Earth Sciences Commons^™

An Examination Of The Impacts Of Beaver Dam Mimicry Structures On Groundwater Surface-Water Interactions In Lower Mountain Riparian Systems, Mercedes D. Salazar

Graduate Theses & Non-Theses

Beaver dam analogs (BDAs) are a low cost, low disturbance stream restoration technique that may improve surface-water/groundwater interactions and wetland connectivity. BDAs are intended to imitate the effects of natural beaver dams by slowing stream velocity, promoting infiltration, increasing dry-season streamflow, aggrading the streambed, and capturing organic matter and other nutrients. This study was conducted to evaluate the degree to which these objectives were being met at a study site on Perkins Gulch, southwest Montana, USA. The Perkins Gulch study area can be summarized by four gauging sites that separate three reaches along the creek. By detailing background processes and …

Safe Water For All: A Multi-Modal Approach To North Alabama's Water Resources, Elijah Walker

Theses

Environmental degradation is a destructive force produced by the human disturbance of pollution. It is a phenomenon that gradually evolves landscapes over time resulting in irreversible outcomes. Environmental degradation physically affects spaces’ resources, objects, and inhabiting humans. This study observes the impacts of pollution beyond physical boundaries and how it affects human identity/sense of place through the utilization of geographic information systems. Specifically, it examines cultural identity developed through human experiences and connections to landscapes containing water resources. Following, pollution contaminates water resources disrupting experiences and connections thus causing the cultural identity to disappear. The case study applied to this …

Aquatic Diversity In A Changing Tropical Andean Glacierized Catchment: Macroinvertebrates Reveal Possible Important Consequences To The Chimborazo Region As Glaciers Recede And The Climate Continues To Change, Tanner Thomas

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Tropical Andean glaciers are retreating rapidly, and their disappearance will have drastic consequences for the people and ecosystems that depend on them. While they have begun to receive the attention they deserve in scientific literature, much is still not known. Majority of these investigations have taken place on the Volcán Antisana, while other important glacierized systems, like the Volcán Chimborazo have received little attention. This investigation aimed to a) evaluate the possible effects of glacier loss and climate change on aquatic ecosystems by comparing glacial meltwater, non-glacial and mixed streams, and b) to evaluate the effects of pasture intensity on …

Suitability Of Flood Hazard Assessment Methods For Tanzania: A Case Of Little Ruaha And Upper Ngerengere Catchment, Kashimbi J. Kihara, Patrick Valimba, Joel Nobert

Tanzania Journal of Science

Understanding the applicability of flood quantile estimation methods in flood hazard assessment is fundamental for planning, prevention, and management of flood risks. Therefore, this study evaluates and compares three hydrological methods, namely Hydrologiska Byråns Vattenbalansavdelning (HBV), Soil Conservation Service-Curve Number (SCS-CN), and regional regression equation (RRE), to estimate flood quantiles embedded in the existing flood damage assessment framework by applying them to two different river catchments, Little Ruaha (LR) and Upper Ngerengere (UN), Tanzania. The evaluation of method performance was carried out using three standard statistical measures for data from 1954 to 2010 and the 1971–1988 period in LR and …

Assessment Of Water Resources In Yarmouk River Basin Using Geospatial Technique During The Period 1980–2020, Noor M Al-Kharabsheh

Journal of Arid Land

It is common knowledge that Yarmouk River Basin (YRB) is shared between Jordan and Syria. Management of YRB trans-boundary water resources is attracting increasing interest because it is a strategic water resource for the riparian countries. Actually, lack of sharing information regarding hydrological flows and basin's water management between partners' countries makes it difficult to distinguish between natural and man-made factors affecting the water body. Therefore, this study seeks to address and assess the main on-site changes that exert on YRB. Geospatial technique and arithmetic equations were combined to carry out an assessment of the changes on water resources in …

Arsenic In Groundwater Sources From Selected Communities Surrounding Taal Volcano, Philippines: An Exploratory Study, Geminn Louis C. Apostol, Sary Valenzuela, Xerxes Seposo

Ateneo School of Medicine and Public Health Publications

Arsenic (As) is a highly toxic, carcinogenic trace metal that can potentially contaminate groundwater sources in volcanic regions. This study provides the first comparative documentation of As concentrations in groundwater in a volcano-sedimentary region in the Philippines. Matched, repeated As measurements and physico-chemical analyses were performed in 26 individual wells from 11 municipalities and city in Batangas province from July 2020 to November 2021. Using the electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometric method, analysis of the wells revealed that in 2020, 23 out of 26 (88.46%) had As levels above the WHO limit of >10 ppb while 20 out of 26 wells …

Virtual Training Prepared For The Former Afghanistan Ministry Of Energy And Water—Streamgaging, Fluvial Sediment Sampling, Bathymetry, And Streamflow And Sediment Modeling, Joel T. Groten, Joshua F. Valder, Brenda K. Densmore, Logan W. Neal, Justin Krahulik, Thomas J. Mack

United States Geological Survey: Water Reports and Publications

The United States Geological Survey (USGS) created a virtual training series for the Afghanistan Ministry of Energy and Water (MEW), now known as the National Water Affairs Regulation Authority (NWARA), to provide critical hydrological training as an alternative to an in-person training. The USGS was scheduled to provide in-person surface-water training for NWARA during 2020; however, travel was halted because of the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID–19) pandemic. The virtual training consisted of prerecorded and live presentations that were scheduled during 4 weeks in August 2021. However, the training was halted after the second week due to the collapse of the …

An Analysis Of The Effects Of Large Wildfires On The Hydrology Of Three Small Catchments In Central Chile Using Tritium-Based Measurements And Hydrological Metrics, Francisco Balocchi, Diego Rivera, José Luis Arumi, Uwe Morgenstern, Donald A. White, Richard P. Silberstein, Pablo Ramírez De Arellano

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Wildfires are an important disturbance affecting catchments’ soil and hydrological processes within. Wildfires are predicted to increase in both frequency and severity under climate change. Here, we present measurements of tritium (3H) in surface water of three streams before and after the ‘las Máquinas’ megafire of January 2017 in central Chile and streamflow metrics. Mean transit times (MTTs) of water were calculated in three coastal catchments with the Mediterranean climate type, covered by native forest, a mixture of native forest and Pinus radiata D. Don, and P. radiata. Lumped parameter models (LPMs) were used to obtain MTTs. Tritium activities from …

Irrigation’S Impact On A Precipitation Event During Grainex In Nebraska, Usa, Daniel Whitesel

School of Natural Resources: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Numerous precipitation events were observed during the Great Plains Irrigation Experiment (GRAINEX). However, the precipitation event that was observed the morning of 23 July 2018 is the focus of this thesis. Six experiments were conducted which involved increasing or decreasing soil moisture by 5% increments over the irrigated cropland. An additional experiment, which changed the irrigated land use to grassland, showed precipitation increases. It was found that regardless of strength of irrigation, average precipitation decreased. Average precipitation decreased by up to 72% when irrigation increased compared to the control simulation and decreased by up to 85% when irrigation decreased compared …

Hydrologic Profiles And Geospatial Trend Analysis Evaluating Recurrent Flooding At Coastal U.S. Air Force Installations, Dylan D. Bechen

Theses and Dissertations

Military installations are exposed to numerous threats, including a changing climate and the risk of recurrent flooding. The four components of recurrent flooding are sea-level rise, tidal fluctuations, storm surges, and precipitation. This research analyzed 40 years of historical precipitation and tidal data at 17 coastal U.S. Air Force installations using indicators of both peak and threshold exceedances to identify long-term temporal trends in the hydrologic components that make up recurrent flood risk, establishing an installation’s “hydrologic profile” which can be used to better inform decision makers when evaluating portfolio-wide adaptation strategies and prioritization of long-term infrastructure investments.

Nebraska Statewide Groundwater-Level Monitoring Report 2021, Aaron R. Young, Mark E. Burbach, Leslie M. Howard, Sue Olafsen Lackey, Robert Matthew Joeckel

Conservation and Survey Division: Faculty and Staff Publications

This report is a synthesis of groundwater-level monitoring programs in Nebraska. It is a continuation of the series of annual reports and maps produced by the Conservation and Survey Division (CSD) of the University of Nebraska in cooperation with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) since the 1950s. Groundwater-level monitoring began in Nebraska in 1930 in an effort to survey the state’s groundwater resources and to observe changes in its availability on a continuing basis. The CSD and USGS cooperatively developed, maintained, and operated an observation-well network throughout the state. These two agencies were responsible for collecting and archiving this information, …

Propagation Of Inflowing Urban Stormwater Pulses Through Reservoir Embayments, Megan Fork, Ryan A. Mcmanamay, James B. Heffernan

Biology Faculty Publications

Flashy hydrology and high solute loads in stormflow are well-studied effects of the built environment on urban streams. The physical and chemical interactions between inflowing stormwater of urban streams and their termination in large impoundments, however, is poorly understood. Determining the spatial distribution of urban stormwater in reservoirs is an important step in understanding the effects of the heat and contaminant loads in these systems, which provide multiple services for adjacent cities. Here, we show that signals of stormwater from a small urban stream can propagate more than 800 m from the stream mouth. Stormflow can also break down the …

Snow Cover Variability And Trend Over The Hindu Kush Himalayan Region Using Modis And Srtm Data, Nirasindhu Desinayak, Anup K. Prasad, Hesham El-Askary, Menas Kafatos, Ghassem R. Asrar

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

Snow cover changes have a direct bearing on the regional and global energy and water cycles and the change in the Earth's climate conditions. We studied the relatively long-term (2000–2017) altitudinal spatiotemporal changes in the coverage of snow and glaciers in one of the world's largest mountainous regions, the Hindu Kush Himalayan (HKH) region, including Tibet, using remote sensing data (5 km grid resolution) from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on board the Terra satellite. This dataset provided a unique opportunity to study zonal and hypsographic changes in the intra-annual (accumulating season and melting season) and interannual variations in …

Modeling Vapor Transfer In Soil Water And Heat Simulations: A Modularized, Partially-Coupled Approach, Zhuangji Wang, Dennis Timlin, David Fleisher, Wenguang Sun, Sahila Beegum, Sanai Li, Ya Chen, Vandimalla R. Reddy, Katherine Tully, Robert Horton

Nebraska Water Center: Faculty Publications

Coupled water and heat transfer models are widely used to analyze soil water content and temperature dynamics, evaluate agricultural management systems, and support crop growth modelling. In relatively dry soils, vapor transfer, rather than liquid water flux, becomes the main pathway for water redistribution. However, in some modularized soil simulators, e.g., 2DSOIL (Timlin et al., 1996), vapor transfer is not included, which may induce errors in soil water and heat modelling. Directly embedding vapor transfer into existing water and heat transfer modules may violate the modularized architecture of those simulators. Therefore, the objectives of this study are to design a …

Baseflow And Water Resilience Variability In Two Water Management Units In Southeastern Brazil, Lucas Vituri Santarosa, Didier Gastmans, Troy E. Gilmore, Jan Boll, Sebastian Balbin Betancur, Vitor Fidelis Monteiro Gonçalves

Conservation and Survey Division: Faculty and Staff Publications

Changes in climate and water demand in densely populated regions increasingly affect hydrological systems, and, in turn, impact socioeconomic conditions. In this case study, we identify how the hydrogeological frameworks of two water resource management units, Tietê-Jacaré (TJ) and Piracicaba-Capivari-Jundiaí (PCJ) in Sao Paulo state (Brazil), control the baseflow processes and resilience in the face of streamflow fluctuations in response to anthropogenic activities and climate variation. The results reveal between 40% and 75% contributions of baseflow to total streamflow in basins overlying crystalline and sedimentary aquifers. The basins in PCJ which mostly overly crystalline aquifers, have shorter water residence times …

Spatial And Seasonal Variations Of Microplastic Concentrations In Portland's Freshwater Ecosystems, Rebecca Talbot

Dissertations and Theses

Microplastics are a pollutant of growing concern and are ubiquitous in a variety of environmental compartments. The majority of microplastics research to date has been conducted in marine waters, and less is known regarding the sources and delivery pathways of microplastics in urban rivers. The first chapter is comprised of a review of the scientific literature regarding the spatial and temporal factors affecting global freshwater microplastic distributions and abundances. Microplastic spatial distributions are heavily influenced by anthropogenic factors, with higher concentrations reported in regions characterized by urban land cover, high population density, and wastewater treatment plant effluent. Temporal variables of …

Catastrophic Ice-Debris Flow In The Rishiganga River, Chamoli, Uttarakhand (India), Vijendra Kumar Pandey, Rajesh Kumar, Rupendra Singh, Rajesh Kumar, Suresh Chand Rai, Ramesh P. Singh, Arun Kumar Tripathi, Vijay Kumar Soni, S. Nawaz Ali, Dakshina Tamang, Syed Umer Latief

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

A catastrophic flood occurred on 7 February 2021 around 10:30 AM (local time) in the Rishiganga River, which has been attributed to a rockslide in the upper reach of the Raunthi River. The Resourcesat 2 LISS IV (8 February 2021) and CNES Airbus satellite imagery (9 February 2021) clearly show the location of displaced materials. The solar radiation observed was higher than normal by 10% and 25% on 6 and 7 February 2021, respectively, however, the temperature shows up to 34% changes. These conditions are responsible for the sudden change in instability in glacier blocks causing deadly rock-ice slides that …

Main-Stem Seepage And Base-Flow Recession Time Constants In The Niobrara National Scenic River Basin, Nebraska, 2016–18, Kellan R. Strauch, Philip J. Soeksen

United States Geological Survey: Water Reports and Publications

The Niobrara River of northern Nebraska is a valuable water resource that sustains irrigated agriculture and recreation, as well as a diverse ecosystem. Large-quantity withdrawals from the source aquifer system have the potential to reduce the flow into the river and to adversely affect the free-flowing condition of the Niobrara National Scenic River (NSR). Therefore, to understand the magnitude and characteristics of those flows, the United States Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the National Park Service, began a study to quantify seepage gains/losses along the eastern half of the Niobrara NSR and to create a map characterizing the base-flow …

Arkansas Bulletin Of Water Research - Issue 2021-2022, Erin Grantz, Lillie Haddock, Brian E. Haggard

Arkansas Bulletin of Water Research

The Arkansas Bulletin of Water Research (Bulletin) is a publication of the Arkansas Water Resources Center (AWRC). We publish the Bulletin to communicate the major findings of research funded by the Water Resources Research Act Section 104(b) in Arkansas. This research is relevant to Arkansas water stakeholders, and the Bulletin provides an easily searchable and aesthetically engaging access option.

This is the fourth publication of the Bulletin. This issue contains final reports from research projects that were funded by the 104(b) program in fiscal years 2019 and 2020. The articles in this issue can be cited as an AWRC publication. …

A Comparative Analysis Of The Andes And The Himalayas: How Climate Change Effects The Health Of Glaciers And The Social Impacts This Has On Surrounding Communities, Jacqueline Mountford

Environmental Studies Honors Papers

The glacial ice in both the Andean and Himalayan Mountain ranges act as water towers for the billions of people that live within their watersheds. Throughout the year, these communities rely on the glacial meltwater to increase the flow of rivers, but this meltwater is the most impactful during the dry season when there is less precipitation. Communities in both the Andes and Himalayas use this glacial meltwater for human and animal consumption, agricultural purposes, and harnessing hydroelectric power as a clean energy source. One of the biggest worries for scientists and people around the world is how climate change …

Ferrihydrite Enrichment In The Rhizosphere Of Unsaturated Soil Improves Nutrient Retention While Limiting Arsenic And Uranium Plant Uptake, Arindam Malakar, Daniel D. Snow, Michael Kaiser, Jordan Shields, Bijesh Maharjan, Harkamal Walia, Daran Rudnick, Chittaranjan Ray

Nebraska Water Center: Faculty Publications

Improvement of nutrient use efficiency and limiting trace elements such as arsenic and uranium bioavailability is critical for sustainable agriculture and food safety. Arsenic and uranium possess different properties and mobility in soils, which complicates the effort to reduce their uptake by plants. Here, we postulate that unsaturated soil amended with ferrihydrite nanominerals leads to improved nutrient retention and helps reduce uptake of these geogenic contaminants. Unsaturated soil is primarily oxic and can provide a stable environment for ferrihydrite nanominerals. To demonstrate the utility of ferrihydrite soil amendment, maize was grown in an unsaturated agricultural soil that is known to …

Drop In The Bucket?, John Adam

Mathematics & Statistics Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Satellite Evidence Of Canopy-Height Dependence Of Forest Drought Resistance In Southwestern China, Peipei Xu, Wei Fang, Tao Zhou, Hu Li, Xiang Zhao, Spencer Berman, Ting Zhang, Chuixiang Yi

Publications and Research

The frequency and intensity of drought events are increasing with warming climate, which has resulted in worldwide forest mortality. Previous studies have reached a general consensus on the size-dependency of forest resistance to drought, but further understanding at a local scale remains ambiguous with conflicting evidence. In this study, we assessed the impact of canopy height on forest drought resistance in the broadleaf deciduous forest of southwestern China for the 2010 extreme drought event using linear regression and a random forest (RF) model. Drought condition was quantified with standardized precipitation evapotranspiration index (SPEI) and drought resistance was measured with the …

Fiber Optic Pressure Measurements Open Up New Experimental Possibilities In Hydrogeology, Carsten Leven, Warren Barrash

Geosciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

Fiber-optic (FO) technology is being used increasingly for measurement methods in a variety of environmental applications. However, FO pressure transducers are rarely used in hydrogeological applications. We review the current state of Fabry-Pérot interferometry-based FO pressure transducers, including their advantages and limitations, as another option for high-resolution pressure- or head-change measurements in conventional or advanced aquifer testing. Resolution and precision specifications of FO transducers meet or exceed commonly used non-FO pressure transducers. Due to their design, FO transducers can be used in small-diameter (innerdiameter≥1/4 inch) and continuous multichannel tubing (CMT), sampling points, multilevel packer systems, and Direct Push-based in situ …

Impact Of Type And Shape On The Transport Of Microplastics In Column Experiments, Cheyanne Amanda Schenkel

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

The pervasive nature of plastic and the longevity of plastic compounds leaves a legacy of plastics and microplastics (MPs) that contaminate our environment, including drinking water sources. Although MPs have been well documented in every environmental setting, a paucity of research has focused on the transport and fate of MPs in groundwater systems. Previous field and lab studies have shown that MPs can migrate through aquifer material and that their retention and retardation are influenced by changing environmental factors. This study used coarse, well-sorted sand in controlled column experiments to investigate the influence of polymer type (PA, PE, PP, PEST) …

Assessing The Effects Of Instream Large Wood On Floodplain Aquifer Recharge And Storage At Indian Creek, Kittitas County, Washington, Usa, Stephen Bartlett

All Master's Theses

Numerous stream restoration projects in the Yakima River Basin in Washington have placed large wood (LW) into tributary channels. One intended effect is to divert water onto floodplains to increase groundwater (GW) recharge and seasonal storage in shallow alluvial aquifers during spring high flows with the intention of releasing GW into streams during the drier summer months. Large wood was emplaced in the Indian Creek tributary of the Teanaway River in Kittitas County, Washington beginning in 2016. Potential changes in the groundwater recharge in the adjacent floodplain before and after the LW installation were investigated through stratigraphic analysis, stream-flow modeling, …

A Comparison Of Deep Learning Algorithms On Image Data For Detecting Floodwater On Roadways, Sarp Salih, Kuzlu Murat, Zhao Yanxiao, Cetin Mecit

Engineering Technology Faculty Publications

Object detection and segmentation algorithms evolved significantly in the last decade. Simultaneous object detection and segmentation paved the way for real-time applications such as autonomous driving. Detection and segmentation of (partially) flooded roadways are essential inputs for vehicle routing and traffic management systems. This paper proposes an automatic floodwater detection and segmentation method utilizing the Mask Region-Based Convolutional Neural Networks (Mask-R-CNN) and Generative Adversarial Networks (GAN) algorithms. To train the model, manually labeled images with urban, suburban, and natural settings are used. The performances of the algorithms are assessed in accurately detecting the floodwater captured in images. The results show …

Droughtscape, Winter 2022, National Drought Mitigation Center

DroughtScape: Quarterly Newsletter of the National Drought Mitigation Center (2007–2023)

DroughtScape, Winter 2022

Changes In Bark Properties And Hydrology Following Prescribed Fire, Courtney Siegert, Anna Ilek, Adam Wade

CFR Publications

No abstract provided.

2022 Nebraska Water Leaders Academy Final Report, Mark E. Burbach, Robert Matthew Joeckel, Brooke Mott, Gina S. Matkin

Conservation and Survey Division: Faculty and Staff Publications

Fifteen participants completed the 2022 Water Leaders Academy bringing the total number of graduates to 168 since the inception of the program in 2011. Assessments of participants’ transformational leadership skills, champion of innovation skills, water knowledge, engagement with water issues, civic capacity, entrepreneurial leadership behaviors, and boundary spanning skills increased significantly over the course of the year, according to both the participants and their raters. Feedback from the participants was highly positive and constructive. Academy planners are addressing participant concerns. Results of the program assessment indicate that the curriculum is meeting Academy objectives. Therefore, only minor changes are planned for …