Tim Killeen, National Science Foundation Visit to Penn State University - May 15, 2009

NSF Geosciences Director Examines Shale Hills Critical Zone

Tim Killeen, NSF Assistant Director for the Geosciences, saw firsthand recently how a team of interdisciplinary Penn State researchers from three colleges are collaborating to better understand the chemical, biological and geological processes at the earth’s surface.

Chris Duffy, Bernd Haupt, Henry Lin, and
Tim Killeen (L to R)

Rudy Slingerland, Patrick Reed, and Tim
Killeen (L to R)

On campus to speak at EMS’s commencement (May 15), Killeen also visited the Shale Hills Critical Zone Observatory (CZO), one of three NSF-funded field sites where researchers are studying how water interacts with rocks and organisms in a small watershed. The 20-acre site is part of Penn State’s Stone Valley Experimental Forest in Huntingdon County.

Tim Killeen, Henry Lin, Jane
Wubbels, Dave Eissenstat (L to R)

Tim Killeen and Lixin Jin

Learning to read the “story” of the Critical Zone—the external terrestrial layer extending from the outer limits of vegetation down to and including the zone of groundwater—through time can help researchers identify key hillslope dynamics, rates of soil formation, water pathways and flow volume as well as tree response to rain events.

With this knowledge, scientists can better quantify responses in the Critical Zone to environmental change.

Jennifer Williams and Dave
Eissenstat

Rudy Slingerland and Sue Brantley

“We need to understand how earth resources evolve naturally and under human impact in order to plan for the sustainable use of soils and waters,” said Susan Brantley, co-PI of the Shale Hills CZO and director of the Earth and Environmental Systems Institute. “By learning to read the stories written in soils in both short and long timeframes, we can begin to forecast the future of the Critical Zone.”

Killeen heard the Shale Hills’ ‘stories’ from faculty and graduate students in the colleges of EMS, agricultural sciences and engineering who described their investigations of seasonal patterns of water flux, sediment movement and soil chemistry, and soil properties at different depths and different slopes.

He also saw clusters of sensors spread throughout the site and the communication infrastructure supporting data collection—also supported by NSF.

With NSF committed to funding additional Critical Zone observatories, Killeen’s visit both highlighted Penn State researchers and Critical Zone science.

“Critical Zone Observatories are receiving a great deal of visibility at NSF, and this was a chance to showcase how ‘Team Science’ is being carried out at the Susquehanna/ Shale Hills CZO,” said Chris Duffy, PI for the Shale Hills CZO grant. “Our goal was to demonstrate that we have the infrastructure and experimental design for advancing CZO science—a goal that was met.”

Additional Photos:

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Lixin Jin and Jennifer Williams

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