Direct observations of rock moisture, a hidden component of the hydrologic cycle

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Daniella M Rempe, William E Dietrich

Abstract

Recent theory and field observations suggest that a systematically varying weathering zone, that can be tens of meters thick, commonly develops in the bedrock underlying hillslopes. Weathering turns otherwise poorly conductive bedrock into a dynamic water storage reservoir. Infiltrating precipitation typically will pass through unsaturated weathered bedrock before reaching groundwater and running off to streams. This invisible and difficult to access unsaturated zone is virtually unexplored compared with the surface soil mantle. We have proposed the term "rock moisture" to describe the exchangeable water stored in the unsaturated zone in weathered bedrock, purposely choosing a term parallel to, but distinct from, soil moisture, because weathered bedrock is a distinctly different material that is distributed across landscapes independently of soil thickness. Here, we report a multiyear intensive campaign of quantifying rock moisture across a hillslope underlain by a thick weathered bedrock zone using repeat neutron probe measurements in a suite of boreholes. Rock moisture storage accumulates in the wet season, reaches a characteristic upper value, and rapidly passes any additional rainfall downward to groundwater. Hence, rock mo...Continue Reading

References

Jan 12, 2007·Oecologia·José Ignacio QuerejetaJuan José Jiménez-Osornio
Apr 25, 2014·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·Daniella M Rempe, William E Dietrich
Sep 20, 2017·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·Ying FanCarlos Otero-Casal

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Citations

Oct 23, 2018·Global Change Biology·Drew M P Peltier, Kiona Ogle
Jun 4, 2019·Global Change Biology·Drew M P Peltier, Kiona Ogle
Apr 25, 2019·Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry : RCM·Magali F NehemyJeffrey J McDonnell
Jan 9, 2020·The New Phytologist·Todd E DawsonKelsey Crutchfield-Peters
Jul 29, 2020·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·Xin GuSusan L Brantley
Apr 18, 2020·Science·Toby R Ault
Jun 19, 2019·Nature·Jaivime Evaristo, Jeffrey J McDonnell
Aug 11, 2020·The New Phytologist·Andrea NardiniLuca Zini
Jan 20, 2021·Ecology Letters·Drew M P Peltier, Kiona Ogle
Mar 7, 2021·Trends in Ecology & Evolution·Anna T TrugmanNathan L Stephenson
May 14, 2020·The Science of the Total Environment·Ashley A CobleJoseph Wagenbrenner
Sep 10, 2021·Nature·Erica L McCormickDaniella M Rempe
Oct 8, 2021·Nature·Gonzalo Miguez-Macho, Ying Fan
Sep 21, 2021·Tree Physiology·Andrea Nardini

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