Concepts

Duration that snowpack remains on the ground providing water inputs to trees

Temporal changes in groundwater storage volumes in response to climate variability and hydrologic forcing

The combined process of water evaporation from soil and plant surfaces and water transpiration from plant leaves, representing a major component of the water budget that increases with warming tempera...

CO2 efflux from soils to atmosphere representing combination of autotrophic respiration (root respiration) and heterotrophic respiration (microbial decomposition)

The bidirectional exchange of water between groundwater aquifers and surface water bodies including streams, with groundwater contributing baseflow to streams and streams providing recharge to groundw...

Mechanisms by which organic carbon is protected from decomposition in soils through physical, chemical, and biological processes

The degree to which water movement is facilitated or impeded through connected flow paths in subsurface sediments

Mineral formation from ascending hydrothermal solutions

Removal of nitrate from porewater through denitrification and other biogeochemical processes

Oxidative dissolution of pyrite mineral producing sulfuric acid and iron oxides under oxic conditions

Microbial process where methane is oxidized under anoxic conditions, often coupled to reduction of alternative electron acceptors

The oxidation of ammonia to nitrate via nitrite, linking nitrogenous organic matter remineralization to nitrogen loss processes in the microbial N-cycle

Chemical and physical breakdown of sedimentary shale rocks through interactions with water, atmospheric gases, and biological processes

The movement of water from the soil to the plant's stomata which is then released into the atmosphere, serving as an indicator of plant water status

The division of water flow between different hydrological pathways including surface flow, shallow subsurface flow, and deep groundwater flow

Spatial organization of aerobic and anaerobic zones based on dissolved oxygen availability that controls biogeochemical reactions

Biogeochemically active zones in riparian floodplains where enhanced nitrogen transformations occur due to groundwater-surface water interactions

The interplay of belowground, microsite-scale biological, physical, and chemical processes that intersect to drive whole-ecosystem functioning

Heat transfer through soil via molecular conduction

Microbial reduction of sulfate coupled to organic matter oxidation in anoxic environments resulting in formation of low solubility sulfide minerals

Process where cations in solution exchange with cations adsorbed on mineral surfaces

Process of using large-scale climate model outputs to generate local or regional scale climate projections

Formation of coordination complexes between Fe(II) ions and natural organic matter ligands