Researchers are studying the dynamics of New Mexico river ecosystems to aid projects in river restoration.

by Sari Krosinsky

Man-made interventions like dams disrupt a river’s natural flow. Restoration strategies aim to return the delivery of water to reflect its natural pattern and course. While in some areas it is desirable to prevent erosion, in others it’s better to encourage erosion to allow the flooding necessary to support some native vegetation, like cottonwoods.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers conducts river restoration projects locally to encourage native vegetation and control erosion and flooding. And, in a collaborative effort, researchers in UNM’s Departments of Civil Engineering, Biology, and Earth and Planetary Sciences are studying the dynamics of river ecosystems in New Mexico to help effectively direct the corps’ restoration efforts.

Civil Engineering Professors Julie Coonrod and John Stormont and Earth and Planetary Sciences Professor Tim Wawrzyniec and Research Scientist Jed Frechette are investigating riverbank erosion. A better understanding of bank erosion can help predict how different river restoration strategies will work.

The researchers are using multiple methods to monitor bank stability. One method, Light Detection and Ranging, or LiDAR, is a laser imaging technique capable of resolution up to 1 millimeter. Another method involves placing erosion pins in sets above and below water surfaces. Erosion is determined by measuring how much of the pin is exposed over time. Additionally, the researchers are using a submerged jet apparatus to measure how much different soil types erode.

Stormont says LiDAR gives a more detailed picture and provides more data than the erosion pin method, but it creates a huge data analysis challenge. Periodic LiDAR scans from the same position reveal changes in the riverbank geometry over time, measuring migration as small as a centimeter. Scans are being conducted at five locations around Albuquerque where there has been human intervention. Coonrod says that for the most part, banks around Albuquerque are relatively stable unless people have done something to change them, like removing vegetation as is done with some restoration projects.

At the Calabacillas Arroyo site, LiDAR images taken before, shortly after, and a year after a storm on July 31, 2006, show that during the storm the arroyo dumped sediment into the river, leading to a buildup which halved the distance between banks, forcing the water to flow harder and faster. Over time, the sediment buildup has shifted downstream.

full story...

Researchers discover the true age of the Grand Canyon through information hidden inside.

by Steve Carr

Up until recently, it was thought the Grand Canyon was approximately six million years old. Researchers in the Earth and Planetary Sciences at the University of New Mexico have recently contradicted this and discovered otherwise.

Using a technique called uranium-lead isotope (U-Pb) dating of water table-type speleothems or cave formations, researchers Victor Polyak, Carol Hill, and Yemane Asmerom, were able to determine the western portion of the Grand Canyon actually began to form some 17 million years ago.

That revelation, or “eureka moment” as Asmerom calls it, essentially proves the Grand Canyon to be three times older than originally thought.

The research, which began more than nine years ago, is funded by a grant from the National Science Foundation for $250,000 and was published recently in the journal Science. The discovery was enabled by the realization that certain cave formations, such as mammillary coatings that form near groundwater tables, provided the opportunity for researchers to date both parts of the canyon radiometrically accurately for the first time.

“The fact that many Grand Canyon caves contain mammillary speleothems has allowed us to take advantage of advances in U-Pb and U-series analytical techniques in an effort to make the long sought chronology possible,” says Polyak.

As it turned out, the caves and cave deposits, which are located throughout the Grand Canyon, were ideal in that the researchers found both pre-existing and chemical sediments deposited before, during, and after the incision of the canyon.

full story...

The UNM Teachers’ Institute provides continuing education for K-12 teachers to develop content knowledge and improve classroom instruction.

by Carolyn Gonzales

The College of Arts and Sciences Teachers’ Institute has worked with teachers since 1999 to develop content knowledge needed to improve classroom teaching in public schools.

Today, the Institute features workshops designed to enhance teachers’ understanding of subjects such as mathematics and science, and helps them understand what students need to know to write well at the college level, among other initiatives.

Under the direction of Wanda Martin, associate professor of English, and Matt Nyman, lecturer in earth and planetary sciences, the Institute has provided many teachers with instruction that counts toward credentialing, helping them move up the three-tiered system for New Mexico educators and meet No Child Left Behind standards.

“When teachers came under attack because students scored low on math achievement tests or because students couldn’t write for college level courses, we knew that we had a responsibility to address teachers’ content knowledge,” says Martin.

The La Meta (Mathematics Educators Targeting Achievement) program is geared toward teachers in grades 5 through 9.

“If we can help teachers learn more math and become better equipped to teach it, then they will help their students learn more math,” says Kristin Umland, assistant professor of mathematics and statistics.

[more]

The Feminist Research Institute is dedicated to the production of scholarship on women, gender, and sexuality, and to the creation of intellectual community, both within and across disciplines, among feminist scholars at UNM.

FRI consistently and successfully fosters and provides interactions among diverse departments and colleges through its lecture series, informal reading discussion group meetings, and sponsorship of campus and community events. 

In past semesters the Institute has organized forums exploring challenges for women in politics, academia, science and engineering, and spirituality.  FRI's Welcome Back Reception this fall was held in conjunction with the opening of "Through Feminist Eyes," an art exhibit open to faculty, staff, and students of UNM and juried by Judy Chicago and Meinrad Craighead. The event was a success with over 200 attendees from across the university. 

FRI also supports UNM’s commitment to research by funding graduate student and faculty research grants and showcasing this research through lectures such as those offered this semester by Professors Raji Vallury and Gail Houston and graduate student Robin Runia.

FRI continues to reach out to the broader community with lectures by Lynn Miller, Rosemary Keefe, and Caleb Richardson.

This semester FRI has also been able to co-sponsor lectures by Jadwiga Pieper and Aimee Carrillo Rowe as well as a performance by the Guerilla Girls.

The Institute hopes its informal reading and discussion of Judith Butler’s recent feminist scholarship helps build community between graduate students and faculty from various departments.

FRI plans to continue these activities next semester and currently invites discussion of the Bill of Rights for Women Faculty, Graduate Students, and instructors and the formation of a Women's Caucus.

Please see our website for a schedule of events: http://www.unm.edu/~femresin/.

In the future, FRI plans to organize biannual conferences on timely issues related to women, gender, and sexuality that would result in a published volume of selected essays.

Why Oceanography Matters in New Mexico

Clifford Dahm advances water research through interdisciplinary approach.

by Sari Krosinsky

In land-locked New Mexico, oceanography might seem like a science out of water. But Professor of Biology Clifford Dahm says a multi-faceted approach of oceanography is key to understanding the state’s aquatic ecosystems. “Water is inherently interdisciplinary, whether it’s freshwater or ocean,” he says.

Since coming to the University of New Mexico in 1984, Dahm has used his interdisciplinary background to improve understanding of New Mexico water resources. Dahm presented his work at the Fifty-second Annual Research Lecture, one of the highest honors bestowed on UNM faculty.

Dahm began applying oceanographic tools to non-ocean settings as a graduate student at Oregon State University. It was there that he first observed the significance of the hyporheic zone—the interface between groundwater and surface water in streams and rivers. He noticed that when water goes underground and comes up again, it shows an increase in nutrients and biological activity, an observation confirmed by his later restoration work at the Bluewater Watershed in New Mexico.

Understanding the interaction between groundwater and surface water adds to the picture of how global climate change may affect rivers and streams. Snowmelt rivers, which provide water for about one billion people, or one sixth of the global population, are expected to shrink as rising temperatures decrease snow packs and accelerate evaporation and transpiration. In addition, Dahm’s research suggests that warmer, less viscous fluids move more surface water to groundwater, reducing surface water flows—an effect that becomes more extreme in La Niña years in New Mexico.

Current river restoration in the Southwest tends to be reactive—such as restoring areas damaged by fire or sheltering endangered species—rather than proactively focused on saving water and improving habitat in the long-term. “If you wanted to do an integrated, more holistic restoration, you should look at the whole corridor, and not do it on an ad hoc basis as we do now,” Dahm says. His research suggests that the best place to carry out restoration would be in dense stands of non-native plants where flooding occurs, and there’s a better chance of restoring native plants using natural hydrologic processes.

Dahm, on sabbatical in Australia, is in residence at the Australian Rivers Institute in Brisbane. He is researching the intermittent river and spring systems in the Lake Eyre Basin, which presents aquatic ecosystems similar to New Mexico’s. He also is studying plans to address water shortages and maintain river health in Brisbane, a city of more than two million people already under severe water restrictions—a situation he says New Mexico may be faced with in the not too distant future. “I think we know the condition in which we find ourselves. Whether we are willing to act upon the condition is another question,” he says.

Dahm, internationally recognized for his work in restoration biology, biogeochemistry, microbial ecology, hydrology, climatology, and aquatic ecology, has served as interim director of the Sevilleta Long-Term Ecological Research Program at the Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge in central New Mexico and is director for the Freshwater Sciences Interdisciplinary Doctoral Program at UNM.