Our
Research Topics
Fluviodeltaic
AutoGenic
Processes
Geomorphic Signatures of Internal Dynamics
Self-organizing sediment storage and release processes naturally occur in cycles. In experimental deltas, channelization and sheet flow alternate repeatedly and cause pulses of shoreline progradation. We aim to understand the time and event scales of the fluviodeltaic autogenic processes under different boundary conditions (e.g., base level, sediment and water discharges, grainsize, and vegetation).
Allogenic
VS.
AutoGenic Product
Decoupling Allogenic and Autoenic Stratal Records
Allogenic and autogenic processes produce unique stratigraphic signitures. The charateristic time and event scales of autogenic processes are affected by the allogenic processes. Our goal is to understand their interactions to better decouple these two components and to decipher the environmental changes in stratigraphic products.
Mud deposition
Mud Capture on Topset and Forest of Deltas
Mud has not been considered seriously on the delta formation. However, mud captured on the topset and foreset of delta deposition is significant more than what we expected and dynamically varying with time and space. We aim to understand the mud deposition processes on deltas to investigate how delta evolution and stratigraphic development would change by mud effects.
Temperature and Sediment Transport
Thermo-morphodynamics
With global warming driving significant increases in water temperatures, understanding how these thermal changes affect geomorphological processes is critical for predicting the future of coastal and fluvial landscapes.
Meandering Rivers in Planetary Surfaces
On Earth and Mars over Sediment and Base-level Cycles
Meandering rivers are ubiquitous on Earth and Mars, but are neither well understood or reproduced in laboratory setting. Our goal is to reproduce a self-sustaining meandering river in a scaled experiment and investigate the response of meandering river over sediment and base-level cycles.
Experimental
Data
Management
Sediment Experimentalist Network (SEN)
SEN is a NSF funded Sediment Experimentalist Network. This group helps the community to share and discover experimental data. Our research group participates in SEN and actively shares our experimental data and knowledge (experimental setups, methods, and equipment) with the experimental community and beyond.
Coastal Landscape
Dynamics of Coastal Landscape under Wave and Tidal Influence
Coastal landscape changes are driven by sediment transport influenced by wave and tidal dynamics. By qualifying these processes and modeling their impact on morphological evolution, we aim to better predict how coastlines respond to environmental changes.