Berkeley Lab

Various and Sundry – December 5, 2019

1. The recorded presentations from the November 12th, 2019 Watershed Science Community Call can be here. For reference, the two keynotes can be found as follows:

  • Kate Maher: “Mayhem in the meadows: Tracking and modeling soil respiration” starts at 23:50
  • Ben Blonder: “Remote sensing of genotypes and genotype-dependent mortality in quaking aspen” starts 1:00:30

2. In the event some of you have yet to hear the news, the second USGS Next Generation Water Observing System (NGWOS) basin was recently announced. The new basin includes the combined drainages of the Upper Colorado and Gunnison Rivers, and it will serve as a western, snow-dominated counterpoint to the Delaware River NGWOS Basin.

https://www.usgs.gov/mission-areas/water-resources/science/next-generation-water-observing-system-upper-colorado-river?qt-science_center_objects=0#qt-science_center_objects

This selection represents an incredible opportunity for DOE-BER to engage with USGS and other stakeholders (a driving requirement for NGWOS selections) through two of its SFA projects in the basin led by Berkeley Lab and SLAC. Its selection is expected to amplify BER’s investments in integrated hydrology and biogeochemistry, as well as the future of water in the west more broadly.

3. The dust has now settled on proposal submissions to the NSF Critical Zone Collaborative Network funding opportunity. I know there were some tremendous proposals submitted, and the East River watershed figures prominently in six of these. With some good fortune, we will have the opportunity to more fully engage with a growing critical zone effort across the United States and Puerto Rico. I’ve added the lead PI’s to our email list so they’re kept informed of future actives of relevance in the watershed.

4. For those of you who attended the Bodega Bay retreat last month, you hopefully had the opportunity to meet our new University DOE Early Career Proposal PI, Prof. Issac Larsen of UMASS. Isaac will be presenting his research plan to our Science Committee during one of the planned Spring teleconferences. Isaac is presently looking for a motivated PhD student to join his lab tied to his East River project and the posting can be found here. For faculty on this list who have or know of promising undergrads with an interest in critical zone processes, please pass this listing along.

5. Lastly, the Watershed SFA will be highlighted during a 90-minute block at Berkeley Lab’s Earth & Environmental Sciences Area booth at the AGU meeting. The Watershed pop-up is scheduled from 10a – 1130a on Wednesday December 11th. For those who haven’t had a chance to listen to the “sounds of the earth” and the musical enterprise being led by Antonio Menghini (Aarhus Geophysics) Burke Minsley (USGS), Burke will be joining us at the booth. A short preview of this fascinating enterprise can be found here.

I look forward to seeing many of you in person next week!

Virtual Site Visit, November 7, 2019

For those with an interest in current field conditions and a first look at the sensor suite developed by the Ecohydrogeology group at Berkeley Lab, a virtual site visit from November 7 can be found here.

Monitoring Biostimulation and Contaminant Reduction in Groundwater by using Stable Isotopes of Carbon

Charts showing the variations versus time of Cr (VI), electron donors, and metabolic products, in groundwater. The gray bars indicate the injection day of the electron donor. (A) Cr (VI) concentration over time; (B) organic acid concentration; (C) dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) and total organic acids expressed as mM carbon; (D) δ13C values of organic acids and DIC.

Soils and groundwater contamination by hexavalent chromium Cr(VI) is common in industrial areas and is a serious threat to water quality and human health. In a field-scale experiment of microbial Cr(VI) reduction, a team of scientists used stable isotopes of carbon to demonstrate the transfer of carbon from the original electron donor (i.e., bacterial food source) to the metabolic products, and subsequent reduction of Cr(VI).

By injecting 13C-labeled electron donors into a contaminated site, scientists not only demonstrated that the existing microbial community reduced metal contaminants, but that this approach is a viable method for estimating the efficiency of biostimulation. This approach could be transferred to other contaminated sites that contain a variety of metal and organic contaminants.

Summary

Hexavalent chromium Cr(VI) is a common inorganic contaminant in soils and groundwater of industrial areas and represents a serious threat to water quality and human health. Among the various techniques currently available, in situ biostimulation has been recognized as a relatively cost-effective and valuable method for the remediation of contaminated groundwater. To date, the transformation and fate of organic electron donors used to stimulate Cr(VI) reduction in the field has been reported only in limited studies due to analytical and technical challenges. In this work, the authors report field-scale experimental results from in situ microbial Cr(VI) reduction stimulated via injection of 13C-labelled lactate. Simultaneously with Cr(VI) reduction the authors used concentrations and carbon isotope ratios of metabolic products to monitor the carbon transfer from the original 13C-labelled lactate. The authors also monitored the carbon isotope ratios of phospholipid fatty acids (PLFA) to demonstrate the transfer of carbon from 13C-labelled lactate to a portion of the microbial community.

Citation

M. Bill, M.E. Conrad, B. Faybishenko, J.T. Larsen, J.T. Geller, S.E. Borglin, and H.R. Beller, “Use of carbon stable isotopes to monitor biostimulation and electron donor fate in chromium-contaminated groundwater.” Chemosphere, 235, 440-446 (2019), DOI: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2019.06.056

Heidi Steltzer spells out impact of climate change on mountains in new IPCC report

Ecologist Heidi Steltzer evaluates the site of a 2018 wildfire within 10 miles of her Colorado home. Changes in snow affect the disturbance regime of U.S. mountain regions. (Credit: Joel Dyar)

Heidi Steltzer drew upon experience working in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado near the headwaters of the Colorado River in co-authoring the report’s chapter on high mountains. This marks the first time since 1996 that the IPCC has featured a chapter on mountains within one of its reports. Read more »

East River shale drilling postscript

I wanted to update everyone on the recent shale drilling campaign that wrapped up on Tuesday after 8 days of high productivity and perfect weather.

In brief: We accomplished 100% of what we set out to accomplish.

A more detailed accounting of the work follows:

(a) We set the rig up on well #PLM5 on Tuesday AM, which is the 230-foot borehole from which we collected the continuous core last October. This well had stability issues and collapsed in several places last year before we had to abandon the site due to bad weather. We were able to readily clear the hole back down to 230-feet and added four nested piezometers to sample and monitor conditions at four discrete depths:

3-13 feet
40-80 feet
125-165 feet
210-230 feet [N.B. shale from this depth interval corresponds to the same stratigraphic unit encountered in PLM6, our toe slope well.]

(b) Upon finishing that work, we offset the rig by about 15-feet along the geologic strike direction and drilled a parallel 230-foot hole (well #PLM7) that was cased with 3” slotted PVC and which will be used for geophysical wireline logging, including NMR-derived permeability estimation, and hydrologic testing (e.g. pumping and injection tests).

Regarding that testing, we got an unexpected “jump-start” on that activity. Our rate of penetration (ROP) slowed over the 35-50 foot depth interval, and after checking my core logging notes from last year, I was reminded I’d identified a putative fault zone complete with clay gouge in this interval. While drilling through this interval, we observed water flow from the 40-80 foot piezometer in PLM5 that we interpret to be migration of injected drilling fluids (East River stream water) along the highly conductive fault zone and breakthrough at the consistent depth in PLM5. When drilling stopped, flow from the piezometer would stop; when resumed, flow resumed. Drilling past the 50-foot depth resulted in cessation of flow from the piezometer suggesting a max. depth of the fault zone.

A virtual site visit of the PLM7 drilling site can be found here.

The ROP also slowed down considerably over the last 20-feet consistent with our observations in 2018 and the transition to a different unit of the Mancos shale. So it appears that we have good stratigraphic correlation between the two wells — PLM5 with its nested piezometers and PLM7 with its 3” borehole — that should nicely link the geophysical logging data with the shale core collected in 2018 and currently stored at the USGS core library.

Protective metal well enclosures were added to both PLM7 and PLM8 and we will need to make sure snow poles are added to both locations as the route of the Grand Traverse ski race passes very close to their location and we want to avoid damage when plowing for the route occurs. Our point of contact with Vail Resorts, Mark Voegeli, is cc’ed here to keep him in the loop.

***I’d like to strongly encourage anyone on this email list who has an interest in and aptitude for fractured rock characterization to contact me at their earliest convenience, as the PLM7/8 system is well suited to more detailed hydrological investigations. Let’s talk!

(c) We moved across the East River to well #PLM8 and cored from 0-71 feet, with this location designed to compared aspect controls (N-NE facing vs. S-SW facing) on shale weathering. Recovery over the upper 10-feet was rather poor, so a second shallow hole was used to collect a combination of Shelby tube and split spoon samples. In general, the saprolite / weathering zone here seems just a little shallower than at PLM7 transitioning to what appears to be unweathered bedrock at a depth of 11-feet (3.35-m). In contrast, the weathering zone samples are extremely clay rich likely accounting for the poor core recovery. The unweathered shale bedrock is extremely competent over the entire 11-71 foot interval with very few of the conductive fractures observed at PLM7. Indeed, the fracture water holding capacity of the shale unit at PLM8 appears much less than the upper 200-210 feet of shale at PLM7. This is perhaps not unexpected, given that PLM8 is located down-section stratigraphically from PLM7 (and PLM6) and clearly represents a different shale member and/or facies type.

A 3” well was put in place to allow for geophysical wireline logging from 0-71-feet, and an offset, shallow piezometer from 4.5-9.5 feet was installed to monitor and sample the saprolite / weathering zone.

A virtual site visit of the PLM8 drilling site can be found here.

A photo of this location is attached with the view across the river showing the location of the existing PLM transect, with PLM8 being a deeper clone of our toe slope well PLM6 on the opposite bank.

(d) Three alluvial aquifer wells (2” ID) were installed along the Pumphouse Meander A to D transect. All three wells encountered weathered shale bedrock at a consistent depth of ~15-feet. These wells are being used by Amanda DelVecchia (NC State) for quantification of subsurface carbon flows between trophic levels including stoneflies that assimilate carbon from subsurface methanogens.

(e) Well #GUM1 (Gothic Upper Montane-1) was completed such that it is now fully cased with 3” screen to ground surface. We had lost 120-ft of casing in the hole last year and were not able to fish it out and add an additional 40-ft of screen due to bad weather and a need to halt drilling for the year. This well located on RMBL property is now completed and a protective metal well head was placed over it.

(f) A protective metal well head was added to well #GLS1 (Gothic Lower Subalpine), which is the 3” well successfully installed last year at the fishing bridge upstream of Gothic.

A big thanks to Authentic Drilling for an extremely successful outing this year. Our 3+ week advance start to drilling as compared to last year really made a difference.

Abiotic and Biotic Controls on Soil Organo–Mineral Interactions

Traditional View: The traditional view of SOM decomposition does not explicitly represent the underlying agents and processes.

Emergent View: The emergent view suggests that SOM decomposition is a function of a wide range of ecosystem properties and mechanisms (e.g., organo-mineral interactions, microbial necromass).

While there currently exists a suite of models representing soil organic matter (SOM) dynamics that span a range of complexity, some recent mechanistic models are more consistent with an emerging understanding of the persistence of SOM. Yet even these more recent models do not represent several processes that can be important for SOM dynamics. It is clear that next-generation models need to represent the full spectrum of quantitatively important mechanisms for determining SOM persistence—including rate-limited and equilibrium-based sorption, formation of soil aggregates, representative soil minerals, microbial community dynamics, and vegetation interactions—to accurately predict short- and long-term SOM dynamics.

This study informs development of a robust predictive understanding of SOM dynamics. However, it is challenging to incorporate recommendations, such as mineral-associated organic matter and vegetation dynamics, in a reactive transport modeling framework. These emergent concepts require emergent technologies to appropriately characterize, e.g., molecular, soil, and root structure. Several technologies (e.g., FT-ICR-MS, NMR, STXM, and NEXAFS) are available today for such characterization, but these technologies have not yet been fully exploited nor have the resulting data/findings been fully incorporated into modeling studies. To enhance process understanding of SOM dynamics, streamlined coordination between technologies for characterization and emerging understanding for SOM modeling are needed.

Summary

Soils represent the largest store of actively cycling terrestrial organic carbon. This carbon is susceptible to release to the atmosphere as greenhouse gases, including carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4). However, significant gaps remain in understanding why certain soil organic matter (SOM) decomposes rapidly, and why thermodynamically unstable SOM can persist in soils for centuries. To fill this critical knowledge gap, a robust predictive understanding of SOM dynamics is essential, particularly for examining short-term and long-term changes in soil carbon storage and its feedback to climate. In this review paper, the authors argue that a representation of organic matter molecular structure, the activity of belowground communities, and mineral-associated organic matter (MAOM) are required to model SOM dynamics beyond first-order effects accurately. This argument is based on a review of the literature describing the current understanding of the main interacting biological, geochemical, and physical factors leading to SOM stabilization, and on an analysis of a suite of soil carbon models. The authors conclude by recommending several mechanisms that require implementation within the next generation of mechanistic models, including kinetic and equilibrium-based sorption, soil mineral surface chemistry, and vegetation dynamics to accurately predict short- and long-term SOM dynamics.

Citation

Dwivedi D, Tang J, Bouskill N, Georgiou K, Chacon SS, Riley WJ (2019) Abiotic and biotic controls on soil organomineral interactions: Developing model structures to analyze why soil organic matter persists. Rev Mineral Geochem 85:329–348; doi: 10.2138/rmg.2019.85.11

Connecting Geophysics and Music in Crested Butte

USGS researchers working at East River and the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory have partnered with EMusic to create music using subsurface ElectroMagnetic (EM) data collected by USGS from Crested Butte.

The sound installation, titled “Colorado Sketches: A musical day trip into the Mountains” will take place on September 29 from 1 pm to 7 pm Mountain Daylight Time (UTC -0600) via live stream. More info is provided in the teaser video below:

Carl Steefel Named 2019 American Geophysical Union Fellow

Portrait of Carl SteefelCarl Steefel, a senior scientist in the Earth & Environmental Sciences Area at Berkeley Lab and a component lead of the Watershed Function SFA, has been named by the American Geophysical Union (AGU) as a 2019 AGU Fellow.

Every year, the AGU Fellows program recognizes members who have made exceptional contributions to the Earth and Space sciences. Vetted by a committee of AGU Fellows, honorees represent no more than 0.1 percent of AGU’s 60,000 members. Read more »

Reed Maxwell Named 2019 American Geophysical Union Fellow

Portrait of Reed MaxwellReed Maxwell, Rowlinson Professor of Hydrology at Colorado School of Mines and a component lead of the Watershed Function SFA, has been named by the American Geophysical Union (AGU) as a 2019 AGU Fellow.

Every year, the AGU Fellows program recognizes members who have made exceptional contributions to the Earth and Space sciences. Vetted by a committee of AGU Fellows, honorees represent no more than 0.1 percent of AGU’s 60,000 members. Read more »

August 14 – Virtual Site Visit and “Meet the Scientist”

News

I’m very excited to announce the recent hiring of Prof. Benjamin Blonder by UC Berkeley!

Ben will be joining the Department of Environmental Science, Policy & Management, which will afford an opportunity for even closer collaboration with Berkeley Lab and its network of investigators given his newfound proximity.  Ben’s ongoing work on ploidy level-environment interactions to predict mortality and recruitment in quaking aspen is making use of the NEON hyperspectral dataset and linking it to an extensive network of aspen study sites across the watershed.  This work has established some strong areas of collaboration with key members of our SFA team including Dana Chadwick, Kate Maher, and Nicola Falco.  Ben has agreed to present this work as part of an upcoming Watershed Science Community Call likely this November.  Welcome Ben!

Videos

Meet the Scientist:  As part of his recently funded NSF “Rules of Life” proposal, Prof. Pete Raymond (Yale Univ.) is visiting the East River watershed tied to stream sampling of riverine biogeochemical properties along an extended transect of the Gunnison River from upstream of Gothic all the way down to Grand Junction.  As part of his visit, I took the opportunity to film a short “Meet the Scientist” video to allow Pete to introduce himself to those of you who don’t already know him or his work.  It’s really exciting to be able to integrate this NSF-funded work with SFA project, data, and infrastructure (e.g. stream gages, long-term geochemical data, etc.) especially as it serves as a critical first step in scaling riverine processes to the greater Gunnison Basin.  Welcome Pete!

Virtual Site Visit:  Given the importance of the early snowmelt manipulation work as it pertains to carbon and water fluxes, I wanted to provide a “virtual site visit” to (re)introduce the Science Community to Amanda Henderson and Chelsea Wilmer who have been working *tirelessly* this summer to collect plot level flux data to examine the impacts of early snowmelt on plant phenology.  While a little longer than our typical “site visits”, I think this video is particularly useful in presenting the plot level work and the methodological approach being used to quantify the impacts of early snowmelt on evapotranspiration and carbon fluxes.  I encourage everyone to take a look.

I also want to extend my best wishes to Chelsea Wilmer (seen in the attached photo overlooking the Pumphouse snowmelt plots) who will be heading to Ft. Collins to pursue graduate studies at Colorado State University this Fall under the direction of Prof. Stephanie Kampf.  Chelsea will still be very much engaged in East River work, and I want to wish her well in this next phase of her life.  Good luck Chelsea!