2006-2011 Mechanisms Producing Variation in Lake Salinity in Dune Environments: Nebraska Sand Hills
Vitaly Zlotnik's research | Go back to his website
Funded by National Science Foundation, Principal Investigator
Lake salinity in the Sand Hills, Nebraska the largest sand dune area in the Western Hemisphere (58,000 km2) ranges over three orders of magnitude from fresh (0.1 g/L) to brine (>100 g/L), while groundwater is fresh. Solute advection, diffusion, dispersion, variable-density flow in ground water, and eolian transport of dust forms of salts control divergence of salinity paths between different lakes. This study utilizes modeling, geophysics (electrical resistivity imaging, electromagnetic methods), drilling and direct push, remote sensing (Landsat imagery), geochemistry and terrain analysis in GIS framework to explain differences in salinity between various lakes in collaboration with Indiana University, Oklahoma State, Flinders University, Australia, and the USGS. Results are important for understanding climate effects on lake conditions and delineation of dynamics of saline water deposited above fresh groundwater (e.g., tsunami in Indonesia, 2005, hurricane Katrina, 2005) and dust emissions from saline lakes
Publications
Befus, K., M. B. Cardenas, J.B. Ong, and V.A. Zlotnik, 2012, Classification and delineation of groundwater - lake interactions in the Nebraska Sand Hills (USA) using quasi-3D electrical resistivity surveys, Hydrogeology Journal, in press
Zlotnik, V.A., J.B. Ong, and J.D. Lenters, J. Schmieder, S.C. Fritz, 2012, Quantification of salt dust pathways from a groundwater-fed lake: implications for solute budgets and dust emission rates, J. Geophys. Res., v. 117, F02014, doi:10.1029/2011JF002107
Ong, J., J. Lane, V. Zlotnik, T. Halihan, and E. White, 2010, Combined use of frequency-domain electromagnetic and electrical resistivity surveys to delineate near-lake groundwater flow in the semi-arid Nebraska Sand Hills, USA, Hydrogeology Journal, 18, no 6, 1539-1545, DOI 10.1007/s10040-010-0617-x
Zlotnik, V. A., N. I. Robinson, and C. T. Simmons, 2010, Salinity dynamics of discharge lakes in dune environments: conceptual model, Water Resour. Res.,vol. 46, doi:10.1029/2009WR008999.
Zlotnik, V.A., F. Olaguera, J.B. Ong, 2009, An approach to assessment of flow regimes of groundwater-dominated lakes in arid environments, J. Hydrology, v. 371, 22-30, doi: 10.1016/j.jhydrol.2009.03.012
Bennett, D. M. , S.C. Fritz, J.C. Holz, A.A. Holz , and V.A. Zlotnik, 2007, Evaluating climatic and non-climatic influences on ion chemistry in natural and man-made lakes of Nebraska, USA, Hydrobiologia, Volume 591, Number 1 / October, 103-115
Zlotnik, V.A., M. Burbach, J. Swinehart, D. Bennett, S. Fritz, D. Loope, 2007, A case study of direct push methods for aquifer characterization in dune-lake environments, Environmental and Engineering Geoscience, v. XIII, no 3, 205-216
Map of lake salinity (TDS) in area of Crescent Lake National Wildlife Refuge, Nebraska, USA
View of Alkali Lake, Garden County, Nebraska
Conceptual models of lake salinity
Aquifer characterization - Geoprobe
Lake salinity measurements
Todd Halihan fishing for plumes with ER Applications
ER geophysical plume rendition by Todd Halihan
SanDrill program
Where is Ogallala?
Collecting water table data from stock wells
Water Table Mapping
Testing a new frequency domain EM technique
Collecting ER data near Gimlet Lake
PhD Student, John B. Ong working with piezometers
Working with potentiomanometer