Collaborative Research: From rock to regolith to rivers: weathering, grain size, and controls on soil production and fluvial incision

土壤是一种重要的资源，但控制土壤生产的过程尚未得到很好的了解。以前在nsf资助的研究中收集的数据，以及新的数据，将用于更好地了解土壤是如何在不同的环境中产生的。土壤的深度可能与土壤生成速率和河流侵蚀的方式密切相关。河流和土壤如何相互作用对河流基础设施和人类对森林砍伐或森林火灾等景观的影响具有实际影响。在不断变化的地球上，土壤的可持续性如何？本科生和研究生以及一名博士后学者将为本研究项目做出贡献。该团队还将使用3D打印机制作合成景观，作为向视力受损或患有自闭症谱系障碍的K-12学生推广的一部分。在Luquillo临界区观测站的里约热内卢Blanco流域，我们将绘制地表土壤厚度、粒度和土壤化学的模式，并将这些与土壤生产和土壤颗粒停留时间的新速率联系起来。理论上的山坡-河道耦合将使用Landlab建模工具包和最近发表的分析模型进行建模，该模型预测了作为气候和侵蚀速率函数的泥沙粒度分布，侵蚀速率控制着土壤颗粒的停留时间。我们还将建立一个新的河流切口建模组件，以纳入泥沙负荷（包括粒度）对基岩切割速率的影响。此外，来自bbb100 Blanco的数据将用于校准Landlab模型。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Soil is a vital resource but processes controlling soil production are not well understood. Data collected in previously NSF-funded studies, along with new data, will be used to better understand how soil is produced in different environments. The depth of soil is likely closely linked to the soil production rate and how rivers erode. How rivers and soils interact has practical consequences for river infrastructure and human impacts on landscapes such as deforestation or forest fires. How sustainable is soil given a changing Earth? Undergraduate and graduate students and a post-doctoral scholar will contribute to this research project. The team will also use 3D printers to make synthetic landscapes to be used as part of outreach to K-12 students who are visually impaired or have Autism Spectrum Disorder.In the Rio Blanco watershed in the Luquillo Critical Zone Observatory, we will map patterns in surface soil thickness, grain size, and soil chemistry across the landscape and tie these to new rates of soil production and soil grain residence time. Theoretical hillslope-channel coupling will be modeled using the Landlab modeling toolkit and a recently published analytical model that predicts the grain size distribution of sediment fed to channels as a function of climate and erosion rate, which controls the residence time of soil particles. We will also build a new fluvial incision modeling component to incorporate the influence of sediment load, including grain size, on bedrock incision rates. Further, data from the Rio Blanco will be used to calibrate a Landlab model.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.