2007 Unsaturated Zone Interest Group Meeting

Collection of soil-gas samples for volatile-organic compound analysis at the Amargosa Desert Research Site, Nevada. USGS scientists are studying the transport and fate of volatile-organic compounds in the unsaturated zone (Click on photo for larger version)

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and the Los Alamos National Laboratory co-sponsored the 2007 Unsaturated Zone Interest Group (UZIG) Meeting, Los Alamos, New Mexico, August 27-30, 2007. The objectives of the meeting were to provided an opportunity for scientists to meet and share unsaturated zone research results in an informal setting, and to receive feedback from a diverse audience on work in progress. USGS scientists as well as scientists from other organizations attended the meeting. Presentations at the meetings presented information on topics such as:

• Preferential flow, anisotropy, and hydrodynamic instability in the unsaturated zone
• Unsaturated zone characterization and monitoring methods and approaches
• Field and laboratory measurements of hydraulic and solute transport properties
• Modeling fluid flow and reactive transport in the unsaturated zone

General Meeting Information

• Information on UZIG Meetings
• UZIG Home Page

Presentations from the Amargosa Desert Research Site, Nevada, Research Team

• Amargosa Desert Research Site (ADRS)-- Overview and Update on Monitoring and Modeling to Improve Understanding of Contaminant-Transport Processes in Arid Environments, by B. Andraski (USGS), D. Stonestrom (USGS), M. Walvoord (USGS), J. Mayers (USGS), A. Garcia (USGS), R. Michel (USGS), R. Baker (USGS), J. Abraham (USGS), D. Krabbenhoft (USGS), R. Striegl (USGS), and C. Cooper (USGS)
• Estimating Vertical Tritium Transport from the Shallow Unsaturated Zone to the Atmosphere, Amargosa Desert Research Site, Nye County, Nevada, by C. Garcia (USGS), B. Andraski (USGS), C. Cooper (USGS), S. Wheatcraft (USGS), M. Johnson (USGS), R. Michel (USGS), and D. Stonestrom (USGS)
• Soil CO₂ Flux in the Amargosa Desert, Nevada, during El Niño 1998 and La Niña 1999, by A. Riggs (USGS), D. Stannard (USGS), F. Maestas (USGS), M. Karlinger (USGS), and R. Striegl (USGS)
• A Reservoir of Natural Perchlorate in Unsaturated Zones of Arid and Semi-Arid Regions, Southwestern USA, by D. Stonestrom (USGS), B. Andraski (USGS), G. Orris (USGS), M. Walvoord (USGS), A. Jackson (Texas Tech University), S. Rajagapolan (Texas Tech University), B. Rao (Texas Tech University), B. Scanlon (University of Texas-Austin), and R. Sandvig (New Mexico Tech)
• Multiphase, Multicomponent Parameter Estimation for Liquid and Vapor Fluxes in Deep Arid Systems Using Hydrologic Data and Natural Environmental Tracers, by E. Kwicklis (Los Alamos National Laboratory), A. Wolfsberg (Los Alamos National Laboratory), P. Stauffer (Los Alamos National Laboratory), M. Walvoord (USGS), and M. Sully (Neptune Inc.)

Related Headlines

• Widespread Accumulations of Natural Perchlorate in Southwestern Soils
• Ground-Water Recharge Affects Fate of Petroleum Contaminant Plumes
• Desert Plants Reveal Contaminant Transport Pathways
• New Model Improves Understanding of the Transport of Carbon Isotopes in the Unsaturated-Zone
• Using Plants To Detect Tritium Contamination
• High Nitrate in the Desert? What’s Going On?
• New Book on Soil Analysis Methods Destined to Become a Classic
• Are Deserts Still Drying Out Since the Ice Age?
• The Atmosphere - A Potential Source of MTBE to Ground Water

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