This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).
Intellectual Merit of the Proposed Activity: Earth moving by humans associated with agriculture, urbanization, and excavation re-contours entire landscapes and constitutes a major geological force within the critical zone of planet Earth. The Critical Zone, defined as the terrestrial layer extending from tree tops through the groundwater and into stream networks, sustains most terrestrial life on the planet. At a greater rate than ever in Earth?s history, erosion and excavation expose sub-soil materials and unweathered minerals, which mix into and within soils, and are transported as sediment loads through river networks from headwaters to estuaries. To quantify the impacts on the global carbon cycle of humans as geological agents, a multidisciplinary team of scientists from University of Delaware (UD) and Stroud Water Research Center (SWRC) will establish a Critical Zone Observatory (CZO) within the 1440 km2 Christina River drainage basin (CRB/CZO). Scientific investigations within the CRB/CZO, located in SE Pennsylvania and N. Delaware and straddling unglaciated Piedmont and Coastal Plain physiographic provinces, will test the following overarching hypothesis: Humans, by accelerating the introduction of minerals into biologically and chemically active zones significantly enhance the interactions between minerals and organic matter and create globally significant impacts on the exchange of carbon between land and the atmosphere.
The human footprint within the CRB/CZO spans centuries and current land uses include second growth forests, agriculture, and suburban and urban development This provides an ideal natural laboratory in which we will investigate fundamental biological, chemical, and geological processes within the critical zone along a gradient of human impacts. We will particularly focus on the sources, transport and fates of water, sediments and carbon from uplands to inland waters and from inland waters to the coastal zone. The CRB/CZO will utilize cutting edge technologies for real-time gathering of hydrological, physical and chemical data and advances in cyber-infrastructure that seamlessly merge real-time data with state-of-the-art graphics tools to provide timely open access to quality controlled data and supporting materials. Field installations and data management advances will enhance an extensive existing network of stations used for monitoring water flow and water chemistry within the CRB basin, including Delaware Coastal Waters, and will build upon a solid foundation of decades of research conducted by UD, SWRC, and numerous state, federal, and non-governmental agencies.
Broader impacts of the proposed activity: The proposed CRB/CZO will serve as a resource to the greater scientific community through open access to data and opportunities for research projects that take advantage of the enhanced monitoring network. The new Delaware Environmental Institute (DENIN), located at UD and DE Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) will partner with the CRB/CZO on outreach activities. Public outreach to stake holders within the Christina Basin is a critical step in making CRB/CZO data available to policy makers. Strong ties between UD and Delaware state agencies will enhance the sharing of environmental data and will provide outreach to the public and policy makers. Some of our outreach will be coordinated through the Water Resources Agency, part of the UD Institute for Public Administration. The Christina Basin Water Quality Management Committee, which includes representatives from 15 federal, state, and local environmental resource agencies, hosts an annual series of public workshops to identify the science needs of policy makers. We will incorporate science results from the CRB/CZO into these workshops with the goal of providing a direct interface between science and public policy. The SWRC maintains 4 full-time staff members to translate our research into educational programs for middle- and high schoolaged students, teachers, and citizen/conservation groups. Graduate students who are involved with the CRB/CZO will be advised by multidisciplinary team of scientists associated with the DENIN and with scientists at SWRC. Collaborations with other academic and federal agency personnel will further enhance interdisciplinary research, student education, and public outreach.
