Signals of Climate Change in Erosion and Sedimentation Systems

地球表面景观就像传送带一样，将沉积物从侵蚀源（如隆起的山脉）转移到沉积汇（如盆地）。因此，地表过程产生陆地沉积记录，这是地球表面环境如何随时间演变的为数不多的物理记录之一。占据固体地球和大气之间的界面，地貌及其内部过程可能对气候变化高度敏感，反过来，它们的沉积产物可能记录有价值的信号，说明过去气候是如何变化的，以及这对地表过程产生了什么影响。景观对气候变化有多敏感，以及我们能在多大程度上倒置它们的沉积以获取有关过去气候的有用信息，这些都尚不清楚。拟议的研究旨在通过汇集有针对性的实地地貌学和沉积学、地球化学和地质年代学，以及气候、景观演化和地层学的定量模型来解决这些问题。我提出了一个研究项目，它将促进我们对以下方面的理解：(1)侵蚀景观如何对气候变化作出反应；(2)如何从陆相沉积物中提取古气候信号；(3)地球古代史上温室气体驱动的全球变暖的特定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的挑战。回答这些问题将有助于我们了解今天的景观是如何发挥作用的，并有助于我们破译过去气候是如何变化的。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生活和依赖的景观的潜在影响，在加拿大和其他地方。在拟议的研究项目中获得资助和培训的人员将为研究地表过程中气候变化的特征和后果的前沿研究做出贡献。这些年轻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为社会做出宝贵的贡献。

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.