submitted to NSF w/ U-Arizona LTRR researchers, 2006

PROJECT SUMMARY
 The goal of the proposed research is to integrate fluvial geomorphology
with high-resolution paleoclimatology in order to test hypotheses that
relate fluvial-system dynamics to both climate and other possible forcing
factors.  Though climate is widely thought to be a fundamental control on
alluvial river dynamics, coupled high-resolution comparisons of climate and
fluvial processes are rare.  Nine Mile Canyon presents a unique setting in
which late Holocene fluvial process is recorded in the sedimentary record
and long-lived trees and dead wood can be exploited as a high resolution
paleoclimate record within the same watershed.  Nine Mile Canyon is also
situated favorably hydrologically as a sampling point of the Upper Colorado
River Basin, the single most important source of surface water supply to the
southwestern United States.  The robust association between tree-ring
indicies and river flow records indicates a strong link between local
processes and regional climate.

Of primary importance are the following scientific questions: (i) What
specific climatic forcings lead to switches in fluvial-system mode? (ii) Do
specific climate regimes lead to specific modes of fluvial process (i.e. do
wet periods lead to incision and dry to aggradation) or are climate changes
or antecedent conditions of primary importance? (iii) Can we recognize other
factors, primarily inherent fluvial system complexity, and resolve these
factors with climatic forcing of fluvial process? (iv) Can we exploit the
combination of long-lived live trees and ample preserved dead wood to better
understand millennial-scale climate variation in Nine Mile Canyon? (v) Can
we develop a predictive conceptual model that links climate, climate change
and fluvial processes in Nine Mile Canyon that can be used as a guide for
model development in other settings and toward general models of fluvial
landscape development?