Hostname: page-component-7dd5485656-s6l46 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-10-31T00:30:42.972Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Critical Zone Observatories: Building a network to advance interdisciplinary study of Earth surface processes

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 July 2018

S. P. Anderson ,
R. C. Bales  and
C. J. Duffy
S. P. Anderson*
Affiliation:
Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research and Department of Geography, University of Colorado, UCB-450, Boulder, CO 80309 USA
R. C. Bales
Affiliation:
Sierra Nevada Research Institute and School of Engineering, University of California, PO Box 2039, Merced, CA 95344 USA
C. J. Duffy
Affiliation:
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, The Pennsylvania State University, 212 Sackett Building, University Park, PA 16802-1408 USA
*
*E-mail: Suzanne.anderson@colorado.edu
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

We live at the dynamic interface between the solid Earth and its outer fluid envelopes. This interface, extending from the outer vegetation canopy to the base of active groundwater, was recently named the Critical Zone because it supports life and is increasingly impacted by human actions. Understanding the complex interactions between processes that operate in and shape the Critical Zone requires interdisciplinary approaches that span wide spatial and temporal scales. Tectonic processes, weathering, fluid transport, and biological processes control the function and structure of the Critical Zone. Three Critical Zone Observatories recently established by the U.S. National Science Foundation are designed to integrate studies of process interactions up to the watershed scale. A goal of the program is to build the three independently conceived observatories into a network from which broader understanding — larger spatial scales but also deeper insight — can emerge.

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
Mineralogical Magazine , Volume 72 , Issue 1 , February 2008 , pp. 7 - 10
Copyright
Copyright © The Mineralogical Society of Great Britain and Ireland 2008

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Anderson, S.P., Blum, I, Brantley, S.L., Chadwick, O., Chorover, J., Deny, L.A., Drever, J.I., Hering, J.G., Kirchner, J.W., Kump, L.R., Richter, D. and White, A.F. (2004) Proposed initiative would study Earth's weathering engine. Eos Transactions, AGU, 85 (28), 265–269.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bishop, P. (2007) Long-term landscape evolution: linking tectonics and surface processes. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms, 32, 329–365.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brantley, S.L., Goldhaber, M.B. and Ragnarsdottir, K.V. (2007) Crossing disciplines and scales to understand the Critical Zone. Elements, 3, 307–314.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Istanbulluoglu, E. and Bras, R.L. (2005) Vegetation-modulated landscape evolution: Effects of vegetation on landscape processes, drainage density, and topography. Journal of Geophysical Research-Earth Surface, 110, F02012, doi: 10.1029/2004 JF000249.Google Scholar
Kirchner, J.W. (2003) A double paradox in catchment hydrology and geochemistry. Hydrological Processes, 17, 871–874.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lin, H., Bouma, J., Pachepsky, Y., Western, A., Thompson, J., van Genuchten, R., Vogel, H.J., and Lilly, A. (2006) Hydropedology: Synergistic Integration of pedology and hydrology. Water Resources Research , 42, W05301 , doi : 10.1029/2005WR004085.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Minasny, B., McBratney, A.B. and Salvador-Blanes, S. (2008) Quantitative models for pedogenesis - A review. Geoderma, 144, 140–157.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Murphy, S.F. (2006) State of the Watershed: Water Quality of Boulder Creek, Colorado. U.S. Geological Survey Circular, 1284, 34 pp.Google Scholar
National Research Council (2001) Basic Research Opportunities in Earth Science. National Academy Press, Washington, D.C. Google Scholar
Wilding, L.P. and Lin, H. (2006) Advancing the frontiers of soil science towards a geoscience. Geoderma, 131, 257–274.CrossRefGoogle Scholar