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Project Development

Task Objectives

Mapping the geochemistry of the nation's soils is the goal of this project. To accomplish this, we must establish not only appropriate linkages with stakeholders in both the government and private sector, but must also assure that protocols for sample collection, sample preparation, and chemical analysis are optimized for this wide array of customers and collaborators. The goal of this task is to establish working relationships with key governmental and non-governmental entities, and to establish the methodologies that will be employed over the life of the study.

The major objectives are:

1. To launch the task by putting together a soil geochemistry workshop, convened in partnership with the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), involving the key parties from governmental agencies, private industry, and academia to 1) exchange information regarding needs for soil geochemical data and how each agency/industry meets these needs, 2) develop working relationships, and 3) establish priorities for the future conduct of the project. From this workshop, we also plan to name an advisory board to provide commentary and oversight on task development and outreach for the project.
2. Conduct an inventory to locate all available regional-scale soil geochemical data sets and make these data sets available on a web site.
3. Develop soil standard reference materials to assure that high-quality data is produced by the project.
4. Establish sample collection, sample preparation, and analytical methodologies that can be confidently employed throughout the life of the project.

SubTasks

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