Descrizione del progetto
Il ruolo del clima nel denudamento delle montagne
La ricerca suggerisce che la catene montuose non sono statiche ma evolvono con (e reagiscono a) clima terrestre e sollevamento tettonico. Gli scienziati dibattono ancora sul modo in cui questo processo di erosione, noto come denudamento (la rottura e la rimozione di rocce sulla superficie della Terra), sia influenzato dai cambiamenti climatici. È una domanda difficile a cui rispondere, in quanto non esistono al momento tecniche in grado di analizzare le variazioni dei tassi di erosione durante i periodi glaciali e interglaciali. Il progetto ICED, finanziato dall’UE, risolverà questo dibattito creando delle serie temporali di erosione delle rocce in un periodo che va da mille a un milione di anni fa. Questo metodo permetterà per la prima volta di correlare le variazione del tasso di erosione a specifici cambiamenti e processi meteorologici.
Obiettivo
Mountain ranges evolve in response to tectonic uplift, erosion and climatic change, but decoupling the feedbacks between these processes remains one of the most active debates in Earth Science. Resolving this debate is fundamental for successful projection of Earth’s surface response under a changing climate. The Impact of ClimatE on mountain Denudation remains highly contested because no technique is available to resolve changes in erosion rates over the timescale of glacial-interglacial cycles i.e. 10^3-6 years, a key time range for quantifying the role that silicate weathering and denudation plays in modulating global climatic change. ICED will resolve this debate through establishing time-series of rock erosion over 10^3-6 years, allowing erosion rate changes to be related to specific climatic changes, and specific processes, for the first time. These data will show whether tectonics or climatic feedbacks on surface processes are dominant in determining rates of surface denudation, providing insights into the influence of the lithosphere on global climatic change throughout the Quaternary period (ice age).
The objective of ICED will be achieved through the development and application of recently established thermochronometers based on the luminescence and electron spin resonance of quartz and feldspar minerals. Thermochronometers measure the rate of rock cooling, from which rates of rock exhumation and thus erosion rates can be calculated. Unlike existing methods, the new techniques developed within ICED are capable of resolving changes in erosion over timescales of between 10^3-6 years. Combining these new methods with cosmogenic nuclide data, using numerical models developed within ICED, will allow the generation of high-resolution time-series of erosion. The strategic application of these new techniques to the western European Alps will allow the Impact of ClimatE on mountain Denudation rates to be resolved for the first time.
Campo scientifico
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Programma(i)
Argomento(i)
Meccanismo di finanziamento
ERC-STG - Starting GrantIstituzione ospitante
1015 LAUSANNE
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