Research Interests

I want to better understand the interaction between us, humans, and our environment. Particularly in the land.

Most of us rarely think about land being changed, as changes in it occur gradually and very slowly compared to the rest of changes we see in our lives. However, large changes have occurred in the lands used by men. I am curious about the problems produced by these changes such as droughts, floods, and microclimate changes.

For my Mater's thesis I studied gully dynamics, in particular, those occurring in the American Southwest. I constructed a model for gully extension due to plunge pool erosion and implemented it in a landscape evolution model. Within the landscape evolution model I explored the circumstances where gully extension is likely to happen in the landscape. Gully extension is promoted where plunge pool erosion is relatively large compared to sheetwash erosion, for example, on gentle sloping surfaces where water discharge is significant, and water flows over a scarp. Now I am exploring the interaction between vegetation dynamics and landforms dynamics, making use of the same landscape evolution model I used to study gully erosion. Strong links between these vegetation and landforms have been observed. Hydrology plays a preponderant role in this interaction.

Publications

[1] Flores-Cervantes, J.H., Istanbulluoglu, E., and R.L. Bras Development of gullies on the landscape: A model of headcut retreat resulting from plunge pool erosion Journal of Geophysical Research -Earth Surface (2006)

[2] Istanbulluoglu, E., Bras, R.L. Bras, Flores-Cervantes, H., and G.E. Tucker Implications of bank failures and fluvial erosion for gully development: Field observations and modeling Journal of Geophysical Research -Earth Surface (2005)

[3] Tucker, G.E., Arnold, L., Bras, R.L., Flores, H., Istanbulluoglu, E., and P. Sólyom Headwater channel dynamics in semiarid rangelands, Colorado high plains, USA The Geological Society of America Bulletin (2006)

Contact Information

Homero Flores
Doctoral Candidate
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Ralph M. Parsons Laboratory, 48-212
Cambridge, MA 02139
ph: +1 617 253 5483
fx: +1 617 253 7475
Email