CSDMS 2011 annual meeting poster Arvind Singh

From CSDMS
Presentation provided during CSDMS annual meeting 2011

Landscape response to climate change: Insights from an experimental model

Arvind Singh, University of Minnesota Minneapolis Minnesota, United States. sing0336@umn.edu
Liam Reinhardt, University of Exeter Cornwall, UK.
Efi Foufoula-Georgiou, University of Minnesota Minneapolis Minnesota, USA.

Abstract:

A series of controlled laboratory experiments were conducted at the St. Anthony Falls laboratory of the University of Minnesota to study the effect of changing precipitation patterns on landscape evolution over long-time scales. High resolution digital elevation (DEM) both in space and time along with instantaneous sediment transport rates were measured over a range of rainfall and uplift rates. These experiments were designed to develop a complete drainage network by growth and propagation of erosional instabilities in response to tectonic uplift. We focus our study to the investigation of how changes in the frequency and magnitude of large-scale rainfall patterns (e.g. monsoonal variability) might influence the development of mountainous landscapes. Preliminary analysis suggests that the statistics of topographic signatures, for example, evolution of drainage network, slopes, curvatures, etc., show dependence on both rainfall patterns and uplift rate. The implications of these results for predictive modeling of landscapes and the resulting sediment transport are discussed.

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