Critical Zone Observatories and the Critical Zone Exploration Network (CZEN)

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Critical Zone Observatories and the Critical Zone
Exploration Network (CZEN) the U.S. Perspective

• Sue Brantley, Penn State University

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CZEN Scientists building a worldwide network to
advance interdisciplinary studies of Earth
surface processes
Slide from S. Anderson
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Critical Zone
the heterogeNeous, near-surface environment in
which complex interactions involving rock, soil,
water, air, and living organisms regulate the
natural habitat and determine the availability of
life-sustaining resources. (National Research
Council, 2001)
USGS circular 1139
Slide from S. Anderson
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We know more about the movement of celestial
bodies than about the soil underfoot Leonardo da
Vinci
The Critical Zone the Unknown Zone
Soil is the most complicated biomaterial on the
planet Young and Crawford (2004)
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The Critical Zone
Wilding and Lin (2006) Geoderma
Slide from S. Anderson
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Frontiers in Exploration of the Critical Zone, a
meeting held at Univ of Delaware, 2006
Download from www.czen.org
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Driving Questions for CZEN
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
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Critical Zone Exploration Network
Topography
Climate
Lithology
Time
Biology
Disturbance
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CZEN Seed Sites funded in 2006
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NSF competition for Critical Zone Observatories
announced in 2006 (12M)

• 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
  CUAHSI, WSSC, CZEN, NCED, many others
• In partial response to proposal pressure to NSF
  from Earth surface scientists
• Run jointly by Geomorphology, Geobiology and Low
  T Geochemistry, and Hydrology programs at
  National Science Foundation

Slide from S. Anderson
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NSFs Critical Zone Observatories

• Southern Sierra CZO (Roger Bales, UC Merced)
• Boulder Creek CZO (Suzanne Anderson, Univ
  Colorado)
• Susquehanna-Shale Hills CZO (Chris Duffy, Penn
  State)

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Southern Sierra Critical Zone Observatory (CZO)
hydrochemical characteristics, science
measurement strategy

• R. Bales, C. Hunsaker, M. Conklin, J. Kirchner,
  B. Boyer, P. Kirchner

• underlying hypothesis The distribution of soil
  moisture throughout the catchments controls
  (bio)geochemical processes, including weathering
  the extent of coupling among the carbon
  nitrogen cycles.

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CZO
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Explicit links between hydrology, geochemical
processes landform evolution

• Steeper slopes --gt thinner soils --gt less
  persistent moisture --gt slower weathering
• Shallower slopes --gt thicker soils --gt more
  persistent moisture --gt faster weathering
• Integrating through time yields stepped
  topography.

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The influence of critical zone development on
watershed hydrology and biogeochemistry

• The Boulder Creek Critical Zone Observatory Team

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Critical zone architecture influences sediment
sources, hydrology, water chemistry and ecology
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Upstream fluvial incision extent
Fort Collins
Boulder Creek watershed

• Precambrian crystalline bedrock
• Three erosional states

Glacial limit
-Glacially scoured -Decaying post-Laramide
(60Ma) landscape -Fluvially rejuvenated
Boulder
Golden
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Our goals

• Document Critical Zone architecture
• -Shallow geophysics
• -Core through CZ
• -Soil pits
• Measure denudation rates
• -Cosmogenic nuclides
• Model physical denudation processes
• -Bedrock channel incision
• -Hillslope evolution
• -Relationship to tectonic (or other) forcing
• Model weathering front advance

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The Shale Hills Hydro_Sensorium A Concept For
Doing Interdisciplinary Science with
Interoperable Data, Models Sensors
The Shale Hills Susquehanna Critical Zone
Observatory
Christopher Duffy, Sue Brantley, Pat Reed, Rudy
Slingerland, Henry Lin, Dave Eissenstat, Kelly
Cherrey, Colin Duffy, Kamini Singha, Laura Toran,
Karen Salvage, Kevin Dressler, Ken Davis, Wenfang
Li, Mukesh Kumar, Gopal Bhatt, Shuangcai Li
Funding NSF Susquehanna Shale Hills Critical
Zone Observatory NSF Waters/CUAHSI
Susquehanna/Chesapeake Testbed Penn State
Cyberscience Institute Penn State Institutes for
Energy Environment
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Soil Moisture Subsurface Dynamics
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70
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Sediment Fence
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59
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68
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29
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Blairton Soil Pit
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B5
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60
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27
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A5
B4
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B3
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A4
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A3
B2
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B1
A2
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14
15
A1
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13
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Wet
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Moderately Wet
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11
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Moderately Dry
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8
10
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Dry
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6
3
5
2
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1
4
Stream Gauge
100 m
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Coupled Processes From Bedrock to Boundary Layer
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Vegetation Dynamics
Sapflow Sensor Transpiration
Leaf Wetness Sensor Canopy Interception
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Shale Hills catchment a Critical Zone observatory
80 ft Drill core
Streams Soil cores Lysimeter nests
1-D
Weir
Head
Mid
3-D
2-D
Courtesy Henry Lin
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Variation of Soil chemistry ? values
Depth (cm)
0
-

Parent material
depletion
addition
Immobile element i Zr
Brimhall and Dietrich, 1987
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Elemental loss from soil profiles as chemical
weathering signals
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1D soil water chemistry
Depth (cm)
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2D Soil water Mg2
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Subsurface flow-paths downslope
O
A
Bw
C/R
O
A
Bw or Bt
O
A
C/R
Bw
Bt
Lin et al., 2005
C
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3D Soil water Mg2
Depth (cm)
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Stream water chemistry
Mg (?M)
Stream is dry
Ca (?M)
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Water chemistry streams and
soil waters
3D
rainfall
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Parent shales Mineralogy

• Illite 54 wt.
• Quartz 34 wt.
• Chlorite 9 wt.
• and trace k-feldspar and Fe-oxides.

(Fe0.24Mg0.38Al0.38)6(Si0.07Al0.93)4O10(OH)8
5.72 H4SiO4 4.56 H ? 1.44 FeOOH 2.28 Mg2
3 Al2Si2O5(OH)4 11 H2O
chlorite
dissolution K0.77(Si0.30Al0.70)(Fe0.48Mg0.07Al0.45
)AlSi3O10(OH)2 0.91 H 3.235 H2O ? 0.77 K
1.075 Al2Si2O5(OH)4 1.15 H4SiO4 0.07 Mg2
0.48 FeOOH illite dissolution
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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
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Courtesy of Sue Brantley
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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-zon
e-ontology http//www.czen.org
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Minimum Information to be Submitted from CZEN
Sites to be Shared on CZEN.org

• Site information (as available)
• Meteorological characteristics
• Regolith characterization

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Site information (as available)

• Digital topography data (and derived information
  such as slope and curvature)
• Geology
• Soil type and series
• Landform type
• Landform position
• Parent material type (e.g., alluvial, bedrock)
• Latitude and Longitude
• Description of drainage characteristics
• Slope
• Aspect
• Land use description
• Elevation
• Geology

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Meteorological characteristics

• Daily, monthly and mean annual temperature if
  available
• Precipitation
• Potential evapotranspiration.

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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

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Coordinating across the network

• Highest level of coordination exists across CZOs
  other sites less coordinated
• Sharing data
• Communication using czen.org, annual meetings,
  meetings at international conferences
• Student exchanges
• Open site access
• Cross-site synthesis (looking for proposals and
  funding)

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Sharing Data

• Cross-CZO coordination of accessible databases
• EarthChem
• www.czen.org
• HIS (Hydrologic Information System)
  http//his.cuahsi.org/
• ChemXSeer
• http//chemxseer.ist.psu.edu

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Kinetic Data Synthesis by Center for
Environmental Kinetics Analysis (CEKA)
Kaolinite
Datasets compiled and placed online (search for
ChemxSeer) silicate mineral dissolution rate
constants chemistry of soils where available
from surface to bedrock with exposure age
Published soil profile data
CEKA was funded by the National Science
Foundation and Dept of Energy as an Environmental
Molecular Sciences Institute
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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!

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ChemxSeer (cybertools for chemistry)
EarthChem (databases)
Kerstin Lehnert
Karl Mueller
CZEN.org (social networking, data management)
CZEN (field sites)
Penn State Doug Miller, Sue Brantley
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Student exchange

• CZEN International Student Scholarsreceived NSF
  funding to work in Europe in 2006/07

Claire Hoff, U. New Hampshire, 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., Queens University,
Belfast, Ireland Susan Riggins, U. of
Colorado-Boulder, British Geological Survey

• Most recent competition for students who are
  attending this SoilCritZone meeting in Crete in
  Sept 2008

• 2008/09 3 CZO students will make extended visits
  to European field or laboratory sites

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Cross site projects
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1 km2 comparison Images courtesy Qinghua Guo (UC
Merced)
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Cross- CZO DOM Comparison

• Investigators send surface and/or groundwater
  samples to D McKnight lab (CU-Boulder)
• DOC TN measured and DOM characterized
• Representatives from CZO meet in Boulder in
  November (?) to analyze/discuss results

Anticipated results 1) Implementation of
monitoring of DOM 2) Substantial
cross-site collaboration
3) Joint
publication(s)
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Adaptive Sensor Arrays for All Sites?
Chris Duffy and others
IRIS 2.4 GHz radio
Stargate Netbridge Gateway 7 Web Services
eKo Soil moisture temp
MDA320 Sensor Board DAQ
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Rates of weathering at 1D weathering locations
compared across sites
From Jennifer Williams
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Modelling S cycle as function of climate and soil
depth
Ron Amundson and others
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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

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CZEN International Sites

• BigLink, Switzerland
• Guadeloupe, France
• Strengbach, France

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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 conf., 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 Earths 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
• New seed sites funded, July 2008
• Working group meeting, July 2008, Vancouver
• Future CZO competitions? More international
  sites?

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Acknowledgements

• NSF Earth Sciences
• NSF Chemistry
• Worldwide Universities Network

• Art White
• Jennifer Williams
• Joel Moore
• Heather Buss
• Vala Ragnarsdottir
• Enriqueta Barrera
• Oliver Chadwick
• Suzanne Anderson
• Jon Chorover
• Dan Richter
• Tim White

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The mean texture of A horizons across an
increasing Mean Annual Precipitation (MAP)
gradient, Central Great Plains
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A 3D resistivity cross-section over a 165 m
transect.
High resistivity (red colors) results from dry
surface soil, high resistivity at depth is high
density subsurface bedrock, and low resistivities
(blue color) indicates the presence of perched
water (Galang and Markewitz, unpublished data).
The 3D soil electrical resistivity sounding was
measured across a series of tillage beds in a
loblolly pine plantation. The soil volume is
2x2x8 m and the tillage rows have higher
resistivities (i.e., red) implying drier soils in
the beds. (Adams and Markewitz, in preparation).