Modeling fluvio-deltaic sedimentation and the importance of microbial

Jorge Lorenzo-Trueba
PhD Student
Saint Anthony Falls Laboratory
University of Minnesota

Abstract:

During almost four years I have been directly involved in one of the leading tasks of the National Center of Earth Dynamics (NCED): restoring a sustainable Mississippi Delta. One main subject of my thesis work has been to develop numerical and analytical modeling tools able to track the shoreline and the alluvial-bedrock transition of fluvial-deltas under base-level changes (e.g., sea-level and subsidence). Moreover, I have expanded this framework to explicitly account for biomass production and decay via plant growth, burial, and microbial processes; wetland vegetation plays an essential role in determining how coastal morphology and ecosystems respond to sea-level rise. I propose an explicit coupling between biogeochemical and physical processes, which offers a novel approach with significant potential to understand this important, but currently poorly understood, component of delta evolution.

Bio:

Jorge Lorenzo Trueba earned a Civil Engineering in 2006 from the Politechnic University started his doctoral studies at SAFL in 2007. His research aims at understanding how physical and biological processes, and the coupling between them, influence delta evolution across a wide range of time and space scales. His research methods focus on the development of mathematical and computational models supported by laboratory experiments and field observation