We are building a new Landscape Evolution Laboratory, renovating the existing Environmental Sciences Shop Building at the University of Virginia. The centerpiece of the lab is a large basin — 7 meters long, 3 meters wide, and 1.5 meters deep — where we will evolve landscapes in miniature. In this setting we can precisely set fluxes of water and sediment , thereby studying controls on landscape evolution that are often difficult to isolate in nature. Design began in 2018, and our ongoing work is focused on establishing a fully automated suite of basin controls, including an instrument cart for high-precision topography measurements.
The lab is set in the woods behind UVA Grounds and is just down the road from the historic Leander McCormick Observatory, which at the time of its construction in the 1880s was the largest telescope in the US. The 26-inch refractor, which was used to confirm the discovery of Mars’ moons, Phobos and Deimos, continues to inspire planetary exploration including for students in our class Planetary Astronomy and Geology.
Loading in the basin in the building in May 2021
Visitors will be able to walk up for a bird’s-eye view on our miniature landscapes.
Photos: Joe Gitz, UVA Facilities Management