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Hydrology

Program & Research

自20世纪50年代成立以来，地球与环境中的水文项目 Science (E&ES) department at New Mexico Tech has been working across disciplines to answer water questions impacting society and the world. Our focus is on building scientific understanding of basic processes that shape global water sustainability one, five, ten and even fifty years in the future. The hydrology program has five full-time faculty members and close collaborations across the E&ES department. Additionally, we work 与威尼斯人app下载的其他研究机构以及更广泛的水文学密切合作 community throughout New Mexico and the USA.

Research in the hydrology program touches on every aspect of the science of water, which has led the program to play a central role in the E&ES department. Major research 区域包括流域和河流水文学和地貌学，流域尺度到大陆尺度 水文地质，热液和地下能源系统，如碳捕获和 underground storage and geothermal energy, and hydrogeophysics.

我们的研究跨越了从原子尺度到颗粒尺度，从孔隙尺度到区域尺度 以及大陆规模的过程，尽管我们的机构规模很小，但接触 on nearly every aspect in between.

What is hydrology?

moonsoon-Mountain

Monsoon precipitation over M Mountain outside of Socorro, NM.

  

水文学领域回答的问题是地球上有多少水，水有多快 它是流动的（物理水文）吗？它里面有什么？它的成分是如何变化的 through time and space (chemical hydrology). This is necessarily broad: hydrologists study systems ranging from flow in tiny pores and cracks or at the scale of single 沙粒，流到一条小溪或含水层中的一口井，流到一个分水岭 or basin, to an entire continent or subducting plate boundary.

Within the water cycle, we work on everything involving water from the top of the 树冠向下穿过地壳允许水流的部分——通常向下几层 kilometers. If you are worried about how much water a community has now or will have in the future, hydrologists are working on understanding these questions. 

post-monsoon

Post-Monsoon runoff in Socorro, NM.

        
flash-flood

Dan Cadol stranded on a bar during a flash flood on the Arroyo de los Pinos.

水文学家几乎涉及到世界应对气候变化的方方面面 change because of its direct impact on the hydrologic cycle. At New Mexico Tech, we are working on understanding climate change impacts from the top of the watershed to the sea. We are studying how increased forest fires and decreasing snowpack are impacting streamflows. Hydrologists are also responsible for providing the data and models for resilient management of groundwater both in wild areas and for farmers and cities as climate changes. These studies involve a 混合直接测量和使用地球物理和卫星图像来理解 the world beyond human perception.

But hydrologists are also involved with mitigating climate change. Hydrologists work on teams to discover and develop geothermal energy resources. We work on teams to store energy and waste – like hydrogen, CO2 and nuclear waste – underground. This involves a mix of modeling and experimental work focused 关于流体的流动和输送，水驱动的化学反应和理解 of earthquakes and induced seismicity.

水文学家还通过跟踪水的变化来研究地表水和洪水 from rainfall to flow on hillslopes to streamflow.  Hydrologists are developing new 挽救生命、减轻财产损失的洪水预报和预警方法. 水文学家也研究洪水期间泥沙的产生和移动 water resources and flood prediction. The history of floods, or the sedimentary record 由过去的水流产生，也是了解古代气候的一种方式，从100年到10000年， to 1,000,000s of years ago.

Hydrologists use combinations of field observations, laboratory measurements, and numerical models to answer questions across  scales of space and time. Because of 无法进入地下甚至只有一小部分地表 在地球上，我们使用广泛的工具，经常跨其他学科（土木工程）工作 工程学、土壤学、地球化学、地球物理、沉积学、地貌学) to answer our questions.

Major divisions

Watershed and stream hydrology (Daniel Cadol and Kate Leary)

Water is the primary sculptor of Earth’s surface– eroding sediment from mountains 和高原，然后通过河流和小溪将沉积物输送到下游 ocean. For centuries, rivers and their floodplains have served as resource centers vital to the evolution of human beings. They are also vital freshwater resources for flora and fauna. Understanding the interplay between rivers, human society, and ecology is key to understanding how Earth's surface evolves through time. Additionally, river deposits form the building blocks of the stratigraphic record. By understanding river dynamics in the present, we can shed light on river dynamics in deep time. Our group 旨在了解从粮食尺度到流域尺度的河流系统动态 at present and in the geologic past.

student-Socorro-highschool

Students from Socorro High School exploring river dynamics in the EmRiver teaching and experimental stream table.

        
students_RioGrande

Students gauging the Rio Grande at Escondida.

Dr. Cadol’s research includes field observations of water and sediment transport in ephemeral channels during violent floods at a state-of-the-art flume with sediment traps, ultrasonic bedload monitoring, stage monitoring, and seismic monitoring, as 以及测量蒸散，径流和沉积物的生产在燃烧 forests. 

Dr. Leary’s research focuses on using experimental geomorphology to elucidate details of bedform dynamics in modern and ancient environments. In modern environments, Dr. Leary和她的学生研究了河床输运的颗粒尺度动力学 dunes as well as bedform dynamics through flood events. These experimental data not only provide glimpses into modern systems, but can be used to develop new process sedimentology statistical tools to interpret ancient river deposits. Dr. Leary and 她的学生使用这些新工具来研究古河流的古流动动力学 systems such as the paleo-Rio Grande. 

MS-student

EES硕士学生，Leah Tevis，在亚利桑那进行泥沙输送实验 State University River Dynamics Laboratory.

Hydrogeology (Mark Person, Alex Rinehart and Glenn Spinelli)

地下水流不仅仅是指含水层中的水量，还包括控制 俯冲板块的地震危险，放射性核素等污染物的运输， 地表水供应的弹性，与古淡水的存在有关 and offshore. Hydrogeology researchers at NMT combine a mix of numerical modeling, 地下水年龄、化学和同位素组成的实地观测和采样， geophysical characterization including temperature, gravity and magnetotellurics, and more to understand flow of water in the subsurface.

fluid-flow-model

描绘地壳内部流体流动推动机制的示意图 (from Person and Baumgartner, 1995).

Hydrothermal systems and subsurface energy storage (Mark Person, Glenn Spinelli and Alex Rinehart)

与地球化学的同事们一起，水文学项目在 the formation and flow of water in hydrothermal systems, as well as understanding how introducing CO2 and other external fluids to reservoirs changes the formation properties. Geothermal and hydrothermal systems occur where heat builds up faster than it can be advected out, leading to hot (>100°C) waters and possible overpressures. 

Mark Person利用地球物理学的结合来探索活跃和盲目的地热系统 (magnetotellurics), numerical modeling and geothermometry. Working on large teams 珀森和同事们一起进行了探索，比如NM地质局的莎莉·凯利 a number of geothermal systems around New Mexico.

Glenn Spinelli has been working on understanding the movement of heat and water in oceanic crust as it is subducted. He has used numerical simulations, detailed thin 剖面分析和岩石性质测量，以及海底钻探和温度 measurements to understand these systems.

Alex Rinehart has been leading a team of researchers in the hydrology program and at the Petroleum Recovery Research Center on exploring how the introduction of CO2 长期储存会改变储存的强度、渗透性和化学性质 formations. He primarily uses high-pressure, high-temperature experiments to mimic 地下条件，然后是详细的薄切片和更高分辨率的观测 to understand the type and degree of damage. Additionally, his labs measure relative permeability and mutilphase-flow properties of rocks.

student-cruise

EES硕士研究生Matt Perry准备在俄勒冈州近海部署热流探测器 (on a research cruise with Glenn Spinelli).

       
experiments

前NMT MS学生，现为PRRC研究员杰森·西蒙斯， 通过高温渗流实验来了解二氧化碳对地层的损害 injection and storage.

 

magnetotelluric

图(A)磁强计的现场部署照片，作为“真相或后果”的一部分 magnetotelluric (MT) field campaign. (B) MT sites near Truth or Consequences. (C ) Idealized geologic cross section showing fractured, permeable crystalline basement rocks (purple), aquifer/confining units system (turquoise to orange), and Tertiary basin fill (red). Not that sedimentary units are absent due to erosion near the Hot Spring District. White arrows denote groundwater flow system through the crystalline basement. We hypothesize that along the flow path, groundwater is heated to > 100 °C. Fluid-rock interactions increase salinity of up to 2000 mg/l. Under these conditions, rock formation resistivity becomes more conductive (higher values). (D) Formation resistivity map along flow path (source: Pepin, 2019).

 

Hydrogeophysics (Susan Bilek, Dan Cadol, Alex Rinehart, and Glenn Spinelli)

作为环境地震学研究项目的一部分，Bilek使用了地震能量

由浅层/表层过程产生，以帮助表征环境力量 such as water and bedload transport.  Her current projects in this area include characterizing 在佛罗里达州北部的浅层喀斯特含水层的流动，以及跟踪床质运动 during monsoon flash floods in New Mexico and Israel.  These projects are heavily 跨学科，与同事在水文学，大地测量学，地貌学都涉及 in field data collection and analysis.

hammer-survey

比莱克，斯皮内利和学生进行浅层地球物理锤调查(斯皮内利 is swinging the hammer!) at the Arroyo de los Pinos site to characterize the shallow velocity structure and determine depth-to-water table. This is part of a larger study using a seismic network to understand bedload and turbulent water flow in channels.

        
student_gravity

一名本科生在塞维利亚塔国家公园进行区域重力调查 Wildlife Refuge.

student-GPS一名研究生在维护一个GPS监测站，监测纽州南部的地下水 Mexico.

    

Spinelli has ongoing research focused on fault-zone permeability and hydrology. This 工作偶井监测，电阻率和阻抗测量和详细 outcrop and thin-section geology of sandstones along the Rio Grande rift.

莱因哈特正致力于利用地表变形和重力测量来理解 movement of water in the subsurface. He has run repeat gravity surveys to understand surface water-groundwater interactions. He has also led efforts with undergraduate students to conduct regional gravity surveys to understand basin geometry, and, in turn, how that controls large scale groundwater flow. He is also working with Bilek 合作者们将如何利用地表变形来了解含水层 properties across scales rather than being limited to single wells.

Faculty and teaching

Susan Bilek. Source physics and environmental seismology

Daniel Cadol. Watershed and stream processes, forest fire hydrogeomorphology

Kate Leary. Fluvial geomorphology and process sedimentology.

Mark Person. Hydrogeology and hydrogeophysics.

Fred Phillips (Emeritus). Hydrogeology, environmental tracers and cosmogenic nuclide geochronology 

Alex Rinehart. Hydrogeophysics, subsurface energy storage and environmental rock mechanics.

Glenn Spinelli. 海洋水文地质学，断裂带水文与沉积学和沉积物性质.

John Wilson (Emeritus). Hydrogeology and karst hydrology