Evidence for biotic controls on topography and soil production

The complex interplay of biological, physical, and chemical processes in pedogenesis and hillslope evolution limits our ability to predict and interpret landscape dynamics. Here, we synthesize a suite of observations from the steep, forested Oregon Coast Range to analyze the role of trees in topographic modification and bedrock-to-soil conversion. Using topographic data derived from airborne lidar, we demonstrate that the topographic signature of forest-driven soil and bedrock disturbance is pervasive. For length scales greater than 7.5 m, the land surface is defined by ridge-valley landforms, whereas smaller scales are dominated by pit-mound features generated by the turnover of large coniferous trees. From field surveys, the volume of bedrock incorporated in overturned rootwads increases rapidly with diameter for large conifers, reflecting the highly nonlinear increase in root biomass with tree diameter. Because trees younger than 60 years detach negligible bedrock, short timber harvest intervals may limit the extent to which root systems penetrate bedrock and facilitate bedrock fracturing and biogeochemical weathering. Using ground-penetrating radar, we show that the rootwads of large trees root achieve substantial penetration (1–3 m) into shallow bedrock. The radar transects also reveal that variations in soil thickness have characteristic length scales of 1 to 5 m, consistent with the scale of large rootwads, indicating that both the landscape surface and soil-bedrock interface exhibit a biogenic imprint. In our study area, the residence time of bedrock within dense rooting zones directly below large trees is similar to the time required for trees to occupy the entire forest floor through multiple cycles of forest succession, suggesting that biological modification of shallow bedrock is ubiquitous. Given increases in erosion rate, the ability of roots to initiate soil production may decline as bedrock exhumation through the biotic zone is rapid relative to the time required for successive forests and their associated root systems to fracture bedrock. As a result, in rapidly eroding terrain the coupling between biotic and abiotic weathering processes (such as exfoliation fracturing) may dictate the maximum rate of bedrock-to-soil conversion.