EuroSTRATAFORM: A Moving-Boundary Framework for the Formation of Strata on Continental Margins

My overarching goal is the development of twoand three-dimensional, moving-boundary, morphodynamic models of continental-margin sedimentation on geologic time scales. The lateQuaternary stratigraphic package on continental margins is a complex juxtaposition of depositional and erosional surfaces that reflects the response of intrinsically coupled, fluvial and shallow-marine sediment dynamics to eustatic cycling. My morphodynamic modeling approach averages over characteristic events, e.g. floods and coastal storms, and represents the evolution of the sediment surfaces in the fluvial and shallow-marine environments with differential equations that are coupled at the shoreline. A key focus of my work is the rigorous treatment of the shoreline as a dynamic moving boundary and, by extension, its response to changes in sea level. Model results will provide important insight into the dynamic response of continental margins to changes in sea level (Task D4) and the prediction of large-scale acoustic properties in the upper few tens of meters of the stratigraphic record.