Hydrogeology/Environmental Geology

Faculty and Researchers

Dr. Phil Bennett - (chair)
Dr. Bridget Scanlon
Dr. Jack Sharp
Dr. Jay Banner
Dr. Liang Yang - Climate Research - (chair)

Current and recent research projects

• Analysis of sedimentary basin evolution: Fluid pressure, diagenesis, temperature, and chemistry; coastal subsidence and retreat.
• Geochemistry and hydrogeology of carbonate systems: The Bahamas, Jamaica, 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.
• Geochemistry and hydrogeology of carbonate systems: The Bahamas, Jamaica, 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.
• 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.

• Ground penetrating radar system
• Airborne Optech LIDAR system for fine-scale topographic mapping
• Aero-geophysical instrument package (radar, gravity, LIDAR, magnetometers) most often used in Antarctica

• JEOL JXA-8200 electron microprobe with five wavelength-dispersive spectrometers and an energydispersive spectrometer
• JEOL T330A SEM both with EDS and CL detectors with RGB color filtration
• Two Micromass inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometers - the IsoProbe and the Platform both instruments can be interfaced with a Merchantek 213-nmwavelength laser-ablation unit for spatially resolved analysis
• Finnigan-MAT 261 TIMS with seven faraday cups and one ion-counting channel
• 3 Ultra -clean laboratories support preparation of samples for rubidium-strontium, uranium-lead, Useries disequilibrium dating, Sm-Nd, and other isotopic analysis
• Two VG gas-source mass spectrometers for hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, and carbon stable-isotope analysis
• Micromass Multiprep automated preparation system for water and carbonate analyses
• Gas-source mass spectrometer for conventional potassium-argon dating
• Jobin Yvon 70P optical-emission inductively coupled plasma spectrometer
• Dual-high-resolution X-ray computed tomographic scanner (the only instrument of its kind in an academic science department in the world) used for nondestructive three-dimensional visualization and analysis of the internal structure of geologic samples
• Siemens D500 X-ray diffractometer with EDS detector, Datascan automation software and JADE pattern analysis
• Paleomagnetic laboratory with a shielded room, 2G cryogenic magnetometer, Bartington susceptibility meter, and ASC impulse magnetizer
• Environmental analytical laboratory including 3 HPLC’s, 3 gas chromatographs, carbon analyzer, and spectrophotometer
• Phillips/FEI XL30 environmental SEM with EDS and CL detectors with RGB filtration
• Edge R400 real-time high-resolution 3D light microscope

• Edge R400 real-time high-resolution 3D light microscope
• USGS-type gas-flow fluid inclusion stage; and a Technosyn luminoscope Geophysical research
• Portable multi-channel seismographs with vertical and 3-component geophones
• Ground penetrating radar system
• LaCoste-Romberg gravimeter
• airborne Optech LIDAR system for fine-scale topographic mapping
• Five portable broad-band Guralp seismographs for teleseismic studies
• Two Vibroseis seismic sources, for both low and high frequency 3-axis shaking
• Ten dual-frequency geodetic quality GPS receivers with choke-ring antennas
• Portable field magnetometers
• Aero-geophysical instrument package (radar, gravity, LIDAR, magnetometers) most often used in Antarctica
• Ocean bottom seismometer system with 3-component geophones and hydrophone

• 1-m x 1.5-m x 10-m flume for sediment transport studies
• Wind tunnel with slipface and rotating substrate Computational facilities for data processing, data interpretation, and numerical simulation
• Multiple workstation clusters with Sun and SGI hardware, as well as Windows and Macintosh systems
• Most major commercial software packages for seismic data processing and interpretation are available, along with software for GIS, potential field, synthetic aperture radar, and other applications
• 1-m x 1.5-m x 10-m flume for sediment transport studies

• The 165,000-item Joseph C. and Elizabeth C. Walter Geology Library and Tobin International Map Collection, both located in the Geology Building
• UT-BEG sample repository including cores from over 3000 wells and cuttings from about 70,000 wells

• Well-equipped petrographic laboratory and thinsection technician, with a separate thin-section laboratory for student use
• Machine and electronics shops
• Two analytical chemists
• Two professional computer support staff
• Computer graphics specialist
• Photographer

Revised Month, YEAR