Areas within Calhoun Critical Zone Observatory

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  CCZO Research Area 8

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  CCZO Research Area 7

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  CCZO Research Area 6

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  CCZO Research Area 5

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  CCZO Research Area 3

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  Research Area 2

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  CCZO Research Area 4

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  CCZO Research Area 1

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  Calhoun Eco-hydrology

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Setting & Research

Data

Partner Organizations

• Setting & Research

  Located in Union County, South Carolina, in the Southern Piedmont region and the heart of the Old South's cotton belt, the John C. Calhoun Experimental Forest is a 5082 acre (2057 hectare) area that has for nearly 70 years been the site of studies of land and water degradation caused by agricultural land uses.  The Calhoun was organized October 8, 1947 in response to USDA Forest Service efforts of the 1930s and 1940s that aimed to restore highly degraded soils, forests, and water of the Southern Piedmont. Shortly after World War II, the Calhoun Experimental Forest was established on land so eroded, gullied, and degraded by agriculture that they considered it "to represent poorest Piedmont conditions" (Metz, 1958). When the Calhoun Experimental Forest's laboratory with its scientific staff was abruptly closed in the early 1960s, data collection in its four experimental catchments terminated but records were archived at Coweeta Hydrologic Laboratory, holding the potential to be re-used if and when the catchments are re-instrumented. Today the Calhoun Experimental Forest is managed by the USDA Forest Service's Southern Research Station and Sumter National Forest, Enoree Ranger District.

  The Calhoun Experimental Forest warrants our interest not only because of its special 60-year history of research, but also because the history and contemporary uses of the site reflect important structures, forcings, and change ongoing in the large areas of the world not well represented among the initial six CZOs.  The Calhoun's geologic substrata, landforms, vegetation, soil conditions, and land-use history are all closely comparable to conditions across much of the southeastern North America. The Calhoun's gently rolling to moderately steep landscapes are derived from granitic-gneiss which underlies nearly half of the Southern Piedmont (Richter and Markewitz 2001).  The Calhoun has a warm temperate climate with mean annual precipitation and temperature 1300 mm and 16°C, respectively.  Annual potential evapotranspiration averages 850 mm.  Common soil series at the Calhoun include the Cecil, Pacolet, Appling, Cataula, Madison, and Chewacla, which comprise many of the region's most common soils.  These advanced weathering-stage soils are common throughout the world in non-glaciated warm temperate regions and across the lowland tropics which are experiencing land-use pressures and conversions not dissimilar to those that have already affected the Calhoun.

  For the exact locations of our research sites, see the map of Calhoun CZO Water, Soil, and Forest Sampling sites.

   

  References

  Metz, L.J.  1958.  The Calhoun Experimental Forest.  USDA Forest Service Southeastern Forest Experiment Station, Asheville, NC., 24 p.

  Richter, D.D., and D. Markewitz. 2001. Understanding Soil Change: Soil Sustainability over Millennia, Centuries, and Decades. Cambridge University Press, New York. 255 p.

• Data

  Calhoun Critical Zone Observatory - GIS/Map Data - Research Areas (2014-2018)
  3 components  •   Calhoun Critical Zone Observatory  •   All Disciplines  •   Brecheisen, Z.S.; Cook, Charles W.; Richter, Daniel deB.

  Calhoun CZO - GIS/Map Data, LiDAR - Canopy Height (2014)
  1 components  •   Calhoun Critical Zone Observatory  •   GIS / Remote Sensing, Biology / Ecology  •   Brecheisen, Zachary S.

  Enoree District, Sumter National Forest - GIS/Map Data - Land Grants, 1749-1851 (2018)
  1 components  •   Calhoun Critical Zone Observatory  •   Social Science  •   Coughlan, Michael R.; Nelson, Donald

  National - Air Temperature, Flux Tower, Meteorology - NADP and NOAA or other weather stations (2017)
  8 components  •   Boulder Creek Watershed, Calhoun Critical Zone Observatory, Jemez River Basin, Susquehanna Shale Hills Critical Zone Observatory  •   Climatology / Meteorology  •   NADP; NOAA; others

  National - LiDAR, Land Cover, GIS/Map Data - OpenTopography (2010-2017)
  18 components  •   Boulder Creek Watershed, Eel River Watershed, Jemez River Basin, Reynolds Creek Experimental Watershed, Susquehanna Shale Hills Critical Zone Observatory, Northeastern Puerto Rico and the Luquillo Mountains, Sangamon River Basin, Clear Creek Watershed, Calhoun Critical Zone Observatory, Providence Creek Headwater Catchments (1660 - 2115 m elevation)  •   Geomorphology, GIS / Remote Sensing, Hydrology, Biology / Ecology  •   National Center for Airborne Laser Mapping; Boulder Creek Critical Zone Observatory; Calhoun Critical Zone Observatory; University of Arizona; University of California Merced; Valles Caldera National Preserve; Bandelier National Monument; National Park Service; Jemez River Basin and Santa Catalina Mountains Critical Zone Observatory; Luquillo Critical Zone Observatory; Reynolds Creek CZO; Eel River CZO; Shale Hills CZO

  National - Streamflow / Discharge - USGS and USDA Data Resources (1985-2017)
  22 components  •   Boulder Creek Watershed, Santa Catalina Mountains, Jemez River Basin, Reynolds Creek Experimental Watershed, Susquehanna Shale Hills Critical Zone Observatory, Northeastern Puerto Rico and the Luquillo Mountains, Clear Creek Watershed, Sangamon River Basin, Calhoun Critical Zone Observatory, Providence Creek Headwater Catchments (1660 - 2115 m elevation)  •   Hydrology  •   USGS National Water Information System

• Partner Organizations

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    Sumter NF

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    Rose Hill

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Human Impacts

• Human Impacts

  • agricultural land
  • forest land

  The Calhoun CZO currently is mostly covered in pine and mixed pine-hardwood forests, which grew up on former agricultural land following land abandonment in the 1860s-1930s. The current landscape also includes a number of older-growth hardwood stands, some dating to the early 1800s, as well as a few pastures and agricultural fields.