Ever wonder whether rock weathers?

When driving along Interstate 80 between Cheyenne and Laramie, you may have marveled at one of Wyoming's most colorful natural landmarks: Vedauwoo, a collection of plump pink granite rock hills.  Janet Dewey, a researcher in the Department of Geology and Geophysics, believes that their curious shape results in part from variable rates of chemical weathering of different rocks, and gradual erosion through rainfall, snowmelt, and temperature changes.  As she explains, "The rate at which different rocks weather governs the landscape, topographic expression, and the porosity in the rock."  Vedauwoo is one striking example of a phenomenon that shapes the intermountain west.

Rock varieties in Wyoming, including pink granite on the far left
(photo credit: Janet Dewey)

Since weathering affects the form and density of rocks, it also plays a major role in how water flows and where it is stored.  Weathering can change the chemical composition of rocks, as when weather leaches out elements like calcium.  When rocks and water come in contact, the chemical composition of both can change; this in turn changes the relationship between the two.  For example, if dissolving a portion of the rock changes the acidity of the water, then the rate of chemical weathering can also change.  Weathering and erosion can also include factors like slope and aspect.  One side of the mountain might be steeper, and one side might spend more time in direct sunlight.

Weathering also influences climate.  Weathering of silicate rock is "a pretty big sink" for carbon dioxide.  "Silicate minerals in the rock react with carbonic acid, consume carbon dioxide and produce weathering products that depend on the minerals present," explained Dewey.

Dewey and others on the weathering research team hope to identify what controls rates of weathering and erosion of rocks in the Laramie Range.  "Like many scientific problems, it's a scaling issue.  What we see at the micro scale is not necessarily what we see at the landscape scale."

Glass column reactors
(photo credit: Janet Dewey)

Their study near the Laramie area includes several different techniques.  First is the micro (or very small) scale which includes column experiments to test the weathering of different kinds of rock.  Dewey and her team have build glass column reactors containing three kinds of crushed rock, including the pink granite that is iconic to Vedauwoo.  Water continuously flows through the columns and is allowed to react with the minerals in the rock.  They test the water runoff for traces of elements like calcium, iron, and phosphorus.  You can see a picture of these columns at left.

Another step involves taking samples of rock at different locations and mapping weathering profiles.  Researchers can also look at thinly-sliced rock under a petrographic microscope to analyze the structure, mineralogy, and grain size of the various rock types and how those features might influence weathering.  The group also uses techniques that will help them determine the landscape-scale erosion rates.  These data will be combined with geophysical data to create a multilayered map of the region.

Graph showing different minerals found in column reactor runoff
(image credit: Cassie Nauer)

After this phase, the team increases the "suite," or set of rocks in the water column study.  The researchers are currently testing three types of rock, but will increase to eight types.  They will also test faster rates of water flow, to determine if there is a predictable relationship between flow and rate of chemical weathering.

Graph showing column reactor runoff rates over time
(image credit: Cassie Nauer)

Dewey's motivation to explore weathering comes from an interest in understanding the future and a curiosity about the past.  She says, "From my perspective, one of the biggest issues confronting us in the future is going to be water quantity and quality.  We need to know as much as we can about the relationship between water and the rock it passes through.  Without that understanding it's easy for us to make mistakes."

In considering the past, she added, "If you've ever gone out on the landscape at Veedauwoo and stood there by those rocks, you think: Why do they tower four stories above me and I'm standing on flat weathered rock that seems to be made of the same material?  Why does that beautiful landscape exist - that we take pictures of, and climb on, and love to visit year round?  If we are sitting on one giant granite batholith, why isn't it the same across the landscape?  That's a cool question."

by Jess White 

ICCE Expedition on Dinwoody Glacier

Dinwoody Glacier (photo credit: Kyle Nicholoff)

The word glacier conjures polar ice and Patagonian steppes, so you might be surprised to learn that the largest glacier in the lower forty-eight states is right here in Wyoming, in the Wind River Basin Mountain Range: Gannet Glacier, on the east and north slopes of Gannet Peak.   

The unique composition of glaciers offers infinite opportunities for research, especially in hydrology and earth science.  This summer, Central Wyoming College (CWC) instructor, Jacki Klancher, took student researchers up to Wind River’s Dinwoody Glacier on the second annual Interdisciplinary Climate Change Expedition (ICCE), an eleven-day investigative adventure.  She was accompanied by Wyoming EPSCoR’s own Dr. Sarah Konrad, as well as archaeologist and CWC professor Todd Guenther. 

Outdoor Education students, led by instructor Darren Wells, provided valuable assistance comprised the ICCE Glacier team. They worked on projects both on and off the ice and worked in concert with the entire team to transport all of the equipment up and down the mountain.  As Klancher said, “It’s really a testament to the team’s skills that we all got up there, completed all of our research, gathered all of our data, and got everyone back down to the parking lot without any incident.  That’s got to be a fundamental consideration – how do you keep students safe.” 

One group of students focused on black carbon, dark particulate matter sometimes found on glacial ice.  Black carbon is related to industrial pollution and can increase snow temperature and accelerate snowmelt.  Students collected snow samples to test for the presence of black carbon and establish a baseline level that can be used to compare data from this coming year.  The team also hopes to use isotopic measurements which can allow scientists to trace the black carbon to its source.

ICCE team members on the move
(photo credit: Kyle Nicholoff)

Dinwoody Glacier is a popular backpacking and hiking site, and students wanted to test to see if human waste material had contaminated Dinwoody’s streams and surface waters.  Testing for E.coli on the mountaintop was a challenge, but two archaeology students found a creative solution: a chicken-egg incubator from Ace Hardware, small enough to carry up the mountain and perfect for housing E.coli cultures.  Next year, the team plans to return with laboratory-grade testing equipment, to expand on their research.  Student researchers also collected water and ice samples to test for temperature and acidity, and surveyed aquatic macroinvertebrate populations.

The ICCE team (photo credit: Kyle Nicholoff)

Guenther's archaeology team made several exciting discoveries on the mountaintop, including a buffalo jump at nearly 11,000 feet - the highest documented jump site in the Central Rockies.  The archaeology team also found what appear to be two Paleoindian camp sites just below the glacial moraine, showing that people were living immediately under the ice some eight to ten thousand years ago.  Researchers found what appear to be several stone cairns and a large store of stone tools.  They hope to return next year to continue their investigation of the site, and are excited to learn more about early human life at high altitude.  

The ICCE expedition also created several maps of the terrain.  Geospatial data collection using global positioning systems (GPS) and maps created using Geographic Information Systems (GIS)- is a significant component of the student research.   Students use GPS to translate data into visuals that they can then use to present their research.  In the future, these visual aids will be an essential part of journal articles and conference presentations will be essential; CWC’s students have a strong head start. 

Guenther pointed out that students are already reaping professional rewards: “We are hired by the BLM and other organizations to complete archaeological projects for them, data collection using professional grade GPS units and professional maps created using ArcGIS software– students who come out of this program are trained not only in archaeology but also GIS and that opens a number of doors for them, so they can take advantage of future opportunities.”

(photo credit: Kyle Nicholoff)

Next year, the team hopes to collaborate with UW’s Dr. Paul Johnson on collecting and analyzing surface water samples to test again for E. coli  Team leaders also hope to collect seismic data on the glacier.

Most of the focus, however, will remain on the students: “We hope to keep expanding, both to enhance the quality of the student experience and the quality of our data.”

By Jess White

WyCEHG Events Coming up in October!

The 2015 Water Interest Group (WIG) Meeting and the WyCEHG Round Up!

The Wyoming Center for Environmental Hydrology and Geophysics (WyCEHG) and Wyoming’s Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) invites water resource professionals, faculty, students, and the public to attend the 2015 Water Interest Group (WIG) Meeting and WyCEHG Roundup.  The WIG Meeting will include presentations by WyCEHG researches and collaborators, break-out sessions to discuss research needs, and an adjacent poster presentation as a part of the combined WyCEHG Roundup research event.

The event will take place at the University of Wyoming’s Marian H. Rochelle Gateway Center on Wednesday, October 14, 2015 from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. 

“This is the second of three planned meetings that are intended to bring together water interests in Wyoming as a part of the National Science Foundation award through Wyoming EPSCoR which created WyCEHG,” say Liz Nysson, Education, Outreach and Diversity Coordinator for Wyoming EPSCoR.

WyCEHG Water Interest Group Meeting in October 2013.

The first meeting was two years ago in October 2013.  According to Nysson, that meeting focused on gathering information from the state and partners so WyCEHG could develop meaningful research projects to benefit the state and public. At that meeting, Patrick T. Tyrell from the Wyoming State Engineer’s Office gave a presentation on data needs and priorities from a state water rights agency perspective.  Another presenter, Harry LaBonde from the Wyoming Water Development Office presented on hydrologic data needs. 

These meetings are an opportunity for those working in or concerned about Wyoming water issues to learn about WyCEHG research, provide direction for future studies, and partner with the WyCEHG research team. The upcoming meeting on October 14, 2015 will allow WyCEHG to share their research findings with the public and State of Wyoming.

To find out more information and register by September 14, 2015 go to: www.uwyo.edu/wycehg or register directly at https://goo.gl/HFT5Ey.

The Objectives of this event will be to:

·       Highlight WyCEHG collaborations, capacity building, and research results from the past 3 years;

·       Discuss and identify paths to maintain and potentially increase the capacity of WyCEHG to meet water data and research needs of the state moving forward.

Poster Presentation:

Students funded by WyCEHG are highly encouraged to present a poster for the WyCEHG Round Up. Poster presentations should be on current or completed research.

Travel Reimbursement:

Wyoming EPSCoR will have some funding available to help defray travel and lodging costs for Wyoming community college students and other partners traveling far distances. Apply for travel reimbursement at https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1ZIiLOd7cEwfzUDPzJXdWQXo_zTBpwRO3NkubekwLdcM/viewform

Please Note:

Meals will be provided for registered participants—please register by 9/14/2015. Lodging accommodations are not covered, but can be arranged at the Hilton Garden Inn which is across from the Gateway Center or at another area hotel.

If you have any questions or need to withdrawal registration, please email lizn@uwyo.edu or cparson6@uwyo.edu.

By: Chelsea Parsons  

Welcome back students!

The University of Wyoming’s 2015 fall semester begins August 31! There are a number of events and opportunities for students to re-connect to university life after the summer, and get to know their campus community better. 

Here is a short list of activities, and more are available through the UW Events Calendar.

Volunteers are needed August 27 and August 28 for new and returning UW students in the residence life dorms.  Ways to volunteer include greeting students, answering questions, organizing cart and dolly use, along with other helpful tasks.  To sign up all you need to do is email tballar1@uwyo.edu or call 766-3125 and let them know what time you would be available.

Friday Night Fever is hosting its annual Casino Night on August 28 beginning at 9:00 p.m.   This well be held in the Union Lower Level and is open to all UW students.  If you do not want to play casino games, there are also opportunities to volunteer. 

Laramie Festival of Arts will be held August 28-August 29 at the Depot Park.  There will be over 30 regional artists exhibiting and selling as well as live music, children’s activities and local food trucks. 

If you’re looking to furnish your apartment or dorm room, the UW Nordic Ski Team is having a Trash 2 Treasure Fundraiser on August 29.  The sale will offer furniture and appliances for incoming or returning students who need to furnish their homes at an affordable cost.  The sale begins at 8:00 a.m. and it is recommended that you get there early as items sell quickly!

Wednesday, September 2 from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. the Recognized Student Organizations (RSO) Club and Organization Fair will take place on Prexy’s Pasture as well as in the Wyoming Union.  This is an opportunity to get involved with clubs and organizations on campus. 

Wyoming Women in Science and Engineering (WWISE) Program is accepting proposals for travel grants, due on September 4. For more information click here 

A fun event to attend is the Downtown Mash Up occurring on Friday, September 11 from 3:00 p.m. – 12:00 a.m.  This is a great event for socializing, listening to live music, eating local food, and a meet and greet with UW Athletics.  There’s also an opportunity to interact with local businesses and chances to win prizes.   

Another important aspect of returning to school (or attending UW for the first time) is remembering to take care of yourself!  Know when, and don’t be afraid to ask for help.  Keep in contact with your family, and broaden your social network by attending events UW has to offer.  If you do feel overwhelmed or are registered for a class you don’t particularly like, remember the last day to add, late register or drop a class is September 10.   

Welcome back to school and don’t forget there are no classes on September 7 for Labor Day! 

By: Chelsea Parsons 

The University of Wyoming is Making Connections with Community Colleges and Utilizing the State’s Resources

Dr. Andrew Parsekian, a professor at the University of Wyoming, researches groundwater processes using non-invasive geophysical methods.  Having taught at the University of Wyoming for a year and a half, Dr. Parsekian brings valuable knowledge to the Geology & Geophysics Department as well as the Department of Civil & Architectural Engineering. 

This summer, Dr. Parsekian teamed up with the Northern Wyoming Community College District at Spear-O-Wigwam near Sheridan, Wyoming for a one-week course. The course was entitled Field Based Environmental Science: Examining Global Problems through a Local Lens.  More specifically, the course was designed to engage students in the scientific inquiry of environmental problems while gaining experience in field techniques.  Dr. Parsekian, Dave Munsick of Sheridan College and Scott Hardon of Gillette High School taught the class, along with the aid of Trudy Munsick, the Dean of Outdoor Education at the Northern Wyoming Community College District.  The course contained eleven early career college bound students from across the state of Wyoming.  The students spent an average of 13-14 hours a day in the field camp and received three college credit hours.  At the end of the week, the students wrote a paper, presented the results of their research, and had a comprehensive exam.  

Spear-O-Wigwam is a fascinating part of Wyoming’s history; in 1923 Wyoming State Senator, Willis M. Spear, founded it as a dude ranch.  The acclaimed writer, Ernest Hemingway, used Spear-O-Wigwam as one of his writing workshops in the 1920’s.  Hemingway was quoted saying that Wyoming and Africa were his two favorite places to be.  As an ode to Mr. Hemingway, there is a cabin at Spear-O-Wigwam named after him.  The Northern Wyoming Community College District purchased Spear-O-Wigwam in 2011 in order to enhance their academic programs.  Located in the Bighorn National Forest, Spear-O-Wigwam offers many educational outdoor opportunities. 

Many high school students are not exposed to hypothesis driven science due to lack of time and resources.  Hypothesis driven science uses deductive reasoning wherein an idea or hypothesis is proposed and then tested.  Dr. Parsekian’s course introduced hypothesis driven science to the students who participated.  Wyoming’s resources are plentiful and this course took advantage of Spear-O-Wigwam to conduct their hypothesis driven science research.   

As the only University in the State of Wyoming, it is important to make connections with the community colleges and share each other’s resources since across the state; Wyoming has a lot to offer.  Dr. Parsekian will run a similar course next year with a different science question to be researched and answered by students at the Northern Wyoming Community College District.  For more information regarding registration or community events, visit www.spearowigwam.com     

By: Chelsea Parsons 

SRAP ends with a bang with the 2015 Symposium!

Kimberley Mackiel, Franklin, Wisconsin 

Austin Davilla, Buda, Texas 

Last week, the 2015 Summer Research Apprentice Program (SRAP) Symposium was held at the Hilton Garden Inn in Laramie, Wyoming.  Twenty-two high school students participated in the annual program, coming from Wyoming and other states across the country.   Students worked on research projects for six weeks in University of Wyoming faculty research labs, and concluded the program by presenting their research at the Symposium on Friday, July 24th.

Giavanna Lorez from California studied with faculty mentor, Dr. Karlee R. Provenza, in the Psychology Department.  Lorez studied racial bias decisions made by law enforcement officers when using lethal force.  Although her research project is still in progress, based on other research completed, she was able to determine that law enforcement officers have a bias in shooting subjects in relation to their race, specifically African Americans.  With news and videos surfacing about police use of lethal force on suspects, this is a topic relevant to current events. 

Tucker Bower from Casper, Wyoming presented on how the enzyme Cathepsin K might contribute to inflammatory pain in mice. Similar to this, Austin Davilla from Texas studied the effects of minimizing Cathepsin K to see if it protects people against cardiac dysfunction caused by alcohol.  Like these studies related to human health, Franklin, Wisconsin student, Kimberly Mackiel, studied how a high-fat diet might affect a person’s food cravings with Drs. Paige Dingess, Rebecca A. Darling, and Travis E. Brown from Neuroscience.  

 Drs. Katie Li and Jiashi Yin from Chemical and Petroleum Engineering mentored Shawn Murray who studied how to improve produced water from energy extraction with the modification of polyvinylidene fluoride ultrafiltration membranes by coating dopamine and titanium dioxide.   This research can be important for Wyoming and other states in the country that have energy production and want to reduce the environmental impacts.

Each of the twenty-two students created a poster board with their research results and gave a presentation.  All of the students did a great job presenting their projects and were very knowledgeable about the results concluded from their research by answering questions and talking to visitors.  Every student was appreciative of EPSCoR, especially Lisa Abeyta, and all of their mentors for the help they received.  Thank you to all the students who participated and made SRAP 2015 such a success!

If you would like to learn more about SRAP and all EPSCoR programs, go to www.uwyo.edu/epscor

By: Chelsea Parsons 

CI-WATER Researcher discovers groundwater modeling breakthrough

Dr. Fred Ogden's groundbreaking research is leading the way to better understanding how water moves through our environment. How did he do it? With an equation and using a computer model. 

Read more from the University of Wyoming news service:

Researcher discovers groundwater modeling breakthrough UW professor's discovery was 84 years in the making 

PUBLIC RELEASE: 1-JUL-2015 
UNIVERSITY OF WYOMING

A University of Wyoming professor has made a discovery that answers a nearly 100-year-old question about water movement, with implications for agriculture, hydrology, climate science and other fields.

Credit: University of Wyoming

After decades of effort, Fred Ogden, UW's Cline Chair of Engineering, Environment and Natural Resources in the Department of Civil and Architectural Engineering and Haub School of Environment and Natural Resources, and a team of collaborators published their findings in the journal Water Resources Research this spring. The paper, titled "A new general 1-D vadose zone flow solution method," presents an equation to replace a difficult and unreliable formula that's stymied hydrologic modelers since 1931.

 "I honestly never thought I would be involved in a discovery in my field," Ogden says.

He anticipates this finding will greatly improve the reliability and functionality for hundreds of important water models used by everyone from irrigators and city planners to climate scientists and botanists around the country and the world, as well as trigger a new surge in data collection.

In 1931, Lorenzo Richards developed a beautiful, if numerically complex, equation to calculate how much water makes it into soil over time as rainfall hits the ground surface and filters down toward the water table. That equation, known as the Richards equation and often shortened to RE, has been the only rigorous way to calculate the movement of water in the vadose zone -- that is, the unsaturated soil between the water table and the ground surface where most plant roots grow.

Calculating the movement of water in the vadose zone is critical to everything from estimating return flows and aquifer recharge to better managing irrigation and predicting floods. But RE is extremely difficult to solve, and occasionally unsolvable. So, while some high-powered computer models can handle it over small geographic areas, simpler models or those covering large regions must use approximations that compromise accuracy.

For decades, hydrologists and other scientists have pursued a better way to estimate vadose zone water. Cornell University Environment and Ecology Professor Jean-Yves Parlange and Australian soil physicist John Robert Philip battled one another in the literature, proposing new equations and disproving each other -- from the 1950s until Philip's untimely death in a traffic accident in 1999. Princeton Environmental Engineering and Water Resources Director Michael Celia published a partial solution in 1990 that is not reliable in all circumstances.

Ogden first worked on the problem in 1994 as a postdoctoral researcher. He teamed with Iranian hydrology engineer Bahram Saghafian, who was finishing a Ph.D. at Colorado State University, to publish an equation that estimates water "suction" in the vadose zone. In the early 2000s, Ogden advised a Ph.D. candidate named Cary Talbot, a researcher with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, on a project seeking a solution to the RE. The two developed a new way to represent vadose zone water.

In more recent years, the search continued, and a major National Science Foundation research grant in 2011 enabled Ogden to bring additional experts to the quest and use UW's supercomputing power to test prospective solutions.

Then, late last fall, just before the large American Geophysical Union annual meeting, Ogden and his research team discovered a novel solution, an elegant new equation that he thought would equal the RE in accuracy while greatly reducing the computing power needed to run it. He tested this solution with precipitation data from his field site in Panama.

"We ran eight months of Panama data with 263 centimeters of rain through our equation and Hydrus," Ogden says.

Hydrus is an existing supercomputer model that uses RE. The results his model generated had only 7 millimeters, or two tenths of 1 percent, difference from the results of the Hydrus model that employs Celia's solution of the RE.

"They were almost identical. That's when I knew," he says. "I felt like the guy who discovered the gold nugget in the American River in California."

What's next for the new equation? First, it is the centerpiece of Ogden's ADHydro model, a massive, supercomputer-powered model that's first simulating the water supply effects of different climate and management scenarios throughout the entire upper Colorado River Basin. From there, Ogden hopes other models will incorporate it, too.

Find original post here:  http://www.uwyo.edu/uw/news/2015/07/uw-researcher-discovers-groundwater-modeling-breakthrough-84-years-in-the-making.html