We have uploaded our dataset produced from this project here. Check it out!

Shallow subsurface microbial and geochemical processes in watersheds are dynamic and responsive to seasonal and long-term environmental change. At high elevation or latitude, such changes may occur during winter months when normal sampling is impossible, impractical, unsafe, or may actually alter the processes being studied. Yet accurate modeling of biogeochemical parameters in the subsurface requires sampling that captures events and persistent cold climate trends. Gaps in current models exist where data have not been collected during extended snow or ice covered periods. We propose an exploratory study to test the hypothesis that during snow cover in the East River (ER) watershed, episodic excursions of microbial community structure and biogeochemical processes and concentrations will fluctuate from values extrapolated from pre- and post-snow time periods. Elemental and microbial cycles will remain active in the aquifer long after the surface has been covered with snow. Melt events will stimulate biogeochemical processes. Our goal is to demonstrate that data collected through these periods will fill gaps and improve reactive transport models of biogeochemical processes in watersheds. Our proposed research is relevant to DOE SBR interest in Science Area 1. By examining geochemical and microbiological processes in shallow sediments of the ER site over winter months we will help to determine “…the spatial heterogeneity (physical, chemical and biologic) of subsurface, riverine/hyporheic, and terrestrial environments (including microbial community composition and function) and their impacts on groundwater-surface water exchange and biogeochemical reactive transport”. We will coordinate with ongoing studies at the ER site especially those that using reactive transport modeling to frame the biogeochemical processes occurring in the watershed. We know of no other research effort supported by the SBR that aims to define how subsurface geochemistry and microbiology change during long winter and early spring when critical events may be occurring in the subsurface aquifer at ER.