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

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 t

SUBMITTER: Rempe DM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5856562 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature