Soils, the Critical Zone, and Climate

Earth's Critical Zone extends from shallow groundwater upwards to the top of the vegetative canopy. A prominent player in the Critical Zone are soils, which form at the interface of the lithosphere, atmosphere, hydrosphere and ecosphere, and which bear the imprint of each of these domains.  

My work on better understanding and quantifying the role of soil in the hydrogeochemical processes of the Critical Zone uses field and laboratory measurements, experimentation, and modeling of soil systems to couple stable and radiogenic isotope systems with geochemical and environmental data. The resulting studies are integrated across spatial and temporal scales from experiments in the lab over the course of minutes and days, to watershed-scale observation and monitoring for several years, to the study of soils that persist through thousands to millions of years and reflect continental-scale climatic processes.