Findings and Recommendations - Basic Research Opportunities in Earth Science - page 94

in a site-specific context. Floods and droughts (e.g., water budget, flow paths, and
predictive capabilities) and the role of soils and biota in geochemical cycles (e.g.,
carbon sequestration, geology-climate links, and soil and water quality) exemplify
the types of problems that have to be monitored at fixed, well-characterized
localities on time scales exceeding standard project durations. Such studies of the
Critical Zone would observe how the geologic record is created, thus improving
its interpretation.
Five independent workshop reports submitted to the committee 16 , 17 , 18 ,
19 , 20 call for the establishment of natural laboratories to exploit scientific
opportunities across a range of problem areas. The needs of the research
community in this regard have been recognized by EAR, with some success.
Multidisciplinary projects to take advantage of natural laboratories have been
sponsored by EAR's Continental Dynamics Program, and other short-term efforts
have been sponsored under the auspices of EAR core programs. However,
because EAR's current programmatic structure does not allocate specific funds
for natural laboratories, it has been difficult to match the investments in
establishing such natural laboratories with the long-term resources needed to take
full advantage of their availability.
Recommendation: EAR should establish an Earth Science Natural
Laboratory Program with the objective of supporting long-term,
multidisciplinary research at a number of promising sites within the United
States and its territories.
The ESNL program should be proposal driven and open to all EAR problem
areas and disciplines. The committee notes that natural laboratories would
provide especially effective platforms for multidisciplinary studies of surficial,
near-surface, and coastal processes in the Critical Zone, and it would thus be
appropriate to place special emphasis on the Critical Zone when selecting ESNL
sites. As with LTER sites, special requirements should be put in place to ensure
that data collected by the program are properly
16 A Vision for Geomorphology and Quaternary Science Beyond 2000, results of a
workshop held in Minneapolis, Minnesota, February 6-7, 2000.
17 Research Opportunities in Low-Temperature and Environmental Geochemistry,
results of a workshop held in Boston, Massachusetts, June 5, 1999.
18 Sedimentary Systems in Space and Time: High Priority NSF Research Initiatives in
Sedimentary Geology, results of a workshop held in Boulder, Colorado, March 27-29,
1999.
19 Support for Research in Tectonics at NSF, White Paper from the Division of
Structural Geology and Tectonics, Geological Society of America, July 24, 1998.
20 Microscopic to Macroscopic: Opportunities in Mineral and Rock Physics and
Chemistry, results of a workshop held in Scottsdale, Arizona, May 28-30, 1999.