Subsurface Hydrophysics Lab

The subsurface hydrophysics group is focused on gaining fundamental mechanistic understanding of fluid, solute, and colloid transport processes in heterogeneous porous and fractured media. The image above highlights the complexity of the pore space (black regions) that fluids navigate as they flow through the subsurface. Our approach often leverages in situ imaging—such as X-ray computed tomography, positron emission tomography, or optical imaging—combined with analytical, numerical, and data science methods to describe transport processes in these complex geologic systems across time and length scales. Due to the fundamental nature of this approach, and the ubiquity of fluid transport in porous media, this work has important applications across a range of environmental and geological processes including contaminant migration in the vadose zone, heat recovery in geothermal energy systems, bacteria transport in the subsurface, and carbon dioxide transport and immobilization in geologic carbon storage projects.

We currently have multiple graduate research positions open for students applying for Fall 2021. Open projects include, but are not limited to, PFAS transport experiments for understanding long-term fate and remediation in the subsurface, colloid transport in geologic porous media with applications to microplastic and nanoparticle pollution control, image-based deep learning model development.

Global geologic carbon storage requirements of climate change mitigation scenarios

Published open access in Energy and Environmental Science (Data and analysis codes)

Pore network model predictions of Darcy-scale multiphase flow heterogeneity validated by experiments

Accepted for publication in Water Resources Research (Postprint, Data)

Spatial and temporal quantification of spontaneous imbibition

Published in the October 2019 volume of Geophysical Research Letters (Postprint, Supplemental Information, Data)

Positron Emission Tomography in Water Resources and Subsurface Energy Resources Engineering Research

Published in the May 2019 volume of Advances in Water Resources (Postprint)

Multimodal imaging and stochastic percolation simulation for improved quantification of effective porosity and surface area in vesicular basalt

Published in the November 2018 volume of Advances in Water Resources (Postprint, Data and Simulation Matlab Codes)

The 34th International Symposium of the Society of Core Analysts: Austin, Tx

AGU Fall Meeting 2020: San Francisco, CA