Session: CrossDiv Symposium--Role of Soils in Mediating the Critical Zone

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Division: SSSA Cross-Divisional Symposium

Title: CrossDiv Symposium--Role of Soils in Mediating the Critical Zone

Organizers: Alain F. Plante and Justin B. Richardson
Moderators: Justin B. Richardson and Asmeret Asefaw Berhe
Lead Community Sponsor:
Cosponsor: SSSA Division: Pedology, SSSA Division: Forest, Range and Wildland Soils, SSSA Division: Wetland Soils, SSSA Division: Soil Mineralogy, SSSA Division: Soil Chemistry, SSSA Division: Soil Physics and Hydrology
Community Cosponsor:
Format: Oral Symposium
Keywords: Critical Zone and Mediating

Session Description: Soils are an integral part of the Critical Zone (CZ), the region from the top of the vegetative canopy to the bottom of actively cycled groundwater. Understanding how soils influence the Critical Zone and its life sustaining services is essential for human sustainability. However, the impacts of the Anthropocene poses many challenges that vary across latitude. These effects range from changes in hydrology, pedogenesis, and biogeochemistry of the Critical Zone. In this session, we will highlight the physical and chemical links between soil and the Critical Zone and their combined functions and resilience in the Anthropocene.