Research Projects

From GeoMod

This page outlines my research projects and provides links to my and my students' ongoing work and publications. By providing a transparent, active archive of current work this site is intended promote this research and offer a window into the scientific process.

The more detailed summary of ongoing research can be found here.

Interactions between ground and surface water

Ground/Surface Water Interactions Project

• Looking at the effects of groundwater discharge on surface flow and geomorphology.
  • Ground/Surface Water Interactions in small streams in the Mississippi Embayment

Groundwater model used in Journal of Hydrology article showing gw/sw interactions at the confined/unconfined aquifer transition.

Dan Neilans measuring streambed temperatures for his MS thesis.

Streambed temperature maps for potential Journal of Hydrology article.

Sandbox for simulating gw/sw interactions.

Surface/Ground Water interactions: The Mississippi River

Map showing the Sunflower River Low Flow Augmentation Project groundwater model area.

• Investigating the water-bearing potential of the Sunflower River Low Flow Augmentation Project for the Yazoo Mississippi Delta Joint Water Management District (YMD). The YMD is particularly interested in analyzing the degree of connection between the well field of the Flow Augmentation Project and the Mississippi River.

• The Sunflower River Flow Augmentation Project model

• Thesis: Josh Epting's Thesis Project - Using pump tests and numerical modeling (with MODFLOW) to answer the research question.

Site location (Google Map).

Model boundary conditions.

Aquifer net fluxes.

Drawdowns of heads.

Saltwater intrusion: Climate change, sea-level rise, tsunamis, storms

Tsunami salinization project

• These projects use numerical modeling to examine the effects of climate, tsunamis and storms on the rate of saltwater intrusion.
  • Tsunami inundation effects

Tsunami inundation effects on small islands.

Saltwater intrusion due to sea-level rise induced by projected global warming on Nantucket Island, MA, USA

Groundwater age dating and the origin of freshwater in the southwestern Murray Basin, Australia

Transient groundwater impacts on the development of paleoclimatic lake records in semi-arid environments (Murray Basin, Australia)

Chertman

Chertman: An agent based simulation of toolstone procurement

A model to simulate the procurement of lithic raw material assemblages for paleolithic archaeological sites using a random agent.

Single walk random walk.

Assemblage of random walks from Chertman model

Best chertman simulation from poster Media:Chertman_poster.pdf

Rodney Quarles' Thesis

Link Farm Geoarchaeology

A project to investigate the link between environmental conditions and the rise and prehistoric societies in the Tennessee and Duck River Valleys.

• Link Farm Geoarchaeology Project.
• FRG 2007 - Small proposal that outlines the project.
• Link Farm exploratory Giddings coring - Our first attempt to take a Giddings core from the sacred pond and one of the mounds that was probably the site of the settlement's chieftain's house.

Dr. Christoph Geiss and undergraduate crew from Trinity College and the University of Memphis on Coring expedition.

Target site for Giddings core.

Geo-biology hydrothermal chimney model

Image from model of high temperature reactor.

Using an experimental apparatus an numerical modeling to simulate a slice of a hydrothermal chimney.

• Geobio chimney project

Geoscience Education

Winning vehicle from agent-based modeling assignment from Introduction to Modeling class.

Projects:

• GeoMod: Using interactive numerical models in the Earth Sciences,
• MovieClassroom: The application of online-collaborative technology to improve learning by having students create and use peer-produced educational media.
• GeoClasses: Incorporating student knowledge and experience into education using Wikis.

Interactive, 3d VPython groundwater model.

Coriolis Model documented in Urbano and Houghton, 2006

MovieClassroom online video production for the Geosciences.

Images from David Eldred's extra-credit, student project for Weather and Climate in Spring 2006.