The role of biological weathering in the transformation of the earth’s near surface is of great interest in biogeosciences. However, it is not fully understood how plants, bacteria, and fungi (particularly mycorrhizal fungi) interact with abiotic forcings to promote the weathering of primary minerals and the formation of soil.

This project investigates how plants and microbes influence mineral weathering and leaching of mineral-forming elements. It is intended to help understand how tree and grass species common to the western U.S. (Ponderosa pine and Buffalo grass), affect bacterial, and fungal communities (particularly mycorrhizal fungi) to promote the weathering of rock-derived minerals and the incipient formation of soil. The group will focus on biological-abiotic couplings during laboratory-based weathering of four important rock types (basalt, granite, schist, and rhyolite) and the extent to which this weathering results in chemical denudation versus biomass accumulation or re-precipitation of dissolution products.