EAGER: Dynamic Response of the Soil Production Function to Erosion Rates

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ABSTRACTA non-technical description of the project, which explains the project's significance and importanceThe formation of soil and its removal from the landscape are two of the most important geological processes that intersect with the livelihood and well-being of human populations. Soil is needed for agriculture, and the characteristics of this material affect the availability of groundwater and the ecological balance of different landscapes. Erosion can be very damaging and the rate at which material is transported to streams will have an impact on flooding. This project will examine the rate at which soil is produced and eroded in order to better assess the controls on the distribution of this very important natural resource.A technical description of the projectSoil thickness is a fundamentally important characteristic of the Earth's surface that plays an essential role in hydrology, ecology, biogeochemistry, erosion, and transport processes. The prevailing theory predicts that mean soil thickness decreases with increasing catchment-mean erosion rate and that soil-mantled landscapes give way to rocky ones when this erosion rate exceeds the climate- and lithology-controlled maximum soil production rate. However, initial observations indicate that soil thickness is much more variable across otherwise similar landscapes than can be explained by this theory. This project will use a combination of in situ and detrital cosmogenic radionuclide analyses and digital elevation models across a suite of carefully selected field sites to quantify the fundamental influences on soil thickness in geologically active regions.