Doctoral Dissertation Research: Human long term adaptation to prehistoric ENSO-driven flooding

博士论文研究：人类对史前 ENSO 驱动洪水的长期适应

• 批准号: 2347965
• 负责人: Benjamin Vining
• 金额: $ 2.26万
• 依托单位: University of Arkansas
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2024
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2024-02-15 至 2025-01-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2347965&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Research; Human; long

This doctoral dissertation research examines the impact of flooding generated by El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) to understand the vulnerability of agricultural communities to extreme environmental variability. ENSO causes shifts in precipitation in arid coastal areas which can cause flash flooding and severe damage. This study emphasizes how changing floodplain morphology can make it more difficult for people to reduce their exposure to these floods. Flood events can alter the landscape to the extent that peoples’ capabilities to adapt to future events are limited. Consequently, knowledge about how to adapt to these events must be updated to deal with future potential hazards. Communities must continuously experience, observe, and communicate as they adjust over centuries and millennia to evolving floodplain conditions. Archaeology is well-suited to examine these processes of adapting to the evolution of river hazards. Attention to ancient settlement patterns and their respective floodplain environments reveals how societies mitigated potential flooding by finding elevated areas and generating flood-adapted infrastructure. Interpretations of this data inform modern mitigation efforts as flooding is an ongoing, dynamic risk experienced increasingly by populations worldwide. The interdisciplinary project consists of two parts: integrated hydrologic modeling to predict river behavior and a geological study of sediment sampled from past floods. The model uses historic stream flows, geospatial data, paleoclimatic reconstructions, and ethnohistoric accounts to determine ENSO flood hotspots. Additionally, paleochannels and remnant riverbeds are significant conduits of and contributors to overland flooding. Given their longevity in floodplain geomorphology, they serve as critical indicators for where past and future flooding might occur. Researchers study 650 previously surveyed archaeological sites in a single river valley to determine their exposure to increasing ENSO flood magnitudes in the floodplain and alluvial fan. The team utilizes geophysical and geochemical methods to evaluate soil characteristics in paleochannels to ascertain the impacts of flooding on the long-term stability and primary productivity of bankside landscapes. Leveraging multiple approaches to investigating flooding, this project contributes to archaeological methods and theories regarding flood risk, water resource management, and land use to explore past human-environment interactions.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

本博士论文研究探讨了厄尔尼诺南方涛动（ENSO）产生的洪水的影响，以了解农业社区对极端环境变化的脆弱性，强调了厄尔尼诺南方涛动会导致干旱沿海地区降水的变化，从而导致山洪暴发和严重破坏。改变洪泛区的形态会使人们更难减少遭受洪水的影响。洪水事件会改变地貌，使人们适应未来事件的能力受到限制，因此必须了解如何适应这些事件。考古学非常适合研究适应河流灾害演变的过程。古代聚落模式及其各自的洪泛区环境揭示了社会如何通过寻找高地和建立适应洪水的基础设施来减轻潜在的洪水，对这些数据的解释为现代缓解工作提供了信息，因为洪水是全世界人民越来越多地经历的持续的、动态的风险。该跨学科项目由两部分组成：预测河流行为的综合水文模型和对过去洪水采样的沉积物进行地质研究。该模型使用历史溪流、地理空间数据、古气候重建和民族历史记录来确定 ENSO 洪水热点。残留河床是陆上洪水的重要渠道和促成因素，鉴于它们在漫滩地貌中的寿命，它们是研究人员研究的过去和未来洪水可能发生的关键指标。该团队之前对单个河谷的 650 个考古遗址进行了调查，以确定它们在洪泛区和冲积扇中遭受日益增加的 ENSO 洪水强度的情况。该团队利用地球物理和地球化学方法评估古河道的土壤特征，以确定洪水对长期的影响。该项目利用多种方法来调查洪水，有助于建立有关洪水风险、水资源管理和土地利用的考古方法和理论，以探索过去的人类与环境的相互作用。授予 NSF 的法定使命，并通过评估反映使用基金会的智力优点和更广泛的影响审查标准，被认为值得支持。