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Project Description-
• The National Center for Earth-Surface Dynamics (NCED) is focused on understanding the processes that shape the Earth’s surface. The Earth’s surface is the dynamic interface among the lithosphere, hydrosphere, biosphere, and atmosphere. It is interwoven intimately with the life that inhabits it. Surface processes span environments that range from high mountains to ocean depths and time scales that range from fractions of a second to millions of years. Because of these wide ranges in forms, processes, and scales, the study of surface dynamics has involved many disciplines and approaches. A major goal of NCED is to foster the development of a unified, quantitative science of Earth-surface dynamics that combines efforts in geomorphology, civil engineering, biology, sedimentary geology, oceanography, and geophysics. The NCED research program is focused on channel systems. Major projects include: (1) development of Desk Top Watersheds that use high-resolution topographic, hydrologic, and ecological data for environmental forecasting; (2) Restoration Geomorphology, providing science and policy tools for stream and landscape restoration; and (3) Subsurface Prediction, coupling our understanding of surface and tectonic processes to understand the geometry of channelized conduits and reservoirs in sedimentary basins.
• Goals of NCED include both short-term prediction of surface response to natural and anthropogenic change and long-term interpretation of how past conditions are recorded in landscapes and sedimentary strata. Progress towards these goals would contribute to solutions of such pressing societal problems as estimation and mitigation of landscape-related risk; responsible management of landscape resources, including forests, agricultural, and recreational areas; forecasting landscape response to possible climatic and other changes; and wise development of resources, like groundwater and hydrocarbons, that are hosted in buried sediments.
Participating Investigators-
University of Minnesota (lead)
University of California, Berkeley
Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College
Science Museum of Minnesota
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Princeton University
University of Wyoming
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Angelo Coast Range Reserve |
