Project Info


From roots to rocks – connecting tree water use with groundwater

Kamini Singha | ksingha@mines.edu

“This work focuses on the when, wheres, and hows of tree water use. You would think that given how important trees are to our economy and infrastructure we would have a better understanding of how they use water, but surprisingly that is not the case. We do not know the answers to some simple questions. Where exactly are the roots in the ground? When are trees using water and how are they getting access to and moving this water? To answer these questions we need a method that can look under our feet and inside of a tree. Here, we use electrical resistivity imaging, a geophysical method that works by inducing a current in the ground with some car batteries. By following the path that the electricity takes, we can get an image of the earth below a tree, as well as the inner working of a tree. Through a creative use of numerous instruments, this project will provide insight into otherwise inaccessible processes.

This is a field-intensive project (mostly at the Boulder Creek Critical Zone Observatory outside of Boulder), but will also require lab work. In the field, the student will get hands-on experience with a suite of hydrological, ecological, and geophysical tools. These tools will allow the student to gather data on many environmental variables and decide on one or two of the resulting data sets (i.e. soil moisture, groundwater levels, stream hydrographs, electrical resistivity, etc.) to work on. S/he will take these data sets gathered in the field back to Mines where they will work closely with PhD student Ryan Harmon and other graduate students on analyzing the data.”

More Information

“Check out: http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/2015/11/10/secret-life-of-a-raindrop/ (video)

Mares, R., Barnard, H.R., Mao, D., Revil, A. and Singha, K. (2016). Examining diel patterns of soil and xylem moisture using electrical resistivity imaging. Journal of Hydrology, doi: 10.1016/j.jhydrol.2016.03.003, 12 p.”

Grand Engineering Challenge: Engineer the tools of scientific discovery

Student Preparation


Qualifications

A good attitude and a willingness to work hard, as well as an interest in earth science, broadly.

Time Commitment

10 hours/month

Skills/Techniques Gained

“1. Competence using and understanding a suite of hydrologic/geophysical tools.
2. Understanding of general concepts in hydrology/ecohydrology/geophysics.
3. How to process big data and effectively communicate results from that data using plotting software (Matlab/Python/Excel).
4. How to create and test research hypotheses.
5. If the student is interested, experience presenting results.”

Mentoring Plan

“The student will be working closely with my PhD student, Ryan Harmon. Under his mentorship, the student will decide what on what aspect of the project s/he is most interested in. Ryan and I will then work with the student to define attainable research goals/deadlines. We will thoroughly discuss these expectations and define the steps needed to achieve these goals. Because effective communication of research findings is an essential component of scientific success, we will assure that opportunity for the student to present at poster sessions and/or lab meetings is available.

Ryan has mentored previous undergraduates, and will be a great mentor for this student as he and has time and the enthusiasm to give. We will have bi-weekly meetings on the project, and Ryan can meet with the student more regularly, as needed.”