LITHOLOGIC CONTROLS ON CRITICAL ZONE STRUCTURE AND HYDROLOGY OF HEADWATER STREAMS
Ongoing
This work aims to understand how lithologic differences between two directly adjacent watersheds influence the export and storage of water, solutes, and other material. The two watersheds are similar in size, aspect, and experience the same climate, but have contrasting lithologies that are prevalent around central California. This allows us to ask exciting questions about the role of rock type and critical zone development to better understand stream runoff in dynamic California headwater streams.
The critical zone extends from the tops of trees to the top of unweathered bedrock, and is comprised of various layers including soil, saprolite (weathered bedrock), fractured and unfractured bedrock.
(image source: https://www.ozcar-ri.org/the-critical-zone/quest-zone-critique/)
The type of material and depth to different layers with in the critical zone exerts strong controls on the movement and storage of water in a landscape. Over geologic time scales, the critical zone develops through feedbacks between climate, topography, and rock types. Some of my research draws links between the structure of the critical zone and dissoloved ions in the stream channel.