# 3 CZ Architecture and Evolution

CZ science encompasses a wide range of scientific disciplines and is a truly transdisciplinary science. In some instances, well experienced and reputable Earth surface and environmental scientists have questioned the validity of CZ science, considering the questions asked and observations made as no different than soil and ecosystem science. However, an important difference between those sciences and CZ science is depth: into the subsurface, and through the vast extent of geologic time. CZ scientists incorporate "deep thinking" into their science, therefore to fully understand and embrace CZ science one must consider and understand the basic principles of geology and the geosciences.

While the overlapping spheres are each very important in mediating the myriad physical, chemical, and biological processes of the CZ, and in sculpting the CZ, the lithosphere stands alone as providing the solid framework onto which these processes develop and proceed. Thus to unravel the complexity of processes occurring in the CZ one must understand the architecture of the CZ manifested from the geologic setting.

The diversity of overlapping geological characteristics of parent material type, topography and overall geologic/tectonic setting interact to form an equally diverse set of landscapes and CZ architectures. However commonalities exist that may be recognized by similar landforms which in turn indicate similar processes of formation that sculpt the CZ and control some of the ongoing processes within it.

## Goals of the Module

The primary goal of this module is for students to complete it with a basic understanding of some primary geologic processes and the relationship to CZ processes and science. These units focus on the lithosphere's presence and role in CZ form and function. By the end of this module students will be able to:
- Accurately recognize that tectonic processes of uplift and subsidence and the resulting landforms influence surficial processes of erosion, sediment transport and deposition, hill slope movement, and regolith production, and determine the architecture and evolution of the CZ.
- Effectively summarize freely available online resources that provide information on geological mapping and aerial and other remotely sensed imagery that can be used in landscape assessment, and apply those resources to a site evaluation.

**Overarching Learning Objective:** Describe and characterize how interaction among the atmosphere, lithosphere, hydrosphere, biosphere, and soil (The CZ) support and influence life.
- Unit 3.1: Geology and Geomorphology: Review the basic geologic processes that contribute to large-scale geomorphic features of the landscape.
- Unit 3.2: Landforms and Remote Sensing: Review characteristic geomorphic landscapes and the processes that form them.