I am a first year PhD student working with Dr. Peter Kang and Dr. Crystal Ng in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences. My work centers around understanding flow and transport dynamics in SE Minnesota karst systems and how these karst systems contribute to regional nitrate fate and transport. To investigate these processes, I conduct field tracer tests in a karst spring system and use this information to model the relationship between karst conduits and the surrounding matrix, with the hope of better predicting transport processes in karst aquifers. I have been building models of groundwater flow using MODFLOW and its associated conduit flow package MODFLOW-CFP, as well as MT3DMS to discretely model conduit systems and flow and transport within the springshed. I have been fortunate to work with multiple modeling experts in addition to my advisor, namely Dr. Chloe Fandel at Carleton College and Dr. Seonkyoo Yoon, a postdoctoral researcher in Kang research group at UMN. Moving forward, I hope to implement machine learning into my models to study parameter sensitivity, and I hope to attend a reactive transport modeling workshop this July. This research will provide insight into the subsurface behavior of karst groundwater and into the sensitivity of different conduit model parameters.
In addition to this modeling work, I am conducting laboratory core flooding experiments to better understand how karstification occurs as a function of flow rate. This information will not only elucidate how karst conduits emerge but also how dissolution driven by flow in conduits and fractures can result in the release of geogenic contaminants such as arsenic. We are conducting these experiments by injecting acidic fluid through rock cores pressurized to in situ conditions along with fluorescent and radionuclide tracers to observe how changes in fracture geometry impact transport behavior. The results of this work are expected to have implications for karst evolution and for artificial recharge processes such as managed aquifer recharge.
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