Christina River Basin CZO | Critical Zone Exploration Network

Group:

Location

39° 43' 12.6048" N, 75° 31' 18.336" W

Brief Site Description:

Established to integrate 3 major processes governing the critical zone: the water cycle, the mineral cycle, and the carbon cycle.

Detailed Site Description:

The Christina River Basin CZO was established in 2009 as a community platform for research on critical-zone processes, and is based on a strategic partnership between the University of Delaware (UD), the Stroud Water Research Center (SWRC) and numerous other organizations.

Research focus.

The CRB-CZO has the overarching goal of integrating the feedbacks between the water cycle, the mineral cycle and the carbon cycle as materials are transported across geophysical boundaries from saprolite to sea over a range of modern and historical land uses integrated over the entire 1440 km2 Christina River Basin.

Unique Aspects of CRB-CZO:

Piedmont and Atlantic Coastal Plain physiographic provinces, and includes satellite coastal sites along the Delaware Estuary.
Unglaciated soils (entisols, ultisols, histosols) over meta-sedimentary lithology (micaceous schist, gneiss, quartzite, marble)
MAT = 12.4° C, MAP = 115.3 cm (1949-2009)
Diverse human land use for centuries.
Drinking water source to a million+ people in Northern Delaware and Southeastern Pennsylvania.
Exceptionally well studied by USGS, SWRC, EPA and numerous local agencies.

Website: http://www.udel.edu/czo

Field Site Type:

NSF funded CZO

Independent

Registration:

Registered

Network(s):

Independent

Study Start Date:

2009 to 2012

Mean Annual Precipitation:

1 153 millimeters / year

Average Annual Temperature:

12°C

Land Cover:

Developed- Low

Deciduous Forest

Agriculture- Crops

Geology:

unconsolidated materials

metasediments

other metamorphic

Soil Order:

Alfisol

Entisol

Histosol

Inceptisol

Ultisol

Hydrology: Name:

White Clay Creek

Hydrology: Surface water stream order:

Third Order

Hydrology: Surface water - Stream Flow Performance:

Perennial

Hydrology: Groundwater:

Arrangment of Aquifer Components - Complexly interbedded sequence of aquifers and confining beds

Climate:

Temperate

Sub-Climate:

Humid

Group visibility:

Public - accessible to all site users