A first-of-its-kind study led by The University of Texas at Austin has found that rock weathering and water storage appear to follow a similar pattern across undulating landscapes where hills rise and fall for miles.
A first-of-its-kind study led by The University of Texas at Austin has found that rock weathering and water storage appear to follow a similar pattern across undulating landscapes where hills rise and fall for miles.
The findings are important because they suggest that these patterns could improve predictions of wildfire and landslide risk and how droughts will affect the landscape, since weathering and water storage influence how water and nutrients flow throughout landscapes.
“There’s a lot of momentum to do this work right now,” said study co-author Daniella Rempe, an assistant professor at the UT Jackson School of Geosciences Department of Geological Sciences. “This kind of data, across large scales, is what is needed to inform next-generation models of land-surface processes.”
The research was led by Michelle Pedrazas, who conducted the work while earning a master’s degree at the Jackson School. It was published in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Earth Surface.
Read more at University of Texas at Austin
Image: Jackson School Assistant Professor Daniella Rempe directing the drillers on a ridgetop borehole. (Credit: Michelle Pedrazas/ UT Jackson School of Geosciences)
