CMS - Clays in the Critical Zone Field Trip - June 8-9, 2016
Trip Leaders: Paul A. Schroeder, Jay Austin, and Daniel deB. Richter
This trip will visit one of NSF’s Critical Zone Observatories in the Calhoun
Experimental forest (CCZO) located in a unit of the Sumter National Forest in
upstate South Carolina. Scientists call Earth’s thin outer layer its “Critical Zone”
because it’s where rock, water, air, plants, animals, microbes and soil interact to
regulate the planet’s environment and provide most of the ecosystem services on
which human life depends. More than half of Earth’s landscapes are now affected by
natural and human forcings. These lands have a great deal of intrinsic resilience, but
they have experienced unprecedented land use pressures (and will likely continue
to do so). The CCZO site is an ideal location because it’s located on reforested
abandoned farmland in the Southern Piedmont, which is a region that has
experienced some of the most serious erosion and land and water degradation in
the United States.
The group will travel by bus and depart from the conference hotel in Atlanta,
GA on Wednesday afternoon and stop in Elberton, GA at a granite quarry pit, which
reveals unprecedented exposures of deep weathering profiles. As an aside, this is
same style of weathering that is thought to be related to newly discovered
petroleum reservoirs in the Norwegian North Sea hosted in Mesozoic paleosaprolite.
The group will overnight in South Carolina. Thursday will include site visits to
watersheds in the CCZO to observe the differently managed landscapes being
studied for clay mineralogy, hydrology, geophysics, gas fluxes, ecology, and
historical social values. Wireless networks of environmental sensors are measuring
real-time hydrology, energy and biochemistry. To learn more about the crossdisciplinary activities the CCZO go to http://criticalzone.org/calhoun/research/.
Various CZO researchers will be on hand to discuss their activities and
integrated goals. A Thursday box lunch will be provided. Expected return time to
Atlanta, GA is around 6:00PM on Thursday. Participants making travel connections
via Atlanta Hartsfield airport should book departure times accordingly (i.e., allow 2
hours before departure). Participants may book an addition night at an area hotel.
Cost of the trip is $75, which includes: bus transport to and from the CCZO and
Wednesday and Thursday box lunches. Hotel sharing may be possible and will be
managed at the time of registration. A field guide will be provided.
Contact information:
Paul A. Schroeder
Department of Geology
University of Georgia
Athens, GA 30602-1501
1+ 706 542-2384
schroe@uga.edu