Grant: Discovery Grants Program - Individual

Groundwater is a crucial life-sustaining resource that supplies water to ~10 million Canadians, surface waters and ecosystems. I examine groundwater systems at regional (10s km) to continental (1000s km) scales, which I refer to as 'mega-scale'. Examining mega-scale groundwater systems is rare yet essential for a number of important fundamental and applied problems have emerged in the geoscience and engineering communities. These problems include the distribution of permeability in the earth, the nature of the water table and the potential for groundwater discharge to buffer ocean acidification. The proposed research focuses on contemporary, mega-scale groundwater systems and will use a variety of field-based tools and computer models. During this grant period, my core research questions are: 1) what is the distribution of permeability in the upper crust and 2) can we better quantify the water table and the flux of carbon dioxide dissolved in groundwater to the ocean? These questions will be examined through four testable hypothesis in studies conducted by five undergraduate students, two MSc students, one PhD student and one postdoctoral fellow. Overall these studies will 1) better define the distribution of permeability which will lead to groundwater being included in more hydrologic, climate and land-surface models and 2) show that groundwater can be examined at continental scales to answer pressing geoscience problems. Additionally, the distribution of permeability significantly impacts the viability and safety of geological carbon sequestration, nuclear waste repositories and shale gas exploration. This research program will maintain and build Canada's profile in this critical field of mega-scale groundwater systems, especially as water resources emerge as a significant global concern.