Abstract Narrative The student supported by this doctoral dissertation award will conduct a field investigation in the Madison River Basin in southwestern Montana. He will make a systematic survey of the valley's stratigraphy by collecting and dating sediment samples, by constructing cross-valley profiles of the Madison River and its tributaries, and by examining river terraces for evidence of tectonic deformation. The purpose of this research is to determine how rivers respond to tectonic processes. The Madison River Basin has attributes that are applicable to many fluvial systems in North America. The research in Montana will thus form the basis for a more general model of fluvial responses to tectonic events and processes that will increase our understanding of long-term erosional and depositional processes of concern to earth and environmental scientists.
