groundwater

Groundwater organic matter: carbon source or sink?

WaterUnderground 13th October 2017

The Macquarie River, Wellington, Australia, a major tributary of the Murray-Darling Basin. The river is recharging the groundwater, but how far into the research bore field can we detect elevated concentrations of organic matter?

Post by Andy Baker, Professor researching groundwater, caves, past climate, organic carbon and more at the University of New South Wales, in Australia. __________________________________________________ We know a lot about the carbon cycle, right? Increased carbon dioxide emissions since the Industrial Revolution have perturbed the carbon cycle. This has led to rising atmospheric carbon dioxide le ...[Read More]

Everything is connected

WaterUnderground 23rd September 2017

Post by Anne Van Loon, Lecturer in Physical Geography (Water sciences) at the University of Birmingham, in the United Kingdom. __________________________________________________ In recent years the human dimension of hydrology has become increasingly important. Major flood and drought events have shown how strongly water and society are intertwined (see here and here). The hydro(geo)logical resear ...[Read More]

Humanitarian groundwater projects; notes on motivations from the academic world

WaterUnderground 22nd July 2017

Post by Margaret Shanafield, ARC DECRA Senior Hydrogeology/Hydrology Researcher at Flinders University, in Australia. You can follow Margaret on Twitter at @shanagland. ___________________________________________________________ What led me down the slippery slope into a career in hydrology and then hydrogeology, was a desire to combine my love of traveling with a desire to have a deeper relations ...[Read More]

Good groundwater management makes for good neighbors

WaterUnderground 15th July 2017

Photo found on the Charter for Compassion's website.

Post by Samuel Zipper, postdoctoral fellow at both McGill University and the University of Victoria, in Canada. You can follow Sam on Twitter at @ZipperSam. ___________________________________________________________ Dedicated Water Underground readers know that this blog is not just about water science, but also some of the more cultural impacts of groundwater. Keeping in that tradition, today’s ...[Read More]

Of Karst! – short episodes about karst

WaterUnderground 8th July 2017

Dissolved rock in Zhangjiajie, China (Photo by Matthew Currell)

Episode 2: Dissolving rock? (or, how karst evolves). Post by Andreas Hartmann, Lecturer in Hydrology at the University of Freiburg (Universität Freiburg), in Germany. You can follow Andreas on twitter at @sub_heterogenty. Didn’t get to read Episode 1? Click this link here to do so! ___________________________________________________________ In the previous episode, I introduced karst by show ...[Read More]

Groundwater & Education – Part One

WaterUnderground 2nd July 2017

Post by Viviana Re, postdoctoral researcher at the University of Pavia (Università di Pavia), in Italy. You can follow Viviana on Twitter at @biralnas. Part one of a two part series on groundwater and education by Viviana. ___________________________________________________________ Education /ɛdjʊˈkeɪʃ(ə)n The process of receiving or giving systematic instruction, especially at a school or univer ...[Read More]

What is the difference between ‘water withdrawal’ and ‘water consumption’, and why do we need to know?

WaterUnderground 24th June 2017

Post by Inge de Graaf, University of Freiburg, Environmental Hydrological Systems group ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Last week I had to teach my first class in global hydrology. When I showed the global trend on increasing demands and withdrawals (see Figure) I needed to explain the different terms as sometimes the ...[Read More]

How prehistoric water pit stops may have driven human evolution

WaterUnderground 17th June 2017

Post by Matthew Robert Bennett, Bournemouth University and Mark O Cuthbert, Cardiff University Our ancient ancestors seem to have survived some pretty harsh arid spells in East Africa’s Rift Valley over five million years. Quite how they kept going has long been a mystery, given the lack of water to drink. Now, new research shows that they may have been able to survive on a small networks of sprin ...[Read More]

Fire and groundwater

Andy Baker 3rd June 2017

Post by Andy Baker, University of New South Wales The effects of fire on the surface environment are clear to see. Landscapes are coated in ash. Intense fires can destroy all vegetation and alter soil properties. Less intense fires destroy just the surface leaf litter, grasses and shrubs. Grass fires can be fast moving, destroying buildings and threatening lives. Intense fires can even form their ...[Read More]

Squeezed by gravity: how tides affect the groundwater under our feet

Mark Cuthbert 16th May 2017

Post from the Conversation, by Gabriel C Rau, Ian Acworth, Landon J.S. Halloran, Mark O Cuthbert When returning from a swim in the ocean, sometimes it seems as though your towel has moved. Of course, it’s just that the water line has shifted. The natural rise and fall of the ocean at the beach is an excellent demonstration of gravitational forces exerted by the Sun and the Moon. Although the tidal ...[Read More]