Over the past two decades, source-to-sink studies have yielded extensive insights into the spatio-temporal dynamics of fluvial-dominated landscapes and their response to tectonic, climatic, and biologic forcings. These studies document sediment pathways from upstream production (source) to downstream accumulation (sink) areas, aiming to assess the impact of transport processes on the morphological and stratigraphical evolutions of landscapes and sedimentary basins. This approach has also been applied to a variety of morpho-sedimentary systems in continental, lacustrine and submarine environments, not only on Earth but also on other planetary bodies. However, the contribution of aeolian processes in shaping continental surfaces and controlling their mass exchanges with oceans and the atmosphere is still subject to considerable uncertainties. Unlike sediment transport by rivers, for example, this is likely due to the fact that wind-driven transport is not associated with well-identified channel networks that directly link sand and dust sources and sinks flowing down the topography. Consequently, the potential of source-to-sink methodologies has yet to be fully explored and utilized for the qualitative and quantitative analysis of aeolian systems and their coupling with the atmosphere and hydrosphere. In this presentation, I will begin by reviewing the general concepts and traditional methods of the source-to-sink approach. Then, we will examine the specificities of aeolian transport regarding this approach, before considering some applications of its concepts and tools to the particular case of aeolian systems. Finally, we will discuss the new opportunities that can be leveraged in this framework to provide fundamental constraints on aeolian sediment routing systems, landforms and landscapes.
Date and Time: January 21st 10AM CET