Santa Cruz Island Reserve

26 Jan, 11 AM - 29 Jan, 03 PM

On this trip, we plan to scout out potential soil and rock sampling locations in the Canada de Posa Catchment and implement at most 2 rain gauges in hilltop locations within the watershed. We also plan to opportunistically sample soils (quart sized samples) along hillslope positions within the catchment. Our goals for this field work and subsequent work on Santa Cruz Island are centered around exploring how soil regulates bedrock moisture. We are interested in studying this particularly in lithologies where bedrock moisture has been shown to control bedrock strength: when these rocks dry out fast, they fall apart. We're interested in the link between variables of climate and landscape ecology, and bedrock strength, and believe soil is the key moderator. To this end, our project on Santa Cruz Island will focus studying soil properties and changes in soil moisture during precipitation events in the Canada de Posa watershed. We will measure precipitation (as implemented on this trip), soil moisture and temperature (later trips). We also plan to sample and describe soil properties (this trip and subsequent trips). We hope that a detailed knowledge of soil properties will give context to watershed-scale geomorphology, and specifically patterns of erosion. Broadly, we expect this work will provide much needed context for understanding the physical release mechanisms of nitrogen from bedrock.

Visit #44252 @Santa Cruz Island Reserve

Approved

Under Project # 30546 | Research

Exploration of rock derived nitrogen in the critical zone

graduate_student - University of California, Santa Barbara

Reservation Members(s)

Kerri Johnson Jan 26 - 29, 2016 (4 days)
Nina Bingham Jan 26 - 29, 2016 (4 days)

Reserve Resources(s) | Create Invoice

Private Room 2 Jan 26 - 29, 2016
Dock to Reserve Round-Trip 2 Jan 26 - 29, 2016
Vehicle Use - By Day 1 Jan 27 - 28, 2016
Vehicle Mileage 52 Jan 27 - 28, 2016