Predicting the Distribution and Properties of Buried Submarine Topography on Continental Shelves

The overall objectives of our project are 1) to determine the characteristics of channel features that can form when the present continental shelf is subaerially exposed during low sea-level conditions and 2) to determine whether these features would be buried when sea-level returned to its present position and, if so, how deeply. During FY01, our objectives have been to adapt the model to run on real topography with model parameters representative of mid-latitude coastal plain environments, to perform sensitivity tests of model and landscape parameters, to apply the model to shelf topography found on the modern New Jersey and Virginia continental shelves, to begin to test the model using relevant terrestrial and marine data, and to develop an approach for adding shelf processes to the landscape evolution model.