Processes that transform bedrock into the porous regolith include fracturing, dissolution, precipitation, mechanical disaggregation, plant-and animal-related processes, and biogeochemical breakdown (e.g., Riebe et al., 2017).Regolith is important because it provides nutrients that support terrestrial life and porosity that stores groundwater (e.g., Graham et al., 2010;Riebe et al., 2017). Regolith is thinned by erosion, which physically removes material from the land surface, sometimes flattening and sometimes creating relief, shaping Earth's surface morphology and its Critical Zone (CZ) (Brantley et al., 2007). Recently, a few models have been presented that explain how the thickness of regolith responds to long-term changes in tectonics and climate (e.g., Dunne, 1990;Riebe et al., 2017;West, 2012).
Weathering breaks down bedrock thereby releasing life-sustaining nutrients into the ecosystem (e.g., Graham et al., 2010), affecting groundwater storage (e.g., Holbrook et al., 2014;Worthington et al., 2016), and regulating landscape evolution (e.g., Riebe et al., 2015). Chemical weathering is believed to be bounded from below by chemically equilibrated groundwater underneath the water table (e.g.
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