The hydrogeology, environment and climate change research group at the
University’s Jackson School reflects the strong connections between the land,
water and atmosphere. The Jackson School excels in climate modeling,
land-atmosphere interactions, reconstruction of paleoclimate records,
hydroclimatology, hydrometeorology, isotope hydrology of groundwater and surface
water systems, geomicrobiology, physical hydrogeology, hydrogeology of urban
environments and karst hydrogeology.
Researchers are motivated by several overarching questions: How is the
surface of the Earth changing? What has been the impact of human activity on the
Earth? How sustainable are our water resources? How has climate changed in the
past? How will climate change in the future? How will climate change affect the
land surface (e.g., water resources, air quality, high-latitude water storage
and albedo)? How realistic are climate models? How can we improve them? And how
uncertain are climate-model predictions?
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The University of Texas at Austin campus is close to many unique and
beautiful hydrogeological features which offer students and researchers ample
opportunities for research. These include Edwards Aquifer, Barton Springs,
Hamilton Pool, Bull Creek, Colorado River, San Marcos River and Springs, and
Salado Springs. The city of Austin itself is located in a karst discharge area
which is undergoing rapid urbanization. Farther afield, the State of Texas
offers a wide variety of hydrogeological settings which include arid basins in
the west, the Ogallala aquifer of the High Plains, Precambrian rocks of the
Llano Uplift, and the large Gulf Coast aquifers.
One focus in hydrogeology is to characterize the geologic and hydrologic
controls on subsurface microbial growth, metabolism, and community structure,
and the geochemical consequences of microbial biochemical processes. Students
and researchers also investigate silicate dissolution kinetics, karst and cave
formation, sediment transport in karst aquifers, and contaminant transport in
fractured rock aquifers, including the fate of pharmaceuticals in karst
aquifers.
In physical hydrogeology, researchers investigate regional groundwater flow
systems in Texas; pressure-thermal-salinity evolution of deep basins and related
coastal subsidence; groundwater flow in fractured media; the hydrogeologic
properties of partially welded and densely welded tuffs; the role of fracture
skins in contaminant transport; characterizing and modeling the effects of
urbanization on groundwater flow; characterization of surface roughness in
fractures; and the effect of utility trenches on groundwater flow; urban induced
recharge.
Other avenues of investigation include the origin and evolution of carbonate
rocks, groundwater, surface water, and the oceans.
These subjects are explored using a range of approaches that include field
studies, petrography, isotope and trace element geochemistry, geochronology, and
modeling. Examples of research projects using these approaches are studies of
cave deposits as records of the links between climate change and hydrology,
studies of carbonate rocks as records of the chemistry of ancient oceans, and
studies of modern aquifers in urbanizing environments.
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Three research units conduct much of the environmental research at the
University.
The Environmental Science Institute is a multi-disciplinary institute for basic
scientific research in global and local environmental studies. Locally, there is
heightened awareness of the numerous environmental problems facing the State of
Texas and the Texas-Mexico borderlands. These include the contamination and
depletion of water supplies, contamination of the atmosphere and the
encroachment of non-native species, all in the face of one of the most rapidly
growing populations in the country.
The Bureau of Economic Geology’s researchers are developing programs that relate
energy and the environment, including a major initiative in sequestration of
greenhouse gases. The group investigates characteristics and processes of
shallow Earth systems and impacts of human activities on those systems.
The Center for International Energy and Environmental Policy supports research
informing governments and corporations worldwide on the formulation of policies
and strategies on energy and the environment.
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In the area of climate, researchers in the Department of Geological Sciences
are focusing on research topics including mathematical modeling of the land
surface processes and their role in controlling weather and climate. They are
also interested in characterizing vegetation and snow cover and their influence
on surface energy and water balances, using ground-based and remotely-sensed
datasets. They are interested in quantifying the relative role of land versus
oceans in determining rainfall in the southwest and south central U.S. They are
developing tools for assessing the potential impacts of heavy precipitation
associated with severe weather on urban watersheds and flash flood prediction.
They are also investigating the impacts of vegetation-produced chemicals (or
biogenic emissions) on air quality.
Another set of climate researchers at The
Institute for Geophysics has strengths in five disciplines: climate
theory and dynamics; ice-sheet dynamics; ocean dynamics; paleoclimatology; and
uncertainties and data inversion. High-profile climate problems are addressed in
these disciplines using quantitative models of the dynamic processes of the
atmosphere, cryosphere, ocean, and lithosphere; modern satellite, airborne, and
in situ measurements of these components of the Earth system; climate proxy time
series (paleorecords); and analytical techniques to assess uncertainties in
model predictions and proxy reconstructions of climate.
Example science questions address: the ocean's role in the recent destructive
power of Atlantic Hurricanes; the origin of abrupt climate change; processes
regulating the deposition and dissipation of energy in the ocean;
sources of discrepancies in model predictions of future climate; the role of the
tropics in past climate states as can be observed within proxy records developed
from ocean sediments and fossil corals; and the observation and analysis of
surface and subsurface water systems in Greenland and Antarctica and their roles in
observed accelerations in polar ice mass wasting.
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- Analysis of sedimentary basin evolution: Fluid pressure, diagenesis,
temperature, and chemistry; coastal subsidence and retreat.
- Geochemistry and hydrogeology of carbonate systems: The Bahamas,
Barbados, and Trans Pecos and the Edwards Aquifer, Texas.
- Hydrogeology of ancient and recent, alluvial, fluvial, and deltaic
systems: integrated field studies and model simulations.
- Hydrogeology of semi-arid basins: Physical and chemical analysis of
regional aquifer systems and problems of waste disposal and endangered
species.
- Fractured systems: Calculation of fracture-skin properties and the
effect on infiltration and solute transport; geological parameterization of
fracture hydrology
- Hydrogeology of reclaimed lignite strip mines: Flow systems evolution
and pore-fluid geochemistry; parameterization with field and numerical
methods.
- Microbiological controls of mineral diagenesis: Field and laboratory
investigations of bacteria processes in the early diagenesis of carbonates
and silicates.
- Fate and transport of organic contaminants: Geochemical studies of the
loss, transformation, and degradation reactions of volatile aromatics and
nitroaromatic explosives.
- Hydrogeology of large-scale aquifer systems, midcontinent, US.
- Tracing fluid-rock interaction using isotopes and trace elements.
- Playa wetland geochemistry: Field and lab analysis of soil gas and pore
water to determine biogeochemical influences on playa hydrology.
- Patterns of vertebrate evolution, biodiversity and biogeography
throughout the Quaternary, and the responses of different vertebrate groups
to the various changes in climate that took place during the last two
million years.
- Quaternary soil erosion in central Texas, by using Sr isotope
composition as a proxy for paleo-soil thickness.
- Vegetation change, and climate change associated with the uplift of the
Himalayas and Tibetan Plateaus by examination of the oxygen and carbon
isotope ratios of fossils and soil formed minerals.
- Effects of uplift of the Southern Patagonian Andes on climate.
- Biogeochemistry of a chemoautotrophic cave ecosystem in Wyoming.
- Measurement and modeling of micrometeorological variables.
- Development and validation of biosphere-atmosphere interaction
parameterization schemes.
- Implementation of biosphere-atmosphere interaction schemes into global
climate models
- Interpretation of global climate models results using statistical
methods.
- Employment of climate models to study impacts of tropical deforestation
and El Nino on climate.
- Mapping global land surface cover parameters using theory-based
averaging rules and remotely sensed land cover classes.
- Identifying precursory signals (e.g., changes in sea surface
temperature, soil moisture, and snow cover) associated with the North
American summer monsoon rainfall.
- Improve modeling of snow albedo (or reflectivity), snow cover area and
spatial heterogeneity, and snowpack accmulation and melt in global climate
models.
- Paleoclimate Records and Climate Dynamics of the Western Pacific Warm
Pool From the Chemistry of Fossil Corals and Speleothems
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Researchers run climate and hydrogeology models on the computers of the Texas
Advanced Computing Center, including the Lonestar Supercomputer, a cluster
capable of a peak performance of 55.5 Teraflops.
The program operates state of the art equipment for analysis of paleoclimate
proxy records, including ICPMS, TIMS, IRMS, cryogenic magnetometer, laser
ablation and microdrilling tools. Other major equipment includes:
an aerogeophysical system (ice-penetrating radar, laser altimeter, gravity and
magnetics instruments); flumes
for physical modeling of sediment transport; an electron microprobe; SEM; HPLC;
gas chromatographs; a carbon analyzer, a spectrophotometer; and mass
spectrometers.
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Support & Opportunities
Students in hydrogeology, environment and climate change have the opportunity
to conduct significant field research. One example is analysis of cave
deposits from the Caribbean, the Western Pacific Warm Pool, and central Texas.
A recent research project focused on understanding the hydrogeology and
speleogenesis of one of the deepest and most fascinating underwater caves in
the world, Sistema Zacatón in Mexico.
Research opportunities are greatly expanded due to three research units: the
Environmental Science Institute, the Center for International Energy &
Environmental Policy and the Bureau of Economic Geology, the latter of which
functions as both the State Geological Survey.
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