News
Ground water movement, contaminant transport in Earth’s subsurface the focus of 2017 Darcy lectures

Westerville, OH – Two lectures in the 2017 Henry Darcy Distinguished Lecture Series in Groundwater Science will address quantifying water movement and contaminant transport in the Earth’s subsurface.

Earth’s subsurface is part of the “critical zone” – the layer of the planet from the tops of the trees to the bottom of ground water, the National Ground Water Association said in a news release. This zone is a sensitive region, open to impacts from human activities, while providing the water necessary for human consumption and food production.

The 2017 Darcy lecturer, Dr. Kamini Singha, will offer a choice of two lectures at participating universities and professional associations:

•    “The Critical Role of Water in Critical Zone Science: An Exploration of Water Fluxes in the Earth’s Permeable Skin” examines the geophysical tools used to study key processes that control water movement and availability in the subsurface where there is no easy access for observation.
•    “A Tale of Two Porosities: Exploring Why Contaminant Transport Doesn’t Always Behave the Way It Should” explores the long-term goals of work being conducted that aims to contribute toward improving the predictive capabilities of numerical models and enhancing the fidelity of long-term ground water monitoring frameworks.

Singha is a professor in the department of geology and geological engineering and the associate director of the hydrologic science and engineering program at the Colorado School of Mines. She holds a PhD in hydrogeology from Stanford University.