NSF funded CZOBoulder Creek Critical Zone ObservatorySite type: CZO
Weathered profile development in a rocky
Location(s)Boulder Creek drains 1160 km2 from the Continental Divide in the Front Range of Colorado to its confluence with South St. Vrain River, and spans elevations from 1480 to 4120 m (Fig 1). The upper half of the watershed is a mountainous landscape of crystalline rocks, while the lower half crosses the piedmont and is underlain by sedimentary rocks and lined with alluvial terraces. The project will focus on the mountain portion, carved in Precambrian (1.7 by) granodiorite and older biotite gneiss (Lovering & Goddard, 1950), where three distinct erosion regimes arise (Birkeland et al., 2003). Southern Sierra Critical Zone ObservatorySite type: CZO
Kings River Experimental Watersheds - P300 series nested catchments
Location(s)The rain-snow transition zone is particularly vulnerable to large & rapid changes in climate & landcover. While this zone undergoes rapid seasonal changes, going from snowcoverto wet soil to dry soil over a 1-2 month period, climate warming will shift this transition period earlier or eliminate it entirely. The result will be major changes in seasonal-to-interannualcritical zone processes involving water, nutrients and ecosystem response of the largely mixed conifer forest found in the rain-snow transition zone. Susquehanna Shale Hills Critical Zone ObservatorySite type: CZO
Susquehanna Shale Hills
Location(s)The Shale Hills Critical Zone Observatory is a forested, small, temperate-climate catchment in central Pennsylvania in which the regolith is developing upon homogeneous shale. The purpose of the observatory and associated interdisciplinary research is to quantitatively predict the creation, evolution, and structure of regolith as a function of the geochemical, hydrologic, biologic, and geomorphologic processes operating in a temperate, forested landscape. |
