Christina River Basin CZO Spatial and temporal integration

Christina River Basin CZO Spatial and temporal integration of carbon and mineral fluxes: a whole watershed approach to quantifying anthropogenic modification of critical zone carbon sequestration Donald L. Sparks, Univ. of Delaware, dlsparks@UDel. Edu Anthony K. Aufdenkampe, Stroud Water Research Center, Louis aufdenkampe@stroudcenter. org A. Kaplan, Stroud Water Research Center, lakaplan@stroudcenter. org James E. Pizzuto, Univ. of Delaware, pizzuto@UDel. Edu Kyungsoo Yoo, Univ. of Delaware, kyoo@udel. edu

CRB-CZO Faculty Rolf Aalto, UW & U. Exeter. Sediment fingerprinting, dating, stratigraphy. David D. Arscott, SWRC. Sensor network development. Anthony K. Aufdenkampe, SWRC. Carbon-mineral formation, transport, fate. Charles L. Dow, SWRC. Data management. Susan Gill, SWRC. Education & Outreach. George M. Hornberger, Vanderbilt U. Watershed scale hydrological modeling. Paul T. Imhoff, UD. Subsurface water, solute and gas modeling. Shreeram Inamdar, UD. Dissolved organic matter fluxes and fingerprints. Yan Jin, UD. Colloidal-scale transport and complexation. Louis A. Kaplan, SWRC. Sources and bioavailability of organic matter. Delphis F. Levia, UD. Forest ecology, hydrology and biogeochemistry. Holly A. Michael, UD. Groundwater-surface water dynamics. J. Denis Newbold, SWRC. Sediment transport & hydrological modeling. James E. Pizzuto, SWRC. Watershed geomorphology & sediment budgets. Donald L. Sparks, UD. Mineral & metal speciation. Kyungsoo Yoo, UMN. Hillslope generation and transport of mineral surfaces. Ilya Zaslavsky, SDSC-UCSD. Cyber-infrastructure. Daniel Leathers, UD. Dororthy Merritts, Franklin & Marshall C. Alain Plante, U. of Penn. Robert Walters, Franklin & Marshall College Christopher Sommerfield, UD.

Christina River Basin (CRB) • Piedmont & Atlantic Coastal Plain • Human Landuse for centuries • Exceptionally wellstudied

Overall Hypothesis CO 2 ex ca cess rbo n Primary Production organo-mineral complexation • Processes that mix minerals and carbon are rate limiting to watershed -scale carbon sequestration and chemical weathering • Humans accelerates of carbon-mineral mixing, resulting in anthropogenic carbon sequestration significant to local, regional & global budgets ss ce l ex nera mi mineral complexation production potential • See talk by Aufdenkampe

Overall Goal CO 2 ex ca cess rbo n Primary Production organo-mineral complexation ss ce l ex nera mi • To quantify the net carbon sink (or source) due to mineral production, weathering, erosion & deposition … • within contrasting land uses… • as materials are transported & transformed across geophysical boundaries that traditionally separate scientific disciplines. sapprolite → topsoils → aquifers mineral complexation → riparian floodplains → wetlands production potential → river networks → salt marshes → estuaries → sea

Legacy Sediment in WCC • Walter & Merritts, 2008, Science. • Chunmei Chen’s Ph. D

CRB-CZO Objectives 1. Properties of Carbon-Mineral Complexes Spatial Scaling 2. Weathering and Erosion Controls on Carbon -Mineral Complex Formation 3. Fluvial Network Controls on Carbon-Mineral Complex Formation & Preservation 4. Watershed Integration of Erosion-Driven Carbon Sequestration

Research Approach For CRB-CZO Upland (Q 1, 2, 3) Riparian (Q 1, 2, 3 & 4) Soil Erosion (Q 3) Soil (Q 2) production Saprolite Physically mobile soil Canopy Whole Watershed “Saprolite to Sea” Synthesis (Q 4) Water & Solute Flux (Q 2) Stream Network (Q 1, 3 & 4) Bank Erosion Fluvial Deposition (Q 3) Coluvial Deposition (Q 3) Fresh bedrock Organo-metal-mineral complexation (Q 1) Stream Network Metabolism (Q 4)

New Hires • • • 3 Post-Docs 5 Graduate Students 1 Sensor Network Engineer 1 Research Watershed Manager (50% on CZO) 1 Accountant/Administrative Assistant (50% on CZO)

Study Sites 2 3 1 4 6 5

Study Sites 1. 3 rd order White Clay Creek at SWRC, 800 ha

Study Sites 1. 3 rd order White Clay Creek at SWRC, 800 ha 2. 1 st order forest, ~20 ha

Study Sites 1. 3 rd order White Clay Creek at SWRC, 800 ha 2. 1 st order forest, ~20 ha 3. 1 st order row crop, ~40 ha

Study Sites 1. 3 rd order White Clay Creek at SWRC, 800 ha 2. 1 st order forest, ~20 ha 3. 1 st order row crop, ~40 ha 4. 1 st order construction, ~50 ha

Study Sites 1. 3 rd order White Clay Creek at SWRC, 800 ha 2. 1 st order forest, 24 ha 3. 1 st order row crop, ~40 ha 2 3 1 4. 1 st order construction, ~50 ha 4 2 5. mouth White Clay Creek, 277 km 6. mouth Brandywine Creek, 842 km 2 6 All depositional zones: floodplains, wetlands, salt marshes, Delaware Bay 5

Soil and Sediment Studies • Intensive geochemical characterization of upland forest, upland row crop and floodplain “legacy sediment” soils in 3 rd order White Clay Creek • See poster by Chen, Sparks et al. • Expanded storm sampling efforts in 3 rd order White Clay Creek to include tributaries, ephemeral channels and convergent overland flow • Preliminary mixing modeling of dissolved species to apportion flow to sources

Soil and Sediment Studies • Preliminary survey of extent of legacy sediment deposits in 3 rd order White Clay Creek

Sensor Network Development • Wireless real-time networks • 100’s of simple sensors constructed from high quality, inexpensive components • Advanced geochemical sensors • See poster by Aufdenkampe, Hicks, et. al.

CRB-CZO Cyber-Infrastructure • Actively participating in the development of the national CZO cyber-infrastructure • Transitioning local data into a hybrid of: • CUAHSI’s Hydro-Server data system • Earth. Chem data model • All sensor data will be available in real time, with QA’ed datasets provided later

CRB-CZO Cyber-Infrastructure • Partnering w/ Delaware Environmental Observing System to aggregate regional data for public visualization & access • See poster by Aufdenkampe & talk by Gill

LIDAR, Vegetation & Geormorphology • Vegetation survey in conjunction with NCALM LIDAR flights • See poster by Levia • Will characterize riparian tree heights with LIDAR to quantify potential for Large Woody Debris to modify sediment dynamics • Will characterize floodplain geomorphology to understand sediment storage & dynamics

Modeling • Implementing the Penn State Integrated Hydrology Model (PIHM) throughout CRB • 6 of us have received training • model running for 3 rd order WCC at SWRC

Modeling • Refining results from TOPMODEL and a 2 -D hillslope hydrological model • See poster by Mei and Hornberger • Will use a number of other models • Groundwater geochemistry models • Sediment transport models

Education & Outreach • NSF Education awards related to CZO • Model My Watershed • Critical Zone education • Pending and Planned Proposals • Monitor My Watershed • STEP Geosciences Center • REU Distributed Site for CZOs • Christina River Basin public workshops • Partnership with UD Water Resources Agency • See talk by Gill

Planned Activities for 2010 -11 • Intense effort to install infrastructure • Install water gauging and sampling infrastructure at 6 stream stations. • Flumes, wells, lysimeters, rain collectors, automated water collectors, etc. • Install wireless sensor communication system, with • 1 hub at each of 6 stream stations • 4 -8 sensor nodes communicating to each hub • Install meteoric, hydrolgical and geochemical sensors • Implement data infrastructure to harvest real-time data • Establish hillslope and floodplain transects

Planned Activities for 2010 -11 • Intense field surveying and sampling effort • Dig and sample soil pits along transects • install soil sensors • Identify and sample important erosional source sites and depositional sink sites • For geochemical composition and fingerprinting • Chase storms! • Collect material in transport within overland flow and stream waters • Continue to develop experimental and analytical approaches to test specific hypotheses

Thank You Funded by: US National Science Foundation

Obj. 1: Properties of Carbon-Mineral Complexes 1. 1: The capacity of the inorganic matrix to complex and stabilize OC is a multivariate function of mineral surface area, mineralogy, polyvalent cations and OM composition %OC = f(surface area, mineral, cations, OM composition, etc. ) 1. 2: The intrinsic biological and chemical stability of organic carbon complexed by an inorganic matrix can be predicted from the OM composition and its concentration relative to complexation potential

Obj. 2: Weathering and Erosion Controls on Carbon-Mineral Complex Formation 2. 1: Organo-mineral complexation in natural uplands is limited by physical mineral supply from the underlying B horizon or saprolite, which are governed by vertical soil mixing (<10 yr time scale) and landscape lowering (>10 Kyr time scale). 2. 2: Coupled chemical and microbial weathering processes determine the spatial distribution of the sources of OC-complexation potential 2. 3: Human accelerated erosion and chemical weathering significantly increase the production of OCcomplexation potential

Obj. 3: Fluvial Network Controls on Complex Formation & Preservation 3. 1: Accelerated erosion by modern agricultural and construction activities (1) creates fluvial carbon sinks within the watersheds and (2) decreases overall bioavailability of the stream water carbon leaving the watershed • Tracer Characterization of Sediment Sources • Determine Modern Sedimentation Rates and Concentrations • Determine Historical Rates and Concentrations

Obj. 4: Watershed Integration of Erosion-Driven Carbon Sequestration 4. 1: Instream heterotrophic metabolism is supported primarily by non-complexed carbon, a large fractions of which has been stored in floodplains for long periods (>50 y). Note: Major task for Obj. 4 should be Integrated Watershed Model of following equations 1 & 2.

Required Data • Stream Stations: • Continuous: Q, TSS, TOC, cond. , DO, T, p. H, NO 3 • Samplers: %OC of TSS, δ 13 C of POC & DOC, mineral elements and isotopes (210 Pb, 137 Cs), etc. • Hydrology & Climate • Precip. , ET, runoff • Groundwater, soil moisture • Flow paths and fluxes (measured and modeled) • Sediment source and deposit samples • %OC of TSS, δ 13 C of POC & DOC, mineral elements and isotopes (210 Pb, 137 Cs), etc.

In Situ UV-Vis-Derived Parameters

CZO Cyber-Infrastructure Goals • Create a system of “one-stop-shopping” for water and sediment data for CRB • Share data within project • Share data online with public • As much in real-time as possible • Curate future and historical data • Integrate with CUAHSI’s Hydrological Information Systems (HIS) • Observations Data Model (ODM) relational database for our project data • Web services to search and retrieve data from partners

Sites & LIDAR

NOAA Climate Reference Network Station at SWRC

Christina River Basin CZO Spatial and temporal integration of carbon and mineral fluxes: a whole watershed approach to quantifying anthropogenic modification of critical zone carbon sequestration Sparks, Aufdenkampe, Yoo, Kaplan, Pizzuto, Aalto and many others Overall goal: To quantify the net carbon sink (or source) due to mineral production, weathering, erosion and deposition … as materials are transported and transformed across geophysical boundaries that traditionally separate scientific disciplines, i. e. : topsoils → subsoils → aquifers → riparian floodplains → river networks → estuaries

Basis for Hypothesis CO 2 ex ca cess rbo n Primary Production organo-mineral complexation 1. 2. 3. 4. ss ce l ex nera mi mineral complexation production potential Organic matter (OM) complexation to fine minerals is a critical factor to stabilizing and sequestering carbon OM production and fine mineral production are spatially separated Minerals will rapidly acquire normal carbon loadings when well-mixed with fresh OM An excess of fresh OM is mobilized into freshwaters, with 50 -95% being respired before the ocean

Carbon Sequestration by Human Erosion

Whole Watershed Approach

The Critical Zone

NSF Critical Zone Observatory National Program • Goal: Establish long-term watershed-scale “observatories” in different physiographic regions of USA • with state-of-the-art monitoring and cyberinfrastructure, and • as a resource for multi-disciplinary teams of scientists from around the nation • 3 CZO’s funded in 2007 • 3 CZO’s funded in 2009, with stimulus funds