Kent State University Department of Geology's Watershed Hydrology class visited the Susquehanna-Shale Hills Critical Zone Observatory on April 5-6, 2014.  Penn State post-doc Pamela Sullivan gave them a tour of the watershed and its instrumentation, with a focus on how the measurements could contribute to understanding how hydrology drives landscape evolution on shales. 

The students were introduced to the challenges of hydrologic field work as they attempted to produce a continuous flow of water from a 100' foot deep well on the watershed's ridgeline. On Sunday, the students learned and practiced water quality sampling protocols and collected water samples from streams and shallow wells in the CZO watershed and in watersheds with differing geology.  Temperature, pH, specific conductance, and DO were measured in the field, and ions, cations, and stable isotopes will be measured in laboratories at Penn State and Kent State. The students will discuss these data in class over the next several weeks as they integrate their understanding of how geology and topography control hydrologic flowpaths, streamflow generation mechanisms, and water quality.