Collaborative Research: Uplift or climate change? Determining the primary driver

Collaborative Research: Uplift or climate change? Determining the primary driver Collaborative Research: Uplift or climate change? Determining the primary driver of deep canyon incision in the eastern cordillera, southern Peru Collaborative Research: Uplift or climate change? Determining the primary driver of deep canyon incision in the eastern cordillera, southern Peru This supplemental funding request is essential to our ability to complete the research objectives outlined in the original proposal as a consequence of unavoidable delays: COVID-19 has prevented us from completing analysis of existing samples due to the shutdown of the PRIME lab and the cosmogenic isotope lab here at ASU and from conducting essential field work and data collection in Peru for two field seasons (2020 and 2021) as explained in the Justification for supplemental funding. The COVID-19 shutdown of the PRIME lab delayed results on analyses of initial cosmogenic sent to the PRIME lab in early March 2020 for nearly a full year. We did recently finally get the results on our initial samples and the results are very encouraging pretty much the magnitude and patterns of erosion rates we were anticipating, and the first suggestion that our approach to incorporating the pattern of annual rainfall into our analyses to topography and interpretation of expected erosion rate patterns is robust when tested with field data. The PhD student, armed with the first batch of results, is now processing the highest priority samples among those we collected previously (now that the cosmogenic laboratory here at ASU is finally open again as well), but additional sampling and field campaign are critical to the success of this project. For most of the budget, COVID-19 delays can be managed through a no-cost extension as these funds have been held in reserve until conditions allow us to move forward. However COVID-19 conditions require extension of the active research into a 4th year and we lack the GRA funds to support the student doing this work, completing his PhD, and engaging in effective collaboration with students working with collaborator Dr. Nadine McQuarrie. The funds will allow the graduate student to complete critical field work and data collection that has been delayed by COVID-19 conditions, complete laboratory processing of the samples to produce cosmogenic isotope concentration targets to be sent to PRIME for AMS analyses, to complete analysis of the data obtained, and prepare one or more publications from the full dataset (the new data combined with existing data and analysis of additional existing samples obtained previoiusly). The PhD candidate, Joel Leonard, has made excellent use of his pandemic-restricted time and thus very effective use of the GRA funds in the original award. As he could not move forward with data analysis and sample collection, he has instead focused on theoretical and methodological developments. On the side of theory he has very much under his own initiative developed a novel understanding of landscape and erosional response to climate changes under conditions of non-uniform rainfall such as an orographic precipitation gradient. This work currently in review at JGR-Earth Surface - is directly relevant to the funded project exploring the linkages among climate, topography, and tectonics in Peru but goes well beyond the scope of analyses originally envisioned. Joel has further extended the original scope of work with an analysis of a new method of DEM analysis accounting for precipitation patterns. Joel has a complete draft of a paper on this work that will be soon submitted to Geology. Thus although COVID-19 delays have forced us to seek supplemental funding to complete the original scope of work, in the end we expect to have accomplished significantly more than originally envisioned.