而长期存在的挑战。回答这些问题将提高我们对今天的景观如何发挥作用的了解，以及我们破译过去气候变化的能力。拟议的研究还将帮助我们预测不久的将来气候变化情景对我们所有人在加拿大和其他地方生活和依赖的景观的潜在影响。在拟议的研究计划内资助和培训的人员将为研究气候变化对表面过程的签名和后果的尖端研究做出贡献。这些青年科学家将接受高质量的地球科学培训，这将使他们能够通过在学术界或公共或私营部门的职业生涯做出宝贵的社会贡献。

Earth's surface landscapes act as conveyor belts that transfer sediment from erosional sources (e.g., uplifting mountain ranges) to depositional sinks (e.g., basins). As such, surface processes generate the terrestrial sedimentary record, which is one of the few physical records available of how Earth's surface environments have evolved through time. Occupying the interface between the solid Earth and the atmosphere, landscapes and their internal processes might be highly sensitive to climate change, and in turn their sedimentary products might record valuable signals of how climate has changed in the past and what consequences this had for surface processes. It remains unclear how sensitive landscapes are to climate change and the extent to which we can invert their sedimentary deposits for useful information about past climate. The proposed research aims to address these questions by bringing together targeted field-based geomorphology and sedimentology, geochemistry and geochronology, and quantitative modelling of climate, landscape evolution, and stratigraphy. I am proposing a research program that will advance our understanding of (1) how eroding landscapes respond to climate change; (2) how we can extract palaeoclimatic signals from terrestrial sediments; and (3) how specific episodes of greenhouse gas-driven global warming in Earth's ancient history impacted the erosion and deposition of sediment. These questions constitute an important and long-standing challenge in the geosciences. Answering them will advance our knowledge of how landscapes function today and our ability to decipher how the climate has changed in the past. The proposed research will also help us anticipate the potential impacts of near-future climate change scenarios on the landscapes that we all live and depend on, in Canada and elsewhere. The personnel funded and trained within the proposed research program will contribute towards cutting-edge research that examines the signatures and consequences of climate change for surface processes. These young scientists will receive high-quality training in the geosciences that will position them to make valuable societal contributions through careers in academia or the public or private sectors.