Research progresses in processes and eco-environmental effects of Earth′s Critical Zone

<p indent="0mm"> The science of Earth′s Critical Zone was born at the beginning of the 21^st century, providing new scientific concepts to study the material cycles and ecological and environmental effects among the various layers of the surface Earth under the dual impacts of climate change and human activities. Over the past 20 years, with the establishment of Critical Zone Observatories (CZO) and their networks, the structure, processes, functions, and services of Earth′s Critical Zones have been extensively studied in different landscapes. Based on the literature analysis, this paper reveals the development trend of the Earth′s Critical Zone science, summarizes the research advances in the structure and services of the Earth′s Critical Zone, especially in the hydro-biogeochemical cycle, analyzes the research on mineral weathering, carbon cycle, and hydro-biogeochemical processes of the Earth′s Critical Zone and the modelling and simulation of material cycling processes in the Earth′s Critical Zone. Finally, the current progress of research on processes and eco-environment effects in the Earth′s Critical Zone is summarized, so as to accurately understand the current status of Earth′s Critical Zone research and provide reference for future research directions. As the Earth′s Critical Zone science enters its third decade of development, it is important to elucidate the processes and evolutionary laws of typical Earth′s critical Zones from the perspective of the Earth′s system and by integrating multidisciplinary thinking, so as to provide basic theories and scientific data for the understanding of the evolution of the surface Earth’s system, in order to cope with the ecological and environmental challenges posed by the global changes and human activities, and to serve the sustainable maintenance and development of the social-natural ecosystems.