Critical Zone Observatory Meeting Will Focus on Soil Formation, Water Flow
April 28, 2008
The Shale Hills Critical Zone Observatory project, recently awarded a new $4.3-million NSF grant, will have its kick-off meeting in the EES Building Monday and Tuesday (April 28, 29).
The meeting is bringing to Penn State the interdisciplinary team of scientists from eight universities—including Penn State—one federal agency and two national laboratories who are involved in the five-year project.
That team is studying the rate and mechanisms by which regolith or soil is formed from bedrock and the impact of weather and water on that process. Geochemical analyses of soil and bedrock as well as measurement of soil moisture are among the activities included in the project.
The laboratory is the Susquehanna/Shale Hills site in the Shaver’s Creek watershed in Huntingdon County, an area typical of the Valley and Ridge formations of central Pennsylvania.
Penn State Scientists on the grant include: Chris Duffy, Susan Brantley, Kamini Singha, Rudy Slingerland, Ken Davis, Kevin Dressler, David Eissenstat, Jason Kaye, Eric Kirby, Henry Lin, Doug Miller, Patrick Reed, Tim White, and Ray Fletcher.
Monday and Tuesday’s Transect Meeting includes discussions of the work completed and the work to be completed. The team also will visit the research site.
The Susquehanna/Shale Hills site is one of three observatories in the United States. NSF-supported research has been conducted at the Penn State site since the 1970s. Other federally and state-supported research has been conducted in the larger Shaver's Creek watershed since 1958.
The meeting will feature a public talk by Larry McKay, Jones Professor of Hydrology at the University of Tennessee. His talk is scheduled for 12:15 p.m. in 114 EES Building.
Contact
Margaret Hopkins
Coordinator of Public Information
Policy Research Center on Energy, Environment and Community
(814) 865-1587