Groundwater and Environmental Research
Groundwater research
- Risk assessment of groundwater contamination. Real-time data integration in groundwater flow and transport modeling using the ensemble Kalman filter. Optimal monitoring network design for groundwater management.
- Groundwater protection and aquifer vulnerability. Groundwater quality. Acid rock drainage from mines.
- Groundwater and surface water interaction along the White River on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.
- Land subsidence modeling. Aquifer system response to pumping through ground-surface elevation monitoring with Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR).
- Understanding flow and transport processes in the Madison aquifer. Caves modeling using multiple point geostatistics.
- Fate and transport of contaminants; natural attenuation processes.
- Stray gas migration through shallow aquifers.
Environmental research
- Environmental effects of mine drainage and tailings disposal. Subsurface contamination and environmental remediation. Water monitoring and water quality assessment on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation through the NSF Pre-Engineering Education Collaborative (PEEC) Program.
- Environmental risks of fracking.
- Impacts of energy development to air, water, landscapes, and ecosystems.
- Mitigation measures for carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.
Faculty
- Yi Fang
Geomechanics, Geofluids, Geoengineering, Geo-energy (geothermal, unconventional hydrocarbon, and subsurface CO2 storage)
- Kurt Katzenstein
InSAR, Geohazards, Geomechanics
- Sarah Keenan
Low-temperature geochemistry, Geomicrobiology
- Liangping Li
Groundwater, Geostatistics, Data assimilation - Larry Stetler
Geological engineering, Site characterization, 3D imaging
Emeritus Faculty
- Arden Davis
Groundwater modeling, Contaminant transport, Arsenic and heavy metals
- Perry Rahn
Engineering geology, Hydrogeology - Foster Sawyer
Groundwater, Petroleum, Sedimentation
URLs
http://www.westdakotawater.com/
https://www.sdsmt.edu/aquifers/
http://www.sdsmt.edu/Academics/Mining-Hub