Frontiers in Critical Zone Science: Science Advances for the Next 10 Years

Abstract:

The Critical Zone Network is uniquely poised to help society devise innovative solutions to mounting environmental problems. By linking geologic, ecologic, hydrologic, and atmospheric sciences, research in the critical zone has the potential to transform our understanding of natural and managed ecosystems and their responses to environmental change. Emerging research questions include augmenting carbon sequestration by using the connectivity of key processes in the carbon cycle from bedrock to the atmosphere, determining the uses and limits of water as the conduit for materials and energy in the critical zone, and managing minerals as drivers of carbon storage and greenhouse gas dynamics. Future and continued collaborations with other large research networks with complementary expertise will not only strengthen the Critical Zone Network, but also expand the breadth and depth of understanding of the role of the critical zone in global-scale phenomena. Two examples of key networks include the US National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) and the US and International Long Term Ecological Research Network (LTER). Networks such as these provide value added by broadening the range of climate, rock and soil type, vegetation characteristics, and human land use affecting the critical zone that should help us determine patterns and processes of critical zone function.