Soils are the foundation of terrestrial ecosystems. They provide critical services including supplying a substrate and the nutrients necessary for plant growth, retaining moisture from precipitation, filtering contaminants from percolating waters, and acting as a sink of carbon. Healthy soils are key to sustaining both human and ecosystem health. However, global- and regional-scale disturbances, such as climate and land use change, have the potential to impact soil services by destabilizing the physical or chemical processes that maintain healthy soil conditions. It is imperative that we better inventory soil services and sensitivities so that we can better manage these critical resources in response to change.
Persistent drought, or aridification, in the Upper Colorado River Basin (UCRB) has made headlines for the resulting reductions in surface waters available for power production, irrigation, and recreation. These are generational issues that require the utmost attention, but they are not the only issues stemming from drought. Changes in the timing, intensity, and amount of precipitation across the UCRB are likely to have a significant impact on soil conditions with subsequent feedback on the distribution and health of plant communities. Furthermore, regional changes in terrestrial systems may lead to additional impacts on surface water through changes in soil moisture residence times and evapotranspiration. The objective of the USGS Regional Assessment of Drought Impacts on Soils (RADIS) project is to improve our inventories of soils and soil services of the UCRB and to facilitate improved forecasts of the response of soils to drought so that land and ecosystem managers may better prepare for the future.
Project Goals
The goals of the RADIS project are to (1) develop and test a spatially explicit framework for quantifying soil heterogeneity at regional scales and (2) to improve data and model infrastructure supporting forecasts of terrestrial responses to environmental drivers - particularly drought. For the first two phases of this project, we have focused primarily on characterizing the storage of organic matter in soils (SOM) – a critical function supporting ecosystem health, agricultural productivity, and climate resilience. To accomplish these goals, we integrate a data-driven sampling approach, predictive soil mapping, and laboratory-based experimentation. The result of this effort will be a data-driven, spatially explicit representation of soil properties and processes that will drive improved forecasting in support of resource management and policy decisions for UCRB.
Approach
Our approach is shaped by the need to up-scale our understanding of soil processes, which are often based on pore- and profile-scale observations, to better understand the mechanistic drivers of landscape-scale heterogeneity. This requires the integration of geospatial mapping, extensive sample collection and analyses, targeted experimentation, and process-based modeling. To accomplish this, we utilize machine learning based methods for predictive soil mapping and data clustering. Through this combination, we can more efficiently collect and analyze soils to better understand drivers of landscape-scale variation in soil properties and processes. Moreover, by using data-driven methods for identifying and mapping meaningful soil groupings, we can more efficiently and effectively parameterize regional-scale processed based models for predicting the response of soils to disturbances such as drought. Soil processing and analysis is supported by the USGS Earth Systems Biogeochemistry Laboratory.
Phase One. High-Elevation Catchments of the Upper Colorado River Basin. 2017-2023
The first phase of this work was based in Upper East River and adjacent watersheds located, near Gothic, Colorado. The Upper East River area of interest is broadly representative of high-elevation catchments of the UCRB and includes a mix of alpine, sub-alpine, and montane ecosystems. Working in collaboration with the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory, the Department of Energy, and individual collaborators from a variety of institutions, we leverage extensive and ongoing research in this region to test and refine our predictive soil mapping approach.
Phase Two. Drylands of the Upper Colorado River Basin. 2023-2027
In the second phase of RADIS project, we will conduct a complementary sampling and predictive soil mapping exercise for dryland ecosystems in and around Moab, UT. This region is comprised of vast tracts of public lands, which are representative of dryland settings throughout the Colorado Plateau. Working with partners from the Bureau of Land Management, the National Park Service, and other regional partners, we will implement a refined version of our predicative soil mapping approach to characterize heterogeneity of dryland soil carbon cycling, with an emphasis on better understanding the spatial relationships between soil moisture, plant communities, and carbon storage.
Project Collaborators
- Kate Maher, Stanford University, Upland Carbon Dynamics and Geochemical Weathering
- K. Dana Chadwick, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Remote Sensing of Soil Properties
- Jennifer Druhan, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Reactive Transport Modeling of Soil Carbon and Carbon Isotopes
- Matt Winnick, University of Massachusetts at Amherst, Soil Respiration, Petrogenic Carbon, and Geochemical Weathering
- Courtney Creamer, USGS Menlo Park, Soil Chronosequences and Microbe-Mineral Interactions
- Jack McFarland, USGS Menlo Park, Soil Chronosequences and Microbial Dynamics
- Richard Reynolds, USGS Emeritus, Aeolian Dust and Microplastics
- Marjorie Schulz, USGS Emeritus, Soil Chronosequences and Rhizosphere Dynamics
Related Projects and Resources
U.S. Geological Survey Soil Sample Archive
Soil Biogeochemical Data from a Marine Terrace Soil Climo-Chronosequence Comparison
Data for Dust deposited on snow cover in the San Juan Mountains, Colorado, 2011-2016: Compositional variability bearing on snow-melt effects
The influence of soil development on the depth distribution and structure of soil microbial communities.
Mechanisms for retention of low molecular weight organic carbon varies with soil depth at a coastal prairie ecosystem
Beyond bulk: Density fractions explain heterogeneity in global soil carbon abundance and persistence
Concentration-discharge relationships of dissolved rhenium in Alpine catchments reveal its use as a tracer of oxidative weathering
The trajectory of soil development and its relationship to soil carbon dynamics
A reactive transport approach to modeling cave seepage water chemistry I: Carbon isotope transformations
A reactive transport approach to modeling cave seepage water chemistry II: Elemental signatures
Development of soil radiocarbon profiles in a reactive transport framework
Soil respiration response to rainfall modulated by plant phenology in a montane meadow, East River, Colorado, USA
Integrating airborne remote sensing and field campaigns for ecology and Earth system science
Dust deposited on snow cover in the San Juan Mountains, Colorado, 2011-2016: Compositional variability bearing on snow-melt effects
An open source database for the synthesis of soil radiocarbon data: ISRaD version 1.0
- Overview
Soils are the foundation of terrestrial ecosystems. They provide critical services including supplying a substrate and the nutrients necessary for plant growth, retaining moisture from precipitation, filtering contaminants from percolating waters, and acting as a sink of carbon. Healthy soils are key to sustaining both human and ecosystem health. However, global- and regional-scale disturbances, such as climate and land use change, have the potential to impact soil services by destabilizing the physical or chemical processes that maintain healthy soil conditions. It is imperative that we better inventory soil services and sensitivities so that we can better manage these critical resources in response to change.
USGS Geologist Frank Urban checking connections to telemetered data relay near the summit of Gothic Mountain, Colorado. Persistent drought, or aridification, in the Upper Colorado River Basin (UCRB) has made headlines for the resulting reductions in surface waters available for power production, irrigation, and recreation. These are generational issues that require the utmost attention, but they are not the only issues stemming from drought. Changes in the timing, intensity, and amount of precipitation across the UCRB are likely to have a significant impact on soil conditions with subsequent feedback on the distribution and health of plant communities. Furthermore, regional changes in terrestrial systems may lead to additional impacts on surface water through changes in soil moisture residence times and evapotranspiration. The objective of the USGS Regional Assessment of Drought Impacts on Soils (RADIS) project is to improve our inventories of soils and soil services of the UCRB and to facilitate improved forecasts of the response of soils to drought so that land and ecosystem managers may better prepare for the future.
Project Goals
The goals of the RADIS project are to (1) develop and test a spatially explicit framework for quantifying soil heterogeneity at regional scales and (2) to improve data and model infrastructure supporting forecasts of terrestrial responses to environmental drivers - particularly drought. For the first two phases of this project, we have focused primarily on characterizing the storage of organic matter in soils (SOM) – a critical function supporting ecosystem health, agricultural productivity, and climate resilience. To accomplish these goals, we integrate a data-driven sampling approach, predictive soil mapping, and laboratory-based experimentation. The result of this effort will be a data-driven, spatially explicit representation of soil properties and processes that will drive improved forecasting in support of resource management and policy decisions for UCRB.
Drying soil samples at the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory. Approach
Our approach is shaped by the need to up-scale our understanding of soil processes, which are often based on pore- and profile-scale observations, to better understand the mechanistic drivers of landscape-scale heterogeneity. This requires the integration of geospatial mapping, extensive sample collection and analyses, targeted experimentation, and process-based modeling. To accomplish this, we utilize machine learning based methods for predictive soil mapping and data clustering. Through this combination, we can more efficiently collect and analyze soils to better understand drivers of landscape-scale variation in soil properties and processes. Moreover, by using data-driven methods for identifying and mapping meaningful soil groupings, we can more efficiently and effectively parameterize regional-scale processed based models for predicting the response of soils to disturbances such as drought. Soil processing and analysis is supported by the USGS Earth Systems Biogeochemistry Laboratory.
Phase One. High-Elevation Catchments of the Upper Colorado River Basin. 2017-2023
Gothic Mountain in Fall from the town of Gothic, Colorado. The study area for the first phase of the Regional Assessment of Drought Impacts on Soils (RADIS) project is based in the Upper East River and adjacent watersheds. The first phase of this work was based in Upper East River and adjacent watersheds located, near Gothic, Colorado. The Upper East River area of interest is broadly representative of high-elevation catchments of the UCRB and includes a mix of alpine, sub-alpine, and montane ecosystems. Working in collaboration with the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory, the Department of Energy, and individual collaborators from a variety of institutions, we leverage extensive and ongoing research in this region to test and refine our predictive soil mapping approach.
Phase Two. Drylands of the Upper Colorado River Basin. 2023-2027
The San Juan River Valley near Mexican Hat, Utah, is the location of the second phase of the Regional Assessment of Drought Impacts on Soils (RADIS) Project, where researchers are conducting a complementary sampling and predictive soil mapping exercise for dryland ecosystems. In the second phase of RADIS project, we will conduct a complementary sampling and predictive soil mapping exercise for dryland ecosystems in and around Moab, UT. This region is comprised of vast tracts of public lands, which are representative of dryland settings throughout the Colorado Plateau. Working with partners from the Bureau of Land Management, the National Park Service, and other regional partners, we will implement a refined version of our predicative soil mapping approach to characterize heterogeneity of dryland soil carbon cycling, with an emphasis on better understanding the spatial relationships between soil moisture, plant communities, and carbon storage.
Project Collaborators
- Kate Maher, Stanford University, Upland Carbon Dynamics and Geochemical Weathering
- K. Dana Chadwick, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Remote Sensing of Soil Properties
- Jennifer Druhan, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Reactive Transport Modeling of Soil Carbon and Carbon Isotopes
- Matt Winnick, University of Massachusetts at Amherst, Soil Respiration, Petrogenic Carbon, and Geochemical Weathering
- Courtney Creamer, USGS Menlo Park, Soil Chronosequences and Microbe-Mineral Interactions
- Jack McFarland, USGS Menlo Park, Soil Chronosequences and Microbial Dynamics
- Richard Reynolds, USGS Emeritus, Aeolian Dust and Microplastics
- Marjorie Schulz, USGS Emeritus, Soil Chronosequences and Rhizosphere Dynamics
Related Projects and Resources
- Data
U.S. Geological Survey Soil Sample Archive
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Soil Sample Archive is a database of information describing soil and sediment samples collected in support of USGS science. Samples in the archive have been registered with International Generic Sample Numbers, relabeled with bar-coded sample labels, and repacked in containers for long-term preservation. Details of sample collection location, collection date, assoSoil Biogeochemical Data from a Marine Terrace Soil Climo-Chronosequence Comparison
The storage and persistence of soil organic matter (SOM) is of critical importance to soil health, and to the terrestrial carbon cycle with implications for long-term climate change. To better understand the spatio-temporal controls on SOM, we have developed a new dataset spanning two previously described marine terrace soil chronosequences from northern, CA, USA: the Santa Cruz and the Mattole RiData for Dust deposited on snow cover in the San Juan Mountains, Colorado, 2011-2016: Compositional variability bearing on snow-melt effects
Light-absorbing particles in atmospheric dust deposited on snow cover (dust-on-snow, DOS) diminish albedo and accelerate the timing and rate of snow melt. Identification of these particles and their effects are relevant to snow-radiation modeling and water-resource management. Laboratory-measured reflectance of DOS samples from the San Juan Mountains (USA) were compared with DOS mass loading, part - Publications
Filter Total Items: 20
The influence of soil development on the depth distribution and structure of soil microbial communities.
Although it has been shown that the interaction of climate and time shape the dynamics of soil organic matter (SOM) storage and preservation in soil, the role of soil microbial communities in this dynamic remains unclear. Microbial communities are present throughout soil profiles and likely play critical roles in SOM and nutrient cycling, however the influence of other factors such as soil developAuthorsMary-Catherine Leewis, Corey Lawrence, Marjorie S. Schulz, Malak M. Tfaily, Christian Orlando Ayala-Ortiz, Gilberto E. Flores, Rachel Mackelprang, Jack McFarlandMechanisms for retention of low molecular weight organic carbon varies with soil depth at a coastal prairie ecosystem
Though primary sources of carbon (C) to soil are plant inputs (e.g., rhizodeposits), the role of microorganisms as mediators of soil organic carbon (SOC) retention is increasingly recognized. Yet, insufficient knowledge of sub-soil processes complicates attempts to describe microbial-driven C cycling at depth as most studies of microbial-mineral-C interactions focus on surface horizons. We leveragAuthorsJack McFarland, Corey Lawrence, Courtney Creamer, Marjorie S. Schulz, Christopher H. Conaway, Sara Peek, Mark Waldrop, Sabrina N. Sevilgen, Monica HawBeyond bulk: Density fractions explain heterogeneity in global soil carbon abundance and persistence
Understanding the controls on the amount and persistence of soil organic carbon (C) is essential for predicting its sensitivity to global change. The response may depend on whether C is unprotected, isolated within aggregates, or protected from decomposition by mineral associations. Here, we present a global synthesis of the relative influence of environmental factors on soil organic C partitioninAuthorsKatherine Heckman, Caitlin E. Hicks Pries, Corey Lawrence, Craig Rasmussen, Susan E. Crow, Alison M. Hoyt, Sophie F. von Fromm, Zheng Shi, Shane Stoner, Casey McGrath, Jeffery Beem-Miller, Asmeret Asefaw Berhe, Joseph C. Blankinship, Marco Keiluweit, Erika Marín-Spiotta, J. Grey Monroe, Alain F. Plante, Joshua Schimel, Carlos A. Sierra, Aaron Thompson, Rota WagaiConcentration-discharge relationships of dissolved rhenium in Alpine catchments reveal its use as a tracer of oxidative weathering
Oxidative weathering of sedimentary rocks plays an important role in the global carbon cycle. Rhenium (Re) has been proposed as a tracer of rock organic carbon (OCpetro) oxidation. However, the sources of Re and its mobilization by hydrological processes remain poorly constrained. Here we examine dissolved Re as a function of water discharge, using samples collected from three alpine catchments thAuthorsRobert Hilton, Jens M. Turowski, Matthew Winnick, Mathieu Dellinger, Patrick Schleppi, Kenneth H. Williams, Corey Lawrence, Katharine Maher, Martin West, Amanda HaytonThe trajectory of soil development and its relationship to soil carbon dynamics
It has been postulated that the amount of soil organic carbon (SOC) associated with soil minerals exhibits a threshold relationship in response to effective soil moisture (estimated as precipitation less evapotranspiration). To better characterize the role of moisture in influencing mechanisms of SOC storage during pedogenesis, we compare soils from two different chronosequence sites: the Santa CrAuthorsCorey Lawrence, Marjorie S. Schulz, Caroline Masiello, Oliver A. Chadwick, Jennifer W. HardenA reactive transport approach to modeling cave seepage water chemistry I: Carbon isotope transformations
The majority of Critical Zone research has emphasized silicate lithologies, which are typified by relatively slow rates of reactivity and incongruent weathering. However, the relatively simpler weathering of carbonate-dominated lithology can result in secondary mineral deposits, such as speleothems, which provide a long-term archive for Critical Zone processes. In particular, carbon isotopic variaAuthorsJennifer Druhan, Corey Lawrence, Aaron Covey, Max Giannetta, Jessica OsterA reactive transport approach to modeling cave seepage water chemistry II: Elemental signatures
Karst systems are useful for examining spatial and temporal variability in Critical Zone processes because they provide a window into the subsurface where waters have interacted with vegetation, soils, regolith, and bedrock across a range of length and timescales. These hydrologic pathways frequently include the precipitation of speleothems, which provide long-term archives of climate and environmAuthorsJessica Oster, Aaron Covey, Corey Lawrence, Max Giannetta, Jennifer DruhanDevelopment of soil radiocarbon profiles in a reactive transport framework
Today, there is a greater appreciation for the importance of the physical protection of carbon (C) through interactions with mineral surfaces, isolation from microbes, and the important role of transport in shaping soil properties and controlling moisture limitations on decomposition. As our paradigm for soil organic carbon (SOC) preservation changes, so too should our representation of the underlAuthorsJennifer Druhan, Corey LawrenceSoil respiration response to rainfall modulated by plant phenology in a montane meadow, East River, Colorado, USA
Soil respiration is a primary component of the terrestrial carbon cycle. However, predicting the response of soil respiration to climate change remains a challenge due to the complex interactions between environmental drivers, especially plant phenology, temperature, and soil moisture. In this study, we use a 1‐D diffusion‐reaction model to calculate depth‐resolved CO2 production rates from soil CAuthorsMathew Winnick, Corey R. Lawrence, Maeve McCormick, Jennifer Druhan, Kate MaherIntegrating airborne remote sensing and field campaigns for ecology and Earth system science
In recent years, the availability of airborne imaging spectroscopy (hyperspectral) data has expanded dramatically. The high spatial and spectral resolution of these data uniquely enable spatially explicit ecological studies including species mapping, assessment of drought mortality and foliar trait distributions. However, we have barely begun to unlock the potential of these data to use direct mapAuthorsK. Dana Chadwick, Philip G. Brodrick, Kathleen Grant, Tristan Goulden, Amanda Henderson, Nicola Falco, Haruko Wainwright, Kenneth Williams, Markus Bill, Ian Breckheimer, Eoin Brodie, Heidi Steltzer, C. F. Rick Williams, Benjamin Blonder, Jiancong Chen, Baptiste Dafflon, Joan Damerow, Matt Hancher, Aizah Khurram, Jack Lamb, Corey R. Lawrence, Maeve McCormick, John Musinsky, Samuel Pierce, Alexander Polussa, Maceo Hastings Porro, Andea Scott, Hans Wu Singh, Patrick O. Sorensen, Charuleka Varadharajan, Bizuayehu Whitney, Katharine MaherDust deposited on snow cover in the San Juan Mountains, Colorado, 2011-2016: Compositional variability bearing on snow-melt effects
Light-absorbing particles in atmospheric dust deposited on snow cover (dust-on-snow, DOS) diminish albedo and accelerate the timing and rate of snow melt. Identification of these particles and their effects are relevant to snow-radiation modeling and thus water-resource management. Laboratory-measured reflectance of DOS samples from the San Juan Mountains (USA) were compared with DOS mass loading,AuthorsRichard L. Reynolds, Harland L. Goldstein, Bruce M. Moskowitz, Raymond F. Kokaly, Seth M. Munson, Peat Solheid, George N. Breit, Corey R. Lawrence, Jeff DerryAn open source database for the synthesis of soil radiocarbon data: ISRaD version 1.0
Radiocarbon is a critical constraint on our estimates of the timescales of soil carbon cycling that can aid in identifying mechanisms of carbon stabilization and destabilization and improve the forecast of soil carbon response to management or environmental change. Despite the wealth of soil radiocarbon data that have been reported over the past 75 years, the ability to apply these data to global-AuthorsCorey R. Lawrence, Jeffrey Beem-Miller, Alison Hoyt, Grey Monroe, Carlos Sierra, Shane Stoner, Katherine Heckman, Joseph Blankinship, Susan Crow, Gavin McNichol, Susan Trumbore, Paul Levine, Olga Vinduśková, Katherine Todd-Brown, Craig Rasmussen, Caitlin Hicks Pries, Christina Schadel, Karis McFarlane, Sebastian Doetterl, Christine Hatté, Yujie He, Claire C. Treat, Jennifer W. Harden, Margaret S. Torn, Cristian Estop-Aragonés, Asmeret A. Berhe, Marco Keiluweit, Agatha Della Rosa Kuhnen, Erika Marin-Spiotta, Alain F. Plante, Aaron Thompson, Zheng Shi, Joshua P. Schimel, Lydia J.S. Vaughn, Sophie F. von Fromm, Rota Wagai