Publication Type:
Poster
Source:
(2005)
Abstract:
At Earth’s surface, a complex suite of chemical, biological, and physical
processes combines to produce soil from bedrock within the zone that extends
from the outer
limits of vegetation to the lower limits of groundwater (the
Critical Zone; Figure 1). This weathering engine transforms primary minerals,
provides nutrients to nourish
ecosystems and human society, mediates the
transport of toxic components within the biosphere, creates water flow paths
that shape and weaken bedrock, and
contributes to the evolution of landscapes
at all temporal and spatial scales. At the longest time scales, the weathering
engine sequesters CO2, thereby influencing the
global carbon cycle, long-term
climate change, and weathering rates.
Despite the importance of soil, our
knowledge of the rate of soil formation and related processes (Figure 2) is
limited because the weathering zone forms a complex,
ever-changing interface,
and because scientific approaches and funding paradigms have not promoted
integrated research agendas to investigate such complex
interactions. No
national or international initiative has promoted a systems approach to the
investigation of weathering science across the broad array of geology,
soil
science, ecology, and hydrology.
