Fig. 1: Illustration of our hypothesis.
From: Bedrock geochemistry influences vegetation growth by regulating the regolith water holding capacity
a Karst critical zone structure; b non-karst critical zone structure; the bubble in the regolith represents the regolith water-holding capacity. We hypothesize that in the karst zone, the bedrock geochemistry can influence vegetation productivity through controlling the regolith water hold capacity: increased Ca concentrations correspond to increased limestone, which is highly soluble, so the bedrock develops an amount of crevices. These properties limit the retention of water and hence affect the vegetation productivity. We expect that in karst regions, by regulating the regolith water-holding capacity, bedrock geochemistry plays an important role in the spatial variability in vegetation productivity.
