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Susan L. Brantley. Penn State Sept 9, 2009 czen Penn State

Introduction to Critical Zone Science. Susan L. Brantley. Penn State Sept 9, 2009 www.czen.org Penn State. Anderson et al., 2004. The Critical Zone = the zone extending from the outer vegetation envelope to the lower limit of groundwater.

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Susan L. Brantley. Penn State Sept 9, 2009 czen Penn State

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  1. Introduction to Critical Zone Science Susan L. Brantley. Penn State Sept 9, 2009 www.czen.org Penn State

  2. Anderson et al., 2004 The Critical Zone = the zone extending from the outer vegetation envelope to the lower limit of groundwater

  3. How can we quantitatively predict (earthcast) the response of the earth surface to natural and human perturbation?To do this, we need… • new techniques to measure the controlling variables at the relevant scales of time and space • comprehensive, long-term, and systematic observations of the key variables needed to earthcast • measurement of the thermodynamic and kinetic data necessary to predict the fluxes of matter and energy occurring at interfaces between reservoirs with very different dynamics • development of conceptual models • development of a complete set of governing equations for surface processes • improvements in modeling of dynamical complexities and emergent phenomena

  4. To answer this question requires scientists who can cross disciplines and also think across timescales that vary from seconds to tens of millions of years

  5. Partial History: WSSC and CZEN • Workshop with 20 participants (Baltimore, October 2003) • WSSC website (http://www.wssc.psu.edu/) • Open meeting at AGU (Dec. 2003) • Anderson et al. (2004) published in EOS • Goldschmidt , Copenhagen, open meeting (2004) • Open meeting at WRI-11, Saratoga Springs (June 2004) • WSSC European science meeting (England, Oct. 2004) • WSSC UK scientists meeting (October 2004) • 2005 Goldschmidt conference: Earth’s Weathering Engine • 2nd WSSC Workshop, January 2005, at NSF, WSSC renamed as CZEN • Univ of Delaware Frontiers of Crit Zone meeting, 2006 • Data and Date Structures Meeting at Penn State, 2007 • International efforts within CZEN, Vancouver Goldschmidt, 2008 • Unsuccessful Science and Technology Center proposal, 2009 • WUN Meeting at Penn State Sept 09 • CZO meeting at Penn State Sept 09 • Frontiers of CZ Science: GeoBio, Smithsonian, Oct 09

  6. Workshop report from the Univ of Delaware meeting Download from www.czen.org

  7. The Tool that this Community Needs (and is developing) • A network of observatories (Critical Zone Exploration Network, CZEN) that all Critical Zone scientists can work on together to investigate how environmental variables control CZ processes • CZEN would be open for investigation using all chemical or physical or hydrological or ecological or molecular biological or geological (etc.) techniques

  8. Critical Zone Exploration Network Topography Climate Lithology Time Biology Disturbance

  9. Why a network? • Network can explore one environmental variable while keeping other variables constant • Network allows comparison of the same data measured in the same way at multiple sites • Network allows understanding of broad patterns of behavior • Network can create community among scientists and generate interdisciplinary understanding

  10. CZEN Seed Sites funded in 2006 (10) and 2008 (3) Adirondacks, New York Central Great Plains alluvium Calhoun, North Carolina

  11. NSF announced a competition for Critical Zone Observatories in 2006 ($8m new money) • Largely in response to exciting new surface Earth sciences • In partial response to the NRC BROES report that highlighted the Critical Zone • In partial response to community pressure from hydrologists, geochemists, geomorphologists (e.g. CUAHSI, CZEN, NCED, others) • In partial response to proposal pressure within Earth surface science • Run jointly by NSF Geomorphology, Geobiology and Low T Geochemistry, and Hydrology programs

  12. Three Critical Zone Observatories funded ‘06 • Southern Sierra Nevada (Roger Bales) • Boulder Creek (Suzanne Anderson) • Susquehanna Shale Hills (Chris Duffy) Delaware Arizona Puerto Rico

  13. Shale Hills catchment: a Critical Zone observatory designed to learn to earthcast the Critical Zone 80 ft Drill core Streams Soil cores Lysimeter nests 1-D Weir Head 3-D, integrated Mid 3-D 2-D Courtesy Henry Lin

  14. SSHO: Shale Transect SSHO Investigators Transect Investigators Chris Duffy Sue Brantley Rudy Slingerland David Eissenstat Ken Davis Karen Salvage Kamni Singha Laura Toran Pat Reed Eric Kirby Tim White Kevin Dressler Doug Miller Ray Fletcher Michelle Tuttle Paul Bierman Peter Lichtner Carl Steefel Plus, now developing, Plynlimon, Wales!

  15. CZEN International Sites • BigLink, Switzerland • Guadeloupe, France • Strengbach, France • Plynlimon, Wales • South Africa • France • Others

  16. What controls the depth and chemistry of the Earth’s regolith?

  17. Can we earthcast? Nutrients What processes control fluxes of carbon, particulates, and reactive gases over different timescales? How do processes that nourish ecosystems change over human and geologic time scales? Landform Evolution Atmosphere How do biogeochemical processes govern long-term sustainability of water and soil resources? How do variations in and perturbation to chemical and physical weathering processes impact the Critical Zone? Chemistry of Water

  18. For a given lithology, can we use the climate and the soil residence time or exposure time to predict • ….the thickness of regolith on the landscape? • …the profiles of elements and minerals as a function of depth to bedrock?

  19. What controls the depth and chemistry of the Earth’s regolith?

  20. Craig Rasmussen: CZEN Granite Sites: Synthesis of Regolith Weathering Legend and color scheme indicate MAP Na threshold near 1000 mm MAP - complete loss of Na in upper profile >1000 mm

  21. How does basaltic regolith chemistry vary with depth across a precipitation gradient? Plot composed by Maya Bhatt, Penn State

  22. What controls weathering along an alluvial climosequence? (Masters thesis, J. Williams) Iowa Parent loess -- roughly constant in composition -- was deposited 13ky bp Soils developed on Peoria loess that contains 55% quartz, 10% Na-plagioclase, 12% K-feldspar, 10% montmorillonite (Muhs et al., 2001) Indiana Illinois Missouri Kentucky Tennessee Arkansas Mississippi Alabama Louisiana

  23. Fraction of Na depleted versus depth for all 22 pedons (Williams, 2008) Southern Pedons Northern Pedons t = fraction of Na (feldspar) that has been depleted over 13ky compared to the parent loess composition at depth (assumes Zr immobile)

  24. Plot of ln (rate constant term) versus 1/T (Arrhenius plot) Apparent activation energy from loess data = 95 kJ/mol ± 24 Average activation energy measured in laboratory = 65 kJ/mol ± 10

  25. This observation implies that we can use laboratory rate constants to predict weathering using reactive transport codes Godderis, Schott, Williams, and Brantley, in prep.

  26. albite K-feldspar kaolinite Observed vs. simulated mineral profiles: 10ky weathering of loess at one pedon using GCM outputs, laboratory dissolution rates, and literature BET surface area dolomite Ca-Mont Crosses = model predictions; Red symbols= data Reactive transport code – WITCH (Yves Godderis) Godderis, Schott, Williams, Brantley, in prep.

  27. Criteria to become a CZEN site • Data available for water and soils down to bedrock • Willingness to share data • Willingness to open the site to other investigators • Interest in answering questions that can only be answered with a network of sites

  28. Table 1. Minimum Information to be Submitted from CZEN Sites Site information (as available): Digital topography (and derived information such as slope and curvature); Digital geology; Digital soil; Landform type; Landform position, Parent material type (e.g., alluvial, bedrock), Latitude, Longitude, Description of drainage characteristics, Slope, Aspect, Land use description, Elevation, Geology. Meteorological characteristics: Daily, monthly and mean annual temperature, precipitation, and potential evapotranspiration. Regolith characterization: Bedrock chemistry and mineralogy; Soil and saprolite bulk density, Soil chemistry (as function of depth to bedrock), Soil mineralogy (as function of depth to bedrock), Loss on ignition (if applicable), Soil profile description, Landform age or soil production rates, Depth to bedrock, Analysis company (if applicable for chemical analysis); Analysis technique (for chemistry and mineralogy); Date of analysis; Sample preparation (size separation, drying, ashed or unashed); Grain size analyzed

  29. To answer CZ questions requires shared data • We have a great variety of data types that vary with space and time • We need to have some measurements that are made at all sites = core data • We will have some measurements that are more specialized and that will not be made at all sites = specialized data

  30. CZEN has drafted an ontology that describes the structure of the data, and it has been posted for comments http://www.czen.org/content/critical-zone-ontology http://www.czen.org

  31. Data Infrastructure for CZ Science • The CZOs must share data after a two year embargo period • Only moderate funding was included in each CZO proposal to place data onto the web • Xianzeng Niu is working with the SSHO CZO to organize geochemical data (see poster) • This database will be placed onto the web, but ultimately stored with EarthChem (with Kerstin Lehnert, Columbia U.) • We are augmenting geochemical CZO data with data from other sites and legacy data • Geochemical kinetic data is also being compiled as EarthKin

  32. CZEN is a network of • Sites (network of field sites) • Ideas (network of model development) • Tools (network of tools tested on sites and cybertools for using data) • People (network of international scientists and students)

  33. CZEN International Student Scholars—received NSF funding to work in Europe in 2006/07 •Claire Hoff, U. of New Hampshire, Calcium leaching dynamics, Hasselt University, Belgium •Heather Buss, USGS Postdoctoral Fellow, Guadeloupe and Puerto Rico. •Heidi Albrecht, Penn State U., Frasassi Cave, Italy. •Julie Pett-Ridge, Cornell U., Oxford U., UK •Mark Waldrop, USGS Postdoctoral Fellow, Lancaster U., England. •Sarah Hayes, U. of Arizona, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology. •Simon Mudd, Vanderbilt U., Oxford U., UK •Susan Crow, Purdue U., Queen’s University, Belfast, Ireland. •Susan Riggins, U. of Colorado-Boulder, British Geological Survey. Current ongoing competition for U.S. students to receive funding to work in Europe in 09/10 as part of the CZO network U.S. students also were funded to attend the SoilCritZone meeting in Crete in Sept 2008

  34. www.czen.org • Social networking site for Critical Zone scientists • Content management system • 566 registered users • Growing at a rate of about 4/day • 500 pages • 33 groups including international groups • 14 post types are available • Biggest problem: teaching geochemists how to use a content management system!

  35. Fundamental Critical Zone Science CZGugle (cybertools for CZ) EarthChem EarthKin (databases) CZEN.org (social networking, data management) CZEN (field sites)

  36. NSF BIO EAR Fundamental Critical Zone Science The U.S. funding perspective DOE USDA NASA EPA If CZ scientists build the science…the funding will come

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