Research Interests
My research falls into three major catagories listed below. Although these topics appear to be unrelated, they are all linked in their focus on fluxes of water across interfaces, or more simply stated, surface water and ground water (broadly defined) interactions. These interactions include quantity of water exchanged across the sediment-water interface, chemical influence of this exchange on both surface water and groundwater quality, diagenetic alteration of aquifer rocks and sediments, and alteration of sediments through which water flows.
Students interested in working on these topics should contact me to learn about opportunities in my laboratory, or go to my page on graduate student opportunities.
 Stream
guaging at Vinzant's Landing, Sante Fe River
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Physical and chemical hydrogeology of karst aquifers Most of my research on karst aquifers focuses on the Floridan aquifer, but I have also been working extensively in the Bahamas and most recently have extend this work to Barbados. My research focuses on how water flowing through conduits exchanges with water of the high-porosity matrix rocks. I have also been active in developing tools to measure and predict fluxes of nutrients through karst watersheds. I have just initiated a project to study the effects on metal diagenesis and organic carbon remineralization as high organic carbon content water reverses into springs during flooding. |
 Retrieving vibracore
from Indian River Lagoon seepage face
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Submarine Ground Water Discharge I am interested in quantifying flux of water from coastal aquifers and its significance to water quality in estuarine and coastal surface water. This work has focused mostly on Indian River Lagoon on the east coast of peninsular Florida, but other areas include Tampa Bay, Bahamas, Barbados and Brazil. Most recently, I have been studying the redox chemistry (particularly of metals) of the pore water in the aquifers and how this chemistry influences reminerallization of organic carbon. |
 Sampling
a methane seep 1000 m below the surface of Monterey Bay, CA using
ROV Ventana from Monterey Bay
Aquarium Research Institute
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Methane cold seeps in the deep sea and their record in biogenic and authigenic minerals My work on methane cold seeps involves using foraminifera to estimate the longevity of the seeps as a means to estimate fluxes of potential greenhouse gases such as methane. This work led to the recognition that the foraminifera precipitate their tests (shells) far from isotopic equilibrium with the dissolved inorganic carbon in the water. For the past several years, I have been working to understand the causes of this disequilibrium, which will lead to a better understand of fluxes of methane and other solutes to the oceans. |
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This page was last updated July 20, 2009.