Research Blog
My research interests include high-resolution monitoring and modeling techniques to better understand groundwater flow in spatially and temporally complex geologic systems. Methods include geochemical sampling of groundwater after recharge events, fracture flow modeling, and the use of thermal imagery from drones. My study sites have included areas in Minnesota, Missouri, Pennsylvania, Florida, and now western Montana. |
|
As part of the ongoing research project I'm part of to study the hydrogeology of the Flathead Valley, Montana, we conducted a series of geophysical surveys using Time-Domain Electromagnetics (TEM) and Magneto-Tellurics (MT). The TEM surveys consist of laying out a large loop of wire (~100 m in diameter for our case) which is then hooked to a power source that produces varying electrical pulses through the wire, inducing a large magnetic field which penetrates the subsurface. A receiver at the center of the loop of wire measures the varying magnetic field, which decays in specific ways depending on the electrical conductance of the material below, such as sand (low conductance) vs. clay (high conductance). Magne-Tellurics (MT) involves installing a trio of XYZ oriented coils and a pair of electrodes to measure fluctuations in the earth's geomagnetic and geoelectric fields. These variations result from solar radiation and lighting strikes all across the planet, with variations resulting from the different electrical conductance of geologic materials below. This method is used to image much deeper than TEM, although both methods complement each other well. This nearly two week stretch of fieldwork was quite a bit of work, especially since it was in the 90s and mostly sunny every day! With these results we hope to better understand the stratigraphy of certain parts of the Valley, in particular the presence of a confining layer and the deeper, poorly understood Tertiary sediment layer. Hopefully the data yields some interesting results that will help us with constructing our groundwater model of the Valley and lead to some conference talks, research collaborations, and hopefully a publication!
0 Comments
As part of the Carbonate Critical Zone Research Coordination Network 2020 Virtual Workshop, I helped put together a virtual field trip video of karst springs in the Nittany Valley, Central Pennsylvania. Back when this workshop was planned to be in-person there was going to be a field trip to this area to see these springs. As the workshop went virtual, my PhD PI Dr. Laura Toran and I decided to put together a virtual field trip to try and give everyone at least some of the experience! As part of the video we also interviewed Dr. William B. White, Emeritus Faculty from Penn State, to narrate the video. Enjoy! |