Critical Zone Exploration Network

This is a joint topical session at the October 2008 Meeting of The Geological Society of America, Soil Science Society of America, American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, Gulf Coast Association of Geological Societies with the Gulf Coast Section of SEPM, Houston, Texas, USA, George R. Brown Convention Center. Abstract deadline is June 3, 2008.

http://gsa.confex.com/gsa/2008AM/index.epl

Carbon dioxide efflux from the soil surface is a function of many biotic and environmental characteristics, both on human and geologic time scales. Agronomists and soil scientists have extensively studied CO2 efflux on diurnal to annual time scales, particularly as it pertains to plant growth, efficiency of energy conversion, and metabolic activity of soil organisms. Geologists have concurrently been modeling the decadal to millennial cycling of carbon to understand terrestrial-atmospheric carbon fluxes. Paleosols have served to proxy information about Earth’s historical levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide. This session is designed to bring together the disciplines of geology, soil science, and agronomy with the specific goal of understanding the controls on soil respiration in modern ecosystems and how carbon efflux rates vary with time, space, and management. Contributions from invited and volunteering speakers will examine how soil minerals and their crystal-chemical-isotopic signatures can be used to characterize soil respiration rates in ancient weathering horizons. Future collaborative research endeavors will be explored to understand the impact of soils on the high-profile topics of rising atmospheric CO2 concentration and potential global change.

Controlling factors on carbon dioxide efflux from the land to atmosphere are explored on diurnal, annual, millennial, and deep time scales. How does soil respiration vary with lithology, climate, time, space, and management? We are seeking abstracts related to this topic.

Paul A. Schroeder, Geology, Univ. Georgia, Athens, GA 30602-2501, Phone: 706-542-2384, schroe@uga.edu. Alan J. Franzluebbers, Agricultural Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture, J. Phil Campbell, Sr, Natural Resource Conservation Center, 1420 Experiment Station Road, Watkinsville, GA 30677, Phone: 706-769-5631, Fax: 706-769-8962, Alan.Franzluebbers@ars.usda.gov