A5020308747- Geology and Paleoclimatology Research
- Soil erosion and sediment transport
- Geological formations and processes
- Hydrology and Sediment Transport Processes
- Landslides and related hazards
- Aeolian processes and effects
- Hydrocarbon exploration and reservoir analysis
- Seismic Waves and Analysis
- Hydrology and Watershed Management Studies
- Seismic Imaging and Inversion Techniques
- Methane Hydrates and Related Phenomena
- Fish Ecology and Management Studies
- earthquake and tectonic studies
- Geological Modeling and Analysis
- Cryospheric studies and observations
- Groundwater and Isotope Geochemistry
- Geological and Geochemical Analysis
- Seismology and Earthquake Studies
- Plant Water Relations and Carbon Dynamics
- Geochemistry and Geologic Mapping
- Geophysical Methods and Applications
- Atmospheric and Environmental Gas Dynamics
- Groundwater flow and contamination studies
- Reservoir Engineering and Simulation Methods
- Radioactive contamination and transfer
University of Wyoming
2015-2025
University of Utah
2020
Wyoming Department of Education
2014-2017
Charles River Laboratories (Netherlands)
2017
University of California, Berkeley
2000-2005
Planetary Science Institute
2001-2004
Research Article| July 01, 2001 Mountain erosion over 10 yr, k.y., and m.y. time scales James W. Kirchner; Kirchner 1Department of Earth Planetary Science, University California, Berkeley, California 94720-4767, USA Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Robert C. Finkel; Finkel 2Center Accelerator Mass Spectrometry, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, 94550, Clifford S. Riebe; Riebe Darryl E. Granger; Granger 3Department Atmospheric Sciences, Purdue...
Bedrock weathering runs to the hills Fractures in bedrock drive breakdown of rock into soil. Soil makes observations processes challenging. St. Clair et al. combined a three-dimensional stress model with geophysical measurements show that erosion rates mirror changes topography (see Perspective by Anderson). Seismic reflection and electromagnetic profiles allowed mapping fracture density. The surface elevation thus provide way study critical zone between Science , this issue p. 534 ; see also 506
Significance This investigation focused on the factors that influence forest cover in Sierra Nevada, California, where Giant Sequoia, largest trees Earth, grow groves immediately next to expanses of rock devoid soil and vegetation. The differences correspond twofold erosion rates, suggesting vegetation is an important regulator landscape evolution across region. Analyses presented here show can be explained by variations geochemical composition underlying bedrock. These results are because...
ABSTRACT The conversion of bedrock to regolith marks the inception critical zone processes, but factors that regulate it remain poorly understood. Although thickness and degree weathering are widely thought be important regulators development its water‐storage potential, functional relationships between properties processes generate documented. This is due in part fact difficult characterize by direct observations over broad scales needed for process‐based understanding zone. Here we use...
Research Article| June 01, 2001 Strong tectonic and weak climatic control of long-term chemical weathering rates Clifford S. Riebe; Riebe 1Department Earth Planetary Science, University California, Berkeley, California 94720-4767, USA Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar James W. Kirchner; Kirchner Darryl E. Granger; Granger 2Department Atmospheric Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana 47907, Robert C. Finkel 3Center Accelerator Mass Spectrometry,...
Research Article| May 01, 2001 Minimal climatic control on erosion rates in the Sierra Nevada, California Clifford S. Riebe; Riebe 1Department of Earth and Planetary Science, University California, Berkeley, 94720-4767, USA Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar James W. Kirchner; Kirchner Darryl E. Granger; Granger 2Department Atmospheric Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana 47907, Robert C. Finkel 3Center Accelerator Mass Spectrometry, Lawrence...
Abstract Critical Zone (CZ) research investigates the chemical, physical, and biological processes that modulate Earth’s surface. Here, we advance 12 hypotheses must be tested to improve our understanding of CZ: (1) Solar‐to‐chemical conversion energy by plants regulates flows carbon, water, nutrients through plant‐microbe soil networks, thereby controlling location extent weathering. (2) Biological stoichiometry drives changes in mineral distribution (3) On landscapes experiencing little...
Enhanced understanding of subsurface water storage will improve prediction future impacts climate change, including drought, forest mortality, wildland fire, and strained security. Previous research has examined the importance plant‐accessible in soil, but upland landscapes within Mediterranean climates, soil often accounts for only a fraction storage. We draw insights from previous case study Southern Sierra Critical Zone Observatory to define attributes storage; review observed patterns...
Dust provides ecosystem-sustaining nutrients to landscapes underlain by intensively weathered soils. Here we show that dust may also be crucial in montane forest ecosystems, dominating nutrient budgets despite continuous replacement of depleted soils with fresh bedrock via erosion. Strontium and neodymium isotopes modern Asian sources contribute 18-45% deposition across our Sierra Nevada, California study sites. The remaining originates regionally from the nearby Central Valley. Measured...
Significance Rivers carve through landscapes using sediment produced on hillslopes by biological, chemical, and physical weathering of underlying bedrock. Both the size supply rate influence pace river incision landscape evolution, but connections remain poorly understood, because distributions supplied from slopes have been difficult to quantify. This study combined existing sediment-tracing techniques in a previously unidentified approach quantify production across an alpine catchment High...
Abstract As bedrock weathers to regolith – defined here as weathered rock, saprolite, and soil porosity grows, guides fluid flow, liberates nutrients from minerals. Though vital terrestrial life, the processes that transform into are poorly understood, especially in deep regolith, where direct observations difficult. A 65-m-deep borehole Calhoun Critical Zone Observatory, South Carolina, provides unusual access a complete weathering profile an Appalachian granitoid. Co-located geophysical...
Abstract Observing the critical zone (CZ) below top few meters of readily excavated soil is challenging yet crucial to understanding Earth surface processes. Near‐surface geophysical methods can overcome this challenge by imaging CZ in three dimensions (3‐D) over hundreds meters, thus revealing lateral heterogeneity subsurface properties across scales relevant hillslope erosion, weathering, and biogeochemical cycling. We imaged under a soil‐mantled ridge developed granitic terrain Laramie...
Research Article| September 01, 2000 Erosional equilibrium and disequilibrium in the Sierra Nevada, inferred from cosmogenic 26Al 10Be alluvial sediment Clifford S. Riebe; Riebe 1Department of Earth Planetary Science, University California, Berkeley, California 94720-4767, USA Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar James W. Kirchner; Kirchner Darryl E. Granger; Granger 2PRIME Lab Department Atmospheric Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana 47907-1397,...
ABSTRACT Cosmogenic nuclides in rock, soil, and sediment are routinely used to measure denudation rates of catchments hillslopes. Although it has been shown that these measurements prone biases due chemical erosion regolith, most studies cosmogenic have ignored this potential source error. Here we quantify the extent which overlooking effects introduces bias interpreting from nuclides. We consider two end‐member effects: one weathering near surface other at depth. Near surface, influences...
Millions of dollars are spent annually on revitalizing salmon spawning in riverbeds where redd building by female is inhibited sediment that too big for fish to move. Yet the conditions necessary productive remain unclear. There no gauge quantifying how grain size influences reproductive potential coarse-bedded rivers. Hence, managers lack a quantitative basis optimizing habitat restoration value. To overcome this limitation, we studied Chinook, sockeye, and pink (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha,...
Dust may serve as a vital nutrient source for many montane ecosystems despite substantial supply from bedrock.
Weathering in the critical zone causes volumetric strain and mass loss, thereby creating subsurface porosity that is vital to overlying ecosystems. We used geochemical geophysical measurements quantify relative importance of loss---the physical chemical components porosity---in weathering granitic saprolite southern Sierra Nevada, California, USA. Porosity decrease with depth imply more than doubles volume during exhumation surface by erosion. Chemical depletion relatively uniform,...