Quantifying water movement and contaminant transport in the Earth’s subsurface are the critical issues addressed during presentations offered through the 2017 Henry Darcy Distinguished Lecture Series in Groundwater Science. Earth’s subsurface is part of the ‘critical zone’ – the layer of the planet from the tops of the trees to the bottom of groundwater. 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 groundwater 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 worked at the US Geological Survey Branch of Geophysics from 1997 to 2000 and was a member of the faculty at Pennsylvania State University from 2005 to 2012. Singha earned her BS in geophysics from the University of Connecticut in 1999 and her PhD in hydrogeology from Stanford University in 2005.
The lecture series is named in honor of Henry Darcy of France for his 1856 investigations that established the physical basis upon which groundwater hydrogeology has been studied ever since. The National Ground Water Research and Educational Foundation makes the Darcy Lecture available at no fee for presentations at universities and professional associations throughout the world. Click here to learn more about the lectures or request a presentation.