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PES-02 The Earth's Critical Zone and Hydropedology
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SoilCritZone - towards understanding the life cycle of soils
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Vala Ragnarsdottir, University of Bristol (United Kingdom)
Utra Mankasingh, University of Bristol (United Kingdom)
Nikolaos Nikolaidis, Technical University of Crete (Greece)
Stephen Banwart, University of Sheffield (United Kingdom)
Jonathan Leake, University of Sheffield (United Kingdom)
Jerome Gaillardet, Institute de Physique du Globe (Finland)
Martin Novak, Geologic Survey of Czech Republic (Czech Republic)
Pauline van Gaans, TNO (Netherlands)
Svetla Rousseva, N. Poushkarov Institute for Soil Science (Bulgaria)
Winfried Blum, BOKU (Austria)
Per Aagaard, University of Oslo (Norway)
Tim White, Pennsylvania State University (United States)
Susan Brantley, Pennsylvania State University (United States)
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Soil is the second most important natural resource after water. The objective of SoilCritZone is to pull together the fragmented community that works on soil research and policy. This community is spread between research institutes that focus on soil, water, agriculture and the natural environment and the funding mechanisms for universities and research institutions are separated at national level. This scenario has lead to uncoordinated research efforts and the development of varying scientific languages and policies. As a consequence the knowledge and methods of geoscientists to study formation and terrestrial movement of soil is divorced from researchers engaged in the ecosystem functions of soil. We therefore lack understanding of the full life-cycle of soil. Our overview of the controls, rates and processes of rock weathering and break down which leads to the formation of soil is qualitative at best. It has recently become apparent that ectomycorrhizal fungi and their microbial associates are directly involved in mass transfer of elements from mineral through secretion of protons and chelators at hyphal growing tips. The effects of these acids on weathering rates are not understood. Although plants that are pioneer colonists on bare rock can create signifcant soil mass quite quickly at local scale, the global rate of soil formation is currently estimated as much as three orders of magnitude slower than soil loss through erosion. Furthermore, detailed estimates within Europe of soil carbon loss over the past century demonstrates an average loss of 16% of soil carbon in England and Wales. These data confirm that soil stocks are fragile and a finite resource with a limited lifespan. This is clearly unsustainable for feeding the Earth population which is expected to rise to 10 billion by 2050. In this scenario, a unified and cross-disciplinary effort is needed to better understand and quantify the whole life cycle of soil. SoilCritZone proposes that well coordinated field observatories be developed. The international soil community should unite their forces and expertise in order to be able to quantify soil processes, develop models for the soil life-cycle and at the same time give the basis for a European soil protection policy and the European Soils Directive that is currently being developed. SoilCritZone has formulate working groups that focus on 1. weathering and soil formation, 2. soil erosion, degradation and restoration, 3. soil biodiversity and other cross cutting issues, and 4. modelling of the life cycle of soils. These groups will identify where research is lacking and formulate parameters that need to be measured in future soil observatories that represent different climates, rock compositions and geographical locations. SoilCritZone is funded by the European Commission Framework Programme 6 as a Specific Support Action. Http://sustainability.gly.bris.ac.uk/soilcritzone.
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