Observing water, carbon and mineral interactions in the deeply weathered critical zone

Tree roots commonly extend into bedrock where they exchange water and carbon with the atmosphere. This has consequences for bedrock weathering and water availability, as well as how water resources evolve over time and space with climate change. In this talk,I describe new insights about how forests interact with underlying bedrock gleaned from novel sampling systems, geophysical tools, and remote sensing capabilities that allow us to document how hydrologic and biogeochemical processes in the bedrock root-zone manifest at larger scales. I will focus on observations from recent droughts in the western US that motivate a new framework for incorporating bedrock properties into projections of ecosystem and streamflow response to drought.