Using environmental tracers to estimate distributed groundwater discharge, source and residence time
The primary goal of this project is to identify locations of groundwater discharge, quantify groundwater discharge volume, and characterize the residence time and chemical composition of groundwater discharge to a study reach along the upper Clark Fork River near Warm Springs. We will synoptically sample the stream for a suite of environmental tracers, discharge and water quality including major and minor elemental chemistry, pH, dissolved oxygen, and specific conductivity. Models of stream discharge and geochemical transport will be fit to the observed synoptic datasets. The result will be a spatially distributed map of groundwater discharge location, magnitude, age, and geochemical composition along the reach. This map will help scientists, engineers and resource managers develop better conceptual models of groundwater-stream water interactions in this complex area, optimize future research and remediation design, and better forecast long-term recovery of water quality. The techniques developed during this study, will further enhance the use of environmental tracer surveys to constrain groundwater-stream water interactions and provide the technical basis, and seed data sets for future, large-scale research proposals aimed at expanding the spatial and temporal scope of application and interpretation
Dr. Gardner is an Associate Professor of Hydrogeology, in the Department of Geosciences at The University of Montana. Dr. Gardner’s research and teaching is centered around groundwater and its role in hydrologic, geochemical and geological processes, with particular focus on mountain aquifer systems, regional groundwater flow and groundwater and stream water interactions.