9706220 Rothman The PI proposes work on granular fluids that includes the development of numerical models of particular geophysical flows in addition to work on a basic theory applicable to a wide range of phenomena. Special emphasis will be focused on the erosion of granular surfaces and will concentrate on the evolution of hillslope topography and the initiation of channel networks. The focus will be on the study of statistical correlations evident in both field data and models, and their subsequent use to constrain continuum formulations of the problem. The second emphasis of the proposal is to study pattern formation in shaken sand, with the goal of understanding the transition from wavelike patterns to localized excitations, the latter of which have thus far appeared only in granular systems. Some work will concentrate on the development of models for the study of wet granular deposition. ***
