Dr. Susannah Morey is Recruiting Students for Two Projects
Sediment in Mountain Landscapes
Project Descriptions
Decadal impacts of an extreme precipitation event in the Front Range, Colorado
In 2013, the Front Range of Colorado experienced an intense storm event that triggered >1200 debris flows and landslides. We aim to assess the decadal impact of this extreme event, identifying where sediment from this event is today, addressing questions of sediment residence times in arid regions and the relative role of extreme events in landscape evolution.
Field work includes: grain size surveys, topographic change using lidar differencing, soil moisture monitoring. You’ll also work on debris flow and landslide modeling and landscape evolution modeling.
Morphodynamics of an eastern Himalayan megaflood
The eastern Himalaya has a lot of evidence for periodic natural dams and floods throughout the Quaternary. We have preliminary hydraulic simulations of an eastern Himalayan megaflood, however, they do not include sediment. As the amount of sediment moved in this type of flood is immense, we aim to expand hydraulic simulations to include sediment.
You’ll work on morphodynamic modeling, potentially using BASEMENT or USFLOOD-FP, and integration of modeling with geochronological data sets.
Interested students should contact Dr. Susannah Morey (susannah.m.morey@Vanderbilt.Edu) to learn more about these research opportunities.