CAREER: An integrated approach to macrogeomorphic reconstruction of tectonic margins: exploring links between landscape evolution and critical mineral provenance

This project addresses the critical societal need for reliable, accessible methods to reconstruct how Earth's past landscapes changed over millions of years, which is vital for locating and evaluating essential natural resources. The primary activity involves creating an open, computer-based modeling framework that evaluates landscape change and maps the movement of ancient sediments from their original mountain sources to their final resting places in coastal basins. By integrating this scientific research with local education, the project will provide professional training for dozens of middle school teachers, offer research opportunities for community college and undergraduate students, and support workforce development in the geosciences. Ultimately, these activities will generate domestic resource assessments while preparing a new generation of geoscientists. This project will produce a comprehensive framework to evaluate ancient sediment and mineral deposits along the North Carolina Coastal Plain by integrating landscape evolution with diverse geochronologic and geochemical datasets. It will 1) develop a computer-based basin modeling workflow to reconstruct long-term landscape evolution along the NC Coastal Plain, 2) use geologic datasets to evaluate provenance and resource potential of Coastal Plain mineral deposits, and 3) produce an integrated source-to-sink framework for critical mineral placers on the NC Coastal Plain. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria. NSF Award ID: 2539103 | Program: 01003031DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT,01002930DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT,01002627DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT | Principal Investigator: Magdalena Curry | Institution: North Carolina State University, RALEIGH, NC | Award Amount: $469,380 View on NSF Award Search: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/show-award/?AWD_ID=2539103 View on Research.gov: https://www.research.gov/awardapi-service/v1/awards/2539103.html