Critical Zone Exploration Network

EOS article about this workshop - http://www.czen.org/content/building-critical-zone-research-cyberinfrast...

During 17-18 September 2007, forty students and scientists from many disciplines attended a workshop at the Pennsylvania State University to discuss needs for data and information systems to enhance investigation of the Critical Zone (CZ).Workshop attendees represented the CZOs recommended for funding by NSF, eight CZEN seed sites, the CZEN steering committee, NSF, CI specialists, and students who had received funding for CZ work abroad. The workshop’s purpose was to address the question, “What measurements should be made at all CZ sites to allow cross-site comparison and better understanding of the CZ?” Specifically, the group looked at the four fundamental CZ questions (Booklet, Four questions). Working groups each considered data needs for one of the science questions assuming a hypothetical site network receiving generous funding. The groups converged on a list of ~50 measurements spanning from chemical to meteorological to hydrological to biological. Conducting all measurements at all sites is beyond the capabilities of the NSF CZO and the CZEN seed sites. It remains for the community to prioritize and focus these measurements.

Participants | Four Questions | Core Measurements | Presentations | Posters

Participants

Four questions

1.  How do processes in the Critical Zone control fluxes of carbon, particulates, and trace gases between land and atmosphere?

2.  How do biogeochemical processes at Critical Zone interfaces govern long-term sustainability of soil and water resources?

3.  How do processes in the Critical Zone that support and nourish ecosystems change over geologic and human time scales?

4.  How do weathering processes impact the establishment of the Critical Zone and how is this weathering engine perturbed by global environmental change?

Common core measurements

Site information

• Landform type or position
• Parent material type (e.g., alluvial, bedrock)
• Latitude, Longitude
• Drainage/drainage characteristics
• Slope
• Aspect
• Land use

Meteorological measurements

• Precipitation flux
• Precipitation chemistry
• Air temperature
• Solar radiation
• Aerosol flux and chemistry
• Relative humidity
• Windspeed

Soil characterization

• Bulk density
• Soil chemistry (down to bedrock)
• Soil mineralogy
• Bedrock chemistry and mineralogy
• Grain size
• Organic content
• Soil description including taxa
• Cation exchange capacity
• Soil moisture
• Soil temperature
• Carbon fractions
• Cosmogenic age dates
• Depth to bedrock

Metadata for soil characterization: Analysis company; Analysis technique; Date of analysis; Sample preparation; Grain size that was analyzed; Ash basis or otherwise

Soil porefluids

• Soil water potential
• Soil porewater chemistry
• Soil gas chemistry (O2,CO2)

Water

• Streamwater flux and chemistry
  • pH
  • major elements (Na, K, Ca, Mg, Al, Fe, Si)
  • Ti
  • Alkalinity
  • Nutrients
• Groundwater chemistry
• O isotope concentration
• Dissolved organic carbon

Sediment

• Chemistry
• Flux

Biota

• Net Primary Productivity
• Litterfall
• Litter chemistry
• Dendrochronology
• Dendrochemistry
• Microbial biomass
• Fungi-bacteria ratios
• Above- and below-ground biomass
• Loss on ignition

Note: Water, soil, and gas sampling need to be coupled spatially and temporally

Presentations

• Cyber-Infrastructure for Critical Zone Explorations in Intensively Managed Landscapes, Bajcsy,Peter; Kumar,Praveen , (2007)
• Tropical weathering of contrasting lithologies at Luquillo, Puerto Rico, Buss,Heather; White,Art; Kurtz,Andy; Lugolobi,Festo , (2007)
• Tree-Environment Processes in the Critical Zone, Peters, Jake; Hunt,William , (2007)
• The Shale Hills Critical Zone Observatory, Duffy, Christopher , (2007)
• CZEN research in Hawaii, Chadwick, Oliver; Derry, Louis; Chorover, Jon , (2007)
• Hydropedology and Landscape Hydrology Investigations at the Shale Hills Catchment, Lin, Henry , (2007)
• Hydrologic controls on terrestrial C cycling at the Bonanza Creek CZEN seed site, Waldrop,Mark; Harden,Jennifer; Pruett,Lee; Mendieta,Renata; McGuire,David; Millar,Neville; Turetsky,Merrit , (2007)
• Sharma - Merced
• Soil Geoghemsitry and Climate Across the Sonoran Desert Environmental Gradient CZEN site, Craig Rasmussen , (2007)
• Southern Sierra Critical Zone Observatory, Kirchner, James , (2007)
• Suzanne Anderson - Boulder Creek Observatory

Posters

• Processes Controlling Regolith Development, Riggins, Susan , (2007)
• Effect of pH gradient on lead and zinc speciation in semiarid mine tailings, Hayes, Sarah; Maier,Raina; Chorover,Jon , (2007)
• Basalt weathering rates on Earth and the duration of liquid water on the plains of Gusev Crater, Mars, Hausrath,E.M.; Navarre-Sitchler,A.K.; Sak, P.B.; Steefel,C.; Brantley,S.L. , (2007)
• Albrecht
• Decomposing Arctic Soils: Potential Negative Feedbacks to Climate Change, Crow, Susan; Reimer,Paula; Filley,Timothy , (2007)
• Hoff
• Peters
• U-series investigation of soil development in Hawaii, Julie Pett-Ridge , (2007)
• Hydrologic controls on terrestrial C cycling at the Bonanza Creek CZEN seed site, Waldrop,Mark; Harden,Jennifer; Pruett,Lee; Mendieta,Renata; McGuire,David; Millar,Neville; Turetsky,Merrit , (2007)
• A Critical Zone Site Comparison; Chemical Weathering and Nutrient Cycling in Tropical Uplands, Guadeloupe and Puerto Rico, Buss,Heather; White,Art; Dessert,Celine; Gaillardet,Jerome; Sak,Peter , (2007)