Boulder Creek CZO II: Evolution, Form, Function, and Future of the Critical Zone

巨石溪临界区天文台(BcCZO)的中心目标是了解地球表面或临界区是如何受到气候、生物和地质的影响，以及它将如何应对未来不断变化的条件。重点放在临界区的“建筑”上，这意味着土地的地形层面，以及土壤、露头岩石和植被群落的分布。这一架构反映了随着地质过程和气候而演变的情况。这项工作解决了一些基本问题，例如：岩石是如何变成沉积物的？景观是如何演变的？是什么控制着水、沉积物、溶解的矿物质和营养物质的通量？生态系统提供哪些服务？科罗拉多前线山脉被用作这些问题的天然实验室；它是美国西部支持大量人口的山区的典型代表，它承载着不同地质和气候历史的遗产。解决变化的降雪、野火和土地利用将如何影响临界区，取决于对临界区架构、功能和演变的基本知识。目标是：1)通过确定山脉及其邻近盆地的侵蚀速率来记录临界带(CZ)的演变，并记录关键地点的CZ的结构。2)研究形成CZ的风化、运输和生物过程。3)分析CZ建筑如何管理水、营养物质和沉积物的储存和流动。4)模拟CZ对近期温度和降水变化以及与之相关的生态系统和火情变化的功能响应。5)通过演讲、论文、K-12教育、本科生课程和共享模型交流研究成果。方法包括：1)监测选定地点的天气和水；2)采集岩石、土壤、植被和水的物理、化学和成因数据；3)收集岩石、地球物理数据和CZ构造的露头描述；4)建立概念和数值模型来量化CZ在过去、现在和未来的演化。该项目的变革性在于其综合和跨学科的方法。BcCZO汇集了生态学家、水文学家和地质学家，研究积雪融化、地下水流动、生物群、土壤和风化作用。对最近扰乱水、沉积物和溶质输出的天气和火灾事件的监测，刺激了可用于预测气候变化的建模工作。将对2050年前的水文和生态系统状况进行未来预测。关于雪的研究、深度风化的地球生物学、坡向的作用以及宇宙源放射性核素的使用将BcCZO与全国其他CZO联系在一起。除了培训研究生和博士后，BcCZO还将吸引中学生和教师参与CZ科学，接触未被充分代表的少数族裔学生，并为公共教育制作模拟模块。通过与CU Science Discovery的合作，BcCZO将为科罗拉多州的中学教师开发野外课程，为高中生提供山地研究体验，并提供旅游学校和社区科学项目。一名研究生将把CZ模型转化为交互式模拟，由科学发现的学生和教师进行测试，并为科学教育资源中心(SERC)做出贡献。

The central aims of the Boulder Creek Critical Zone Observatory (BcCZO) are to understand how the surface of the earth, or critical zone, is shaped by climate, organisms, and geology, and how it will respond to changing conditions in the future. The focus is on the 'architecture' of the critical zone, meaning the topographic lay of the land, and distribution of soils, rock outcroppings, and vegetation communities. This architecture reflects evolution in response to geologic processes and climate. The work addresses fundamental questions, such as: How does rock turn to sediment? How do landscapes evolve? What controls water, sediment, dissolved mineral and nutrient fluxes? What services do ecosystems provide? The Colorado Front Range is used as a natural laboratory for these questions; it typifies mountainous areas of the American West that support large human populations, and it bears legacies from a varied geologic and climatic history. Addressing how changing snow, wildfires and landuse will affect the critical zone depend on this fundamental knowledge of critical zone architecture, function, and evolution. The objectives are: 1) Document critical zone (CZ) evolution by determining rates of erosion of the range and its adjacent basin, and documenting the structure of the CZ at key sites. 2) Study weathering, transport, and biological processes that shape the CZ. 3) Analyze how CZ architecture governs the storage and flow of water, nutrients and sediments. 4) Model CZ functional response to near-future changes in temperature and precipitation, and associated changes in ecosystem and fire regime. 5) Communicate findings through talks, papers, K-12 education, undergraduate classes, and shared models. Methods include: 1) monitoring weather and water in selected sites, 2) sampling rock, soil, vegetation, and water for physical, chemical, and genetic data, 3) collecting rock, geophysical data and outcrop descriptions of CZ structure, 4) constructing conceptual and numerical models to quantify CZ evolution in past, present-day, and future scenarios.The transformative nature of the program lies in its integrative and interdisciplinary approach. BcCZO brings together ecologists, hydrologists, and geologists to study snowmelt, subsurface water flow, biota, soils and weathering. Monitoring of recent weather and fire events that have perturbed water, sediment, and solute export stimulate modeling efforts that can be used to project into a changing climate. Future-casting hydrologic and ecosystem states to 2050 will be undertaken. Research on snow, the geobiology of deep weathering, the roles of slope aspect, and the use of cosmogenic radionuclides connects BcCZO to other CZOs across the country.In addition to training graduate students and post-docs, BcCZO will engage secondary students and teachers in CZ science, reach out to underrepresented minority students, and produce simulation modules for public education. Through partnership with CU Science Discovery, BcCZO will develop a Field Course for Colorado secondary teachers, a Mountain Research Experience for high school students, and offer traveling School and Community science programs. A graduate researcher will transform CZ models into interactive simulations, tested by Science Discovery students and teachers, and contributed to the Science Education Resource Center (SERC).