Critical Zone Architecture Research Articles

2D Near‐Surface Full‐Waveform Tomography Reveals Bedrock Controls on Critical Zone Architecture

AbstractFor decades, seismic imaging methods have been used to study the critical zone, Earth's thin, life‐supporting skin. The vast majority of critical zone seismic studies use traveltime tomography, which poorly resolves heterogeneity at many scales relevant to near‐surface processes, therefore limiting progress in critical zone science. Full‐waveform tomography can overcome this limitation by leveraging more seismic data and enhancing the resolution of geophysical imaging. In this study, we apply 2D full‐waveform tomography to match the phases of observed seismograms and elucidate previously undetected heterogeneity in the critical zone at a well‐studied catchment in the Laramie Range, Wyoming. In contrast to traveltime tomograms from the same data set, our results show variations in depth to bedrock ranging from 5 to 60 m over lateral scales of just tens of meters and image steep low‐velocity anomalies suggesting hydrologic pathways into the deep critical zone. Our results also show that areas with thick fractured bedrock layers correspond to zones of slightly lower velocities in the deep bedrock, while zones of high bedrock velocity correspond to sharp vertical transitions from bedrock to saprolite. By corroborating these findings with borehole imagery, we hypothesize that lateral changes in bedrock fracture density majorly impact critical zone architecture. Borehole data also show that our full‐waveform tomography results agree significantly better with velocity logs than previously published traveltime tomography models. Full‐waveform tomography thus appears unprecedentedly capable of imaging the spatially complex porosity structure crucial to critical zone hydrology and processes.

Influence of Critical Zone Architecture and Snowpack on Streamflow Generation Processes: A Mountain‐Meadow Headwater System in a Mediterranean Climate

AbstractObservations from a granitic watershed within a Mediterranean climate reveal the hydrologic and critical zone functioning of a perennial stream headwater and its upslope contributing area within a meadow system in the Sierra Nevada, California. Chemical analysis (diagnostic tools of mixing models, end member mixing analysis, tritium, etc.) and physical data (stream stage, piezometers, soil water, snowpack, etc.) indicate there are two primary pathways of water input into a headwater stream sourced from a mountain meadow. One input is a shallower and younger subsurface pathway with water that resembles snowpack chemistry, and the other a deeper and older subsurface pathway with water that reflects the chemistry of the groundwater derived from the contributing hillslopes. Multi‐year observations reveal that regardless of snowpack amount, during the period of peak hillslope infiltration, shallow and deep pathways in the hillslope behave similarly to initiate headwater streams. However, during summer dry periods, similarities in active pathways within the meadow center are not maintained between high and low snowpack years. With less snow, perennial groundwater discharge within the meadow center is eliminated, becoming only a seasonal source at the meadow's outlet. At the meadow's edge, geophysically observed downslope thinning in saprolite thickness creates reduced lateral transmissivity and initiation points for headwater streams via enhanced groundwater discharge of upslope water. Combined, these findings suggest how loss of snowpack and critical zone structure can together mediate hydrologic function in a wet meadow system in a Mediterranean climate. Creating new understanding about the stability of hydraulic functioning in headwater wet‐meadow systems under a changing climate.

Inversions of landslide strength as a proxy for subsurface weathering

Distributions of landslide size are hypothesized to reflect hillslope strength, and consequently weathering patterns. However, the association of weathering and critical zone architecture with mechanical strength properties of parent rock and soil are poorly-constrained. Here we use three-dimensional stability to analyze 7330 landslides in western Oregon to infer combinations of strength - friction angles and cohesion - through analysis of both failed and reconstructed landslide terrain. Under a range of conditions, our results demonstrate that the failure envelope that relates shear strength and normal stress in landslide terrain is nonlinear owing to an exchange in strength with landslide thickness. Despite the variability in material strength at large scales, the observed gradient in proportional cohesive strength with landslide thickness may serve as a proxy for subsurface weathering. We posit that the observed relationships between strength and landslide thickness are associated with the coalescence of zones of low shear strength driven by fractures and weathering, which constitutes a first-order control on the mechanical behavior of underlying soil and rock mass.

The Effect of Aspect and Elevation on Critical Zone Architecture in the Reynolds Creek Critical Zone Observatory: A Seismic Refraction Study

In the northern hemisphere within snow-dominated mountainous watersheds north-facing slopes are commonly more deeply weathered than south-facing slopes. This has been attributed to a more persistent snowpack on the north facing aspects. A persistent snowpack releases its water into the subsurface in a single large pulse, which propagates the water deeper into the subsurface than the series of small pulses characteristic of the intermittent snowpack on south-facing slopes. Johnston Draw is an east-draining catchment in the Reynolds Creek Critical Zone Observatory, Idaho that spans a 300 m elevation gradient. The north-facing slope hosts a persistent snowpack that increases in volume up drainage, while the south-facing slope has intermittent snowpack throughout the drainage. We hypothesize that the largest difference in weathering depth between the two aspects will occur where the difference in snow accumulation between the aspects is also greatest. To test this hypothesis, we conducted four seismic refraction tomography surveys within Johnston Draw from inlet to outlet and perpendicular to drainage direction. From these measurements, we calculate the weathering zone thickness from the P-wave velocity profiles. We conclude that the maximum difference in weathering between aspects occurs ¾ of the way up the drainage from the outlet, where the difference in snow accumulation is highest. Above and below this point, the subsurface is more equally weathered and the snow accumulations are more similar. We also observed that the thickness of the weathering zone increased with decreasing elevation and interpret this to be related to the observed increase soil moisture at lower elevations. Our observations support the hypothesis that deeper snow accumulation leads to deeper weathering when all other variables are held equal. One caveat is the possibility that the denser vegetation contributes to deeper weathering on north-facing slopes via soil retention or higher rates of biological weathering.

Hydrogeophysical comparison of hillslope critical zone architecture for different geologic substrates

The belowground architecture of the critical zone (CZ) consists of soil and rock in various stages of weathering and wetness that acts as a medium for biological growth, mediates chemical reactions, and controls partitioning of hydrologic fluxes. Hydrogeophysical imaging provides unique insights into the geometries and properties of earth materials that are present in the CZ and beyond the reach of direct observation beside sparse wellbores. An improved understanding of CZ architecture can be achieved by leveraging the geophysical measurements of the subsurface. Creating categorical models of the CZ is valuable for driving hydrologic models and comparing belowground architectures between different sites to interpret weathering processes. The CZ architecture is revealed through a novel comparison of hillslopes by applying facies classification in the elastic-electric domain driven by surface-based hydrogeophysical measurements. Three pairs of hillslopes grouped according to common geologic substrates — granite, volcanic extrusive, and glacially altered — are classified by five different hydrofacies classes to reveal the relative wetness and weathering states. The hydrofacies classifications are robust to the choice of initial mean values used in the classification and noncontemporaneous timing of geophysical data acquisition. These results will lead to improved interdisciplinary models of CZ processes at various scales and to an increased ability to predict the hydrologic timing and partitioning. Beyond the hillslope scale, this enhanced capability to compare CZ architecture can also be exploited at the catchment scale with implications for improved understanding of the link between rock weathering, hydrochemical fluxes, and landscape morphology.

Signatures of Hydrologic Function Across the Critical Zone Observatory Network

AbstractDespite a multitude of small catchment studies, we lack a deep understanding of how variations in critical zone architecture lead to variations in hydrologic states and fluxes. This study characterizes hydrologic dynamics of 15 catchments of the U.S. Critical Zone Observatory (CZO) network where we hypothesized that our understanding of subsurface structure would illuminate patterns of hydrologic partitioning. The CZOs collect data sets that characterize the physical, chemical, and biological architecture of the subsurface, while also monitoring hydrologic fluxes such as streamflow, precipitation, and evapotranspiration. For the first time, we collate time series of hydrologic variables across the CZO network and begin the process of examining hydrologic signatures across sites. We find that catchments with low baseflow indices and high runoff sensitivity to storage receive most of their precipitation as rain and contain clay‐rich regolith profiles, prominent argillic horizons, and/or anthropogenic modifications. In contrast, sites with high baseflow indices and low runoff sensitivity to storage receive the majority of precipitation as snow and have more permeable regolith profiles. The seasonal variability of water balance components is a key control on the dynamic range of hydraulically connected water in the critical zone. These findings lead us to posit that water balance partitioning and streamflow hydraulics are linked through the coevolution of critical zone architecture but that much work remains to parse these controls out quantitatively.

The impact of micro-topography on the interplay of critical zone architecture and hydrological processes at the hillslope scale: Integrated geophysical and hydrological experiments on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau

As the Third Pole of the Earth, Qinghai-Tibet Plateau (QTP) has been significantly affected by climate change, which makes it an ideal and unique site for critical zone (CZ) research. However, we have limited knowledge of the subsurface CZ structure, hydrologic processes, and their interplays, due to extremely scarce observations in such a harsh environment. In this study, we performed a suite of hillslope-scale experiments that integrated geophysical, hydrological, pedological, and hydrometric observations to investigate the characteristics of the subsurface CZ structure, hydrologic processes, pedological attributes, and their interplays influenced by micro-topography. The results reveal that the subsurface CZ structure and pedological attributes exhibit systematic differences in the aspect gradient (north-facing and south-facing slope). The thickness of the soil, saprolite, weathered layer on the north-facing slope is 0.3 m, 0.2 m, 0.6 m, thicker than that of the south-facing slope. The soil porosity, saturated water content, capillary water content, field capacity, saturated hydraulic conductivity of the shallow soil layer (0–10 cm) in the north-facing slope is 77.2%, 140.1%, 128.2%, 125.8%, 0.67 mm·min−1, which is 8.7%, 26.3%, 24.0%, 22.6%, 0.52 mm·min−1 larger than those of the south-facing slope. In contrast, those properties of the deep soil layer (80-90 cm) in the north-facing slope is 44.3%, 34.3% 32.0%, 29.8%, 0.06 mm·min−1, which is 11.5%, 19.8%, 21.0%, 18.7%, 0.28 mm·min−1 smaller than those of the south-facing slope. The bulk density of the shallow soil layer in the north-facing slope is 0.54 g·cm−3, which is 0.06 g·cm−3 smaller than that of the south-facing slope. In contrast, the bulk density of the deep soil layer is 1.30 g·cm−3, which is 0.26 g·cm−3 larger than that of the south-facing slope. The subsurface CZ structure and micro-topography cause the hydrological processes on the south-facing slope is dominated by surface flow, while those on the north-facing slope is dominated by subsurface flow. The subsurface flow on the north-facing slope accounts for 94.5% of the total runoff, while the surface flow on the south-facing slope accounts for 97.9% of the total runoff. In turn, the dominant runoff regime leads to a decrease of thickness of the soil layer from the top to the bottom of the south-facing slope, with severe slope creep and landslides on the north-facing slope. Our results suggest that the subsurface CZ structure and dominating runoff regime are significantly affected by the micro-topography gradient, which should be parameterized for large-scale research.

Resolving Deep Critical Zone Architecture in Complex Volcanic Terrain

AbstractCritical zone (CZ) structure, including the spatial distribution of minerals, elements, and fluid‐filled pores, evolves on geologic time scales resulting from both top‐down climatic forcing and bottom‐up geologic controls. Climate and lithology may be imprinted in subsurface structure as depth‐dependent trends in geophysical, geochemical, mineralogical, and biological datasets. As the weathering profile is as much (or more) a product of past environmental conditions, development of predictive models requires understanding the relative roles of climatic forcing and the geologic template on which CZ processes evolve. Doing so in complex volcanic terrains with high initial bedrock porosity and distinct depositional and hydrothermal alteration histories is particularly challenging. To resolve CZ structure in a rhyolitic catchment in the Valles Caldera National Preserve (NM, USA), this study combined geophysics, drilling, and laboratory analyses to produce depth‐resolved porosity, geochemistry, and mineralogy datasets to >40 m in depth. Quantitative X‐ray diffraction analysis showed that local mineral transformations control complex chemical enrichment/depletion (τ) patterns. Using linear discriminant analysis, key variables enabled separation of complex‐layered geology into discrete zones. Contemporary, matrix‐dominated weathering processes and modern hydrologic fluxes occur dominantly within the top 15 m of the weathering profile. This zone is convoluted by incomplete primary mineral weathering and overprinted by post‐eruption weathering and metasomatism. Matrix weathering transitions to fracture surface weathering driven by deep percolation of slower moving, longer residence time meteoric waters at depth. By altering initial conditions and weathering trajectory, geologic legacy is a critical factor in how this subsurface landscape evolved and functions.

Climate driven coevolution of weathering profiles and hillslope topography generates dramatic differences in critical zone architecture

AbstractConsiderable debate revolves around the relative importance of rock type, tectonics, and climate in creating the architecture of the critical zone. We demonstrate the importance of climate and in particular the rate of water recharge to the subsurface, using numerical models that incorporate hydrologic flowpaths, chemical weathering, and geomorphic rules for soil production and transport. We track alterations in both solid phase (plagioclase to clay) and water chemistry along hydrologic flowpaths that include lateral flow beneath the water table. To isolate the role of recharge, we simulate dry and wet cases and prescribe identical landscape evolution rules. The weathering patterns that develop differ dramatically beneath the resulting parabolic interfluves. In the dry case, incomplete weathering is shallow and surface parallel, whereas in the wet case, intense weathering occurs to depths approximating the base of the bounding channels, well below the water table. Exploration of intermediate cases reveals that the weathering state of the subsurface is strongly governed by the ratio of the rate of advance of the weathering front itself controlled by the water input rate, and the rate of erosion of the landscape. The system transitions between these end‐member behaviours rather abruptly at a weathering front speed ‐ erosion rate ratio of approximately 1. Although there are undoubtedly direct roles for tectonics and rock type in critical zone architecture, and yet more likely feedbacks between these and climate, we show here that differences in hillslope‐scale weathering patterns can be strongly controlled by climate.

Understanding fracture distribution and its relation to knickpoint evolution in the Rio Icacos watershed (Luquillo Critical Zone Observatory, Puerto Rico) using landscape‐scale hydrogeophysics

AbstractThe Rio Icacos watershed in the Luquillo Mountains (Puerto Rico) is unique due to its extremely rapid weathering rates. The watershed is incised into a quartz diorite that has developed a large knickzone defining the river profile. Regolith thickness within the watershed generally decreases from 20 to 30 m at the ridges to several meters in the quartz diorite‐dominated valley to tens of centimeters near the major river knickpoint, as determined from previous studies. Above the knickzone, we observe spheroidal corestones, but below this weathering is much less apparent. Measured erosion rates from previous studies are also high in the knickzone compared with upper elevations within the river profile. A suite of near‐surface geophysical methods (i.e. ground penetrating radar and terrain conductivity) capable of fast data acquisition in rugged landscapes, was deployed at kilometer scales to characterize critical zone structure. Concentrations of chaotic ground penetrating radar (GPR) reflections and diffraction hyperbolas with low electrical conductivity were observed in vertical zones that outcrop at the land surface as areas of intense fracturing and spheroidally weathered corestones. The width of these fractured and weathered zones showed an increase with proximity to the knickpoint, and was attributed to dilation of these sub‐vertical fractures near the knickpoint, as postulated theoretically by a stress model calculated for the topographic variability across the knickzone in the Rio Icacos, and that shows a release of compressive stress near the knickpoint. We hypothesize that erosion rates increase in the knickzone because of this inferred dilation of fractures. Specifically, opened fractures could enhance access of water and in turn promote spalling, erosion, and spheroidal weathering. This study shows that ground‐based hydrogeophysical methods used at the landscape‐scale (traditionally applied at smaller scales) can be used to explore critical zone architecture at the scales needed to explain the extreme variability in erosion rates across river profiles. © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Run‐off processes from mountains to foothills: The role of soil stratigraphy and structure in influencing run‐off characteristics across high to low relief landscapes

AbstractThe critical zone features that control run‐off generation, specifically at the regional watershed scale, are not well understood. Here, we addressed this knowledge gap by quantitatively and conceptually linking regional watershed‐scale run‐off regimes with critical zone structure and climate gradients across two physiographic provinces in the Southeastern United States. We characterized long‐term (~20 years) discharge and precipitation regimes for 73 watersheds with United States Geological Survey in‐stream gaging stations across the Appalachian Mountain and Piedmont physiographic provinces of North Carolina. Watersheds included in this analysis had <10% developed land and ranged in size from 14.1–4,390 km2. Thirty‐four watersheds were located in the Piedmont physiographic province, which is typically classified as a low relief landscape with deep, highly weathered soils and regolith. Thirty‐nine watersheds were located in the Appalachian Mountain physiographic province, which is typically classified as a steeper landscape with highly weathered, but shallower soils and regolith. From the United States Geological Survey daily mean run‐off time series, we calculated annual and seasonal baseflow indices (BFI), minimum, mean, and maximum daily run‐off, and Pearson's correlation coefficients between precipitation and baseflow. Our results showed that Appalachian Mountain watersheds systematically had higher minimum daily flows and BFI values. Piedmont watersheds displayed much larger deviations from mean annual BFI in response to year‐to‐year variability in precipitation. A series of linear regression models between 21 landscape metrics and annual BFIs showed non‐linear and complex terrestrial–hydrological relationships across the two provinces. From these results, we discuss how distinct features of critical zone architecture, with specific focus on soil depth and stratigraphy, may be dominating the regulation of hydrological processes and run‐off regimes across these provinces.

The Effect of Lithology and Agriculture at the Susquehanna Shale Hills Critical Zone Observatory

Core Ideas Two new subcatchments are used to test the importance of lithology and land use. Differences in lithology and land use result in differences in soils and waters. Despite differences, all catchments have a shallow and a deep water table. The relative importance of flow paths controls distinct chemistry response to discharge. Cross‐site comparison will ultimately enable upscaling from the catchment to large scale. The footprint of the Susquehanna Shale Hills Critical Zone Observatory was expanded in 2013 from the forested Shale Hills subcatchment (0.08 km2) to most of Shavers Creek watershed (163 km2) in an effort to understand the interactions among water, energy, gas, solute, and sediment. The main stem of Shavers Creek is now monitored, and instrumentation has been installed in two new subcatchments: Garner Run and Cole Farm. Garner Run is a pristine forested site underlain by sandstone, whereas Cole Farm is a cultivated site on calcareous shale. We describe preliminary data and insights about how the critical zone has evolved on sites of different lithology, vegetation, and land use. A notable conceptual model that has emerged is the “two water table” concept. Despite differences in critical zone architecture, we found evidence in each catchment of a shallow and a deep water table, with the former defined by shallow interflow and the latter defined by deeper groundwater flow through weathered and fractured bedrock. We show that the shallow and deep waters have distinct chemical signatures. The proportion of contribution from each water type to stream discharge plays a key role in determining how concentrations, including nutrients, vary as a function of stream discharge. This illustrates the benefits of the critical zone observatory approach: having common sites to grapple with cross‐disciplinary research questions, to integrate diverse datasets, and to support model development that ultimately enables the development of powerful conceptual and numerical frameworks for large‐scale hindcasting and forecasting capabilities.

Controls on deep critical zone architecture: a historical review and four testable hypotheses

AbstractThe base of Earth's critical zone (CZ) is commonly shielded from study by many meters of overlying rock and regolith. Though deep CZ processes may seem far removed from the surface, they are vital in shaping it, preparing rock for infusion into the biosphere and breaking Earth materials down for transport across landscapes. This special issue highlights outstanding challenges and recent advances of deep CZ research in a series of articles that we introduce here in the context of relevant literature dating back to the 1500s. Building on several contributions to the special issue, we highlight four exciting new hypotheses about factors that drive deep CZ weathering and thus influence the evolution of life‐sustaining CZ architecture. These hypotheses have emerged from recently developed process‐based models of subsurface phenomena including: fracturing related to subsurface stress fields; weathering related to drainage of bedrock under hydraulic head gradients; rock damage from frost cracking due to subsurface temperature gradients; and mineral reactions with reactive fluids in subsurface chemical potential gradients. The models predict distinct patterns of subsurface weathering and CZ thickness that can be compared with observations from drilling, sampling and geophysical imaging. We synthesize the four hypotheses into an overarching conceptual model of fracturing and weathering that occurs as Earth materials are exhumed to the surface across subsurface gradients in stress, hydraulic head, temperature, and chemical potential. We conclude with a call for a coordinated measurement campaign designed to comprehensively test the four hypotheses across a range of climatic, tectonic and geologic conditions. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Environmental drivers of soil microbial community structure and function at the Avon River Critical Zone Observatory

The Critical Zone is defined as the thin, permeable layer from the tops of the trees to the bottom of the bedrock that sustains terrestrial life on Earth. The geometry and shape of the various weathering zones are known as the critical zone architecture. At the centre of the Critical Zone are soils and the microorganisms that inhabit them. In Western Australia, the million-year-old stable weathering history and more recent lateral erosion during the past hundreds of thousands of years have created a geomorphic setting where deep weathering zones are now exposed on the surface along the flanks of many lateritic hills. These old weathering zones provide diverse physical and chemical properties that influence near surface pedologic conditions and thus likely shape current surface microbiology. Here, we present data derived from a small lateritic hill on the UWA Farm Ridgefield. Spatial soil sampling revealed the contrasting distribution patterns of simple soil parameters such as pH (CaCl2) and electric conductivity. These are clearly linked with underlying changes of the critical zone architecture and show a strong contrast with low values of pH3.3 at the top of the hill to pH5.3 at the bottom. These parameters were identified as major drivers of microbial spatial variability in terms of bacterial and archaeal community composition but not abundance. In addition, we used sensitive 14C labelling to assess turnover of three model organic nitrogen compounds — an important biogeochemical functional trait relating to nutrient availability. Though generally rapid and in the order of rates reported elsewhere (t½<5h), some points in the sampling area showed greatly reduced turnover rates (t½>10h). In conclusion, we have shown that the weathering and erosion history of ancient Western Australia affects the surface pedology and has consequences for microbial community structure and function.

Variation in Critical Zone Processes and Architecture across Slope Aspects

Environmental conditions within a catchment vary by slope aspect, and hence slope aspect provides a means of observing their controls on critical zone structure and function. We summarize water, biogeochemistry, soil, and weathering on opposing slope aspects in Gordon Gulch, a headwater catchment in the Front Range of Colorado. These observations show that water and energy delivery to the lower critical zone are the most important climate characteristics involved in the evolution of critical zone architecture.

Subsurface architecture of the Boulder Creek Critical Zone Observatory from electrical resistivity tomography

ABSTRACTThe architecture of the critical zone includes the distribution, thickness, and contacts of various types of slope deposits and weathering products such as saprolite and weathered bedrock resting on solid bedrock. A quantitative analysis of architecture is necessary for many model‐driven approaches used by pedologic, geomorphic, hydrologic or biologic studies. We have used electrical resistivity tomography, a well‐established geophysical technique causing minimum surficial disturbance, to portray the subsurface electrical resistivity differences at three study sites (Green Lakes Valley; Gordon Gulch; Betasso) at the Boulder Creek Critical Zone Observatory (BcCZO). Possible limitations of the technique are discussed. Interpretation of the specific resistivity values using natural outcrops, pits, roadcuts and drilling data as ground truth information allows us to image the critical zone architecture of each site. Green Lakes Valley (3700 MASL), a glacially eroded alpine basin, shows a rather simple, split configuration with coarse blockfields and sediments, partly containing permafrost above bedrock. The critical zone in Gordon Gulch (2650 MASL), a montane basin with rolling hills, and Betasso (1925 MASL), a lower montane basin with v‐shaped valleys, is more variable due to a complex Quaternary geomorphic history. Boundaries between overlying stratified slope deposits and saprolite were identified at mean depths of 3.0 ± 2.2 m and 4.1 ± 3.6 m in the respective sites. The boundary between saprolite and weathered bedrock is deeper in Betasso at 5.8 ± 3.7 m, compared with 4.3 ± 3.0 m in Gordon Gulch. In general, the data are consistent with results from seismic studies, but electrical resistivity tomography documents a 0.5–1.5 m shallower critical zone above the weathered bedrock on average. Additionally, we document high lateral variability, which results from the weathering and sedimentation history and seems to be a consistent aspect of critical zone architecture within the BcCZO. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley &amp; Sons, Ltd.

Rock damage and regolith transport by frost: an example of climate modulation of the geomorphology of the critical zone

ABSTRACTIn this article we craft process‐specific algorithms that capture climate control of hillslope evolution in order to elucidate the legacy of past climate on present critical zone architecture and topography. Models of hillslope evolution traditionally comprise rock detachment into the mobile layer, mobile regolith transport, and a channel incision or aggradation boundary condition. We extend this system into the deep critical zone by considering a weathering damage zone below the mobile regolith in which rock strength is diminished; the degree of damage conditions the rate of mobile regolith production. We first discuss generic damage profiles in which appropriate length and damage scales govern profile shapes, and examine their dependence upon exhumation rate. We then introduce climate control through the example of rock damage by frost‐generated crack growth. We augment existing frost cracking models by incorporating damage rate limitations for long transport distances for water to the freezing front. Finally we link the frost cracking damage model, a mobile regolith production rule in which rock entrainment is conditioned by the damage state of the rock, and a frost creep transport model, to examine the evolution of an interfluve under oscillating climate. Aspect‐related differences in mean annual surface temperatures result in differences in bedrock damage rate and mobile regolith transport efficiency, which in turn lead to asymmetries in critical zone architecture and hillslope form (divide migration). In a quasi‐steady state hillslope, the lowering rate is uniform, and the damage profile is better developed on north‐facing slopes where the frost damage process is most intense. Because the residence times of mobile regolith and weathered bedrock in such landscapes are on the order of 10 to 100 ka, climate cycles over similar timescales result in modulation of transport and damage efficiencies. These lead to temporal variation in mobile regolith thickness, and to corresponding changes in sediment delivery to bounding streams. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley &amp; Sons, Ltd.

Seismic Constraints on Critical Zone Architecture, Boulder Creek Watershed, Front Range, Colorado

Vadose Zone J. 10:915–927 (Aug. 2011) The affiliations of the authors were listed incorrectly. The correct author contact information is: K.M. Befus, A.F. Sheehan, and S.P. Anderson, Dep. of Geological Sci., Univ. of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309; M. Leopold, Geomorphology and Soil Science, Research Dep. of Ecology and Ecosystem Sci., Technische Universität München, 85354 Germany; R.S. Anderson, Dep. of Geography, Univ. of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309.

Seismic Constraints on Critical Zone Architecture, Boulder Creek Watershed, Front Range, Colorado

We use a minimally invasive, shallow geophysical technique to image the structure of the critical zone from surface to bedrock (0–20 m) in two small drainages within the Boulder Creek Critical Zone Observatory (BcCZO). Shallow seismic refraction (SSR) surveys provide a three‐dimensional network of two‐dimensional cross‐sections (termed quasi‐3D) of critical zone compressional wave velocity (Vp) structure within each catchment, yielding a spatial description of the current critical zone structure. The two catchments, Betasso and Gordon Gulch, represent contrasting geomorphic histories within the Front Range: Betasso shows hillslope response to a late Cenozoic increase in fluvial incision of Boulder Creek, while Gordon Gulch represents more steady erosion. The mean depth to fresh bedrock in both catchments is roughly 15 m. Unique subsurface features in each catchment reflect active geomorphic processes not suggested by similarities in mean interface depths. Betasso contains thick disaggregated materials high in the drainage that are nearly absent near the outlet. This presumably reflects the impact of base‐level lowering, which we suggest has progressed roughly 500 to 1000 m up into the catchment. Aspect‐driven differences in the subsurface within each catchment add complexity and overprint the broader geomorphic signals. Shallow seismic refraction subsurface structure models will guide future investigations of critical zone processes from landscape to hydrologic modeling and are invaluable as connections between time‐consuming point measurements of physical, chemical, and biological processes.

Exploring weathering and regolith transport controls on Critical Zone development with models and natural experiments

The architecture of the Critical Zone, including mobile regolith thickness and depth to the weathering front, is first order controlled by advance of a weathering front at depth and transport of sediment at the surface. Differences in conditions imposed by slope aspect in the Gordon Gulch catchment of the Boulder Creek Critical Zone Observatory present a natural experiment to explore these interactions. The weathering front is deeper and saprolite more decayed on north-facing than on south-facing slopes. Simple numerical models of weathering front advance, mobile regolith production, and regolith transport are used to test how weathering and erosion rates interact in the evolution of weathered profiles. As the processes which attempt are being made to mimic are directly tied to climate variables such as mean annual temperature, the role of Quaternary climate variation in governing the evolution of Critical Zone architecture can be explored with greater confidence.