Dr. Gwen (G. L.) Macpherson

Associate Professor and Director, KU Plasma Analytical Laboratory

University of Kansas, Dept. of Geology

1475 Jayhawk Blvd., Room 120, Lindley Hall

Lawrence, KS 66045  USA

 

  E-mail:  glmac@ku.edu         Telephone:  785-864-2742     

Personal web page (this one):  www.people.ku.edu/~glmac

  KU Department of Geology web page:  www.geo.ku.edu

 

Graduate students, IÕm always looking for

       motivated students.  Contact me!

¥  research projects available from field- to laboratory- based, and all gradations between

¥  support (including summer) available through Research Assistantships or Teaching Assistantships

¥  opportunities for training and hands-on experience with laboratory and field equipment

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My current area of research

Weathering  and the consequences of

      global climate change

           on groundwater chemistry

                 in continental interior grasslands

 

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Other research projects

 

¥  recent or current projects with other researchers

¥  Precambrian paleosols and oxygenation of the EarthÕs atmosphere

¥  diagenesis of hyaloclastites (primarily Dr. Tony Walton)

¥  dolomite precipitation (primarily Dr. Jen Roberts and students)

¥  REE in Fossil Bone (primarily Dr. Luis Gonzalez and student)

¥  past research projects

¥  nitrate in groundwater

¥  geochemistry of sedimentary basin formation water

¥  low-temperature geothermal resources

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Facilities

¥  KU-Plasma Analytical Laboratory:  ICP-MS (quadrupole), Laser ablation microprobe, ICP-OES, Class 100 clean areas in dedicated laboratory

¥  KU Aqueous Geochemistry Laboratory:  Microdrill, ion chromatograph, UV-VIS spectrophotometer; Class 100 laminar flow hood; sub-boiling still; water distiller; water deionizer; pH, Eh, SC, DO,  turbidity, T meters; pressure transducers and data loggers for continuous water-level monitoring; e-lines for instantaneous water-level measurement; Teflon bailers and surge pumps; flow-through cells and filtering equipment

¥  dedicated field laboratory van

¥  35 wells and 100 soil lysimeters permanently installed at the Konza Prairie LTER Site

¥  access to facilities overseen by other faculty members in Geology (SIRMS, GC, TIMS) or on campus (environmental SEM)

¥  Department computers, PC and Macintosh platforms; in addition, I oversee operation of eight computers for running instruments or data processing

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PublicationsÑsee individual research projects

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What I teach (most recent courses)

¥  GEOL 302  Oceanography (undergraduate)

¥  GEOL 753  Chemical Hydrogeology (graduate, undergraduate)

¥  GEOL 791  Analytical Techniques, ICP-MS, and LAM  (graduate, undergraduate with permission)

¥  GEOL 791  Geochemical modeling (graduate)

¥  GEOL 752  Field Techniques, Hydrogeology (team taught)

¥  GEOL 552  Introduction to Hydrogeology (team taught)

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Current and former students

Alan Wade, 1992, (co-supervised), Ground water flow systems and the water resources potential of the Dakota Aquifer in a two-county area in north-central Kansas: MS thesis.

Michael L. Pomes, 1995, (co-supervised), A study of the aquatic humic substances and hydrogeology in a prairie watershed:  Use of humic material as a tracer of recharge through soils:  Ph.D. dissertation, 296 pp.

Mary C. Bitney, 1995, non-thesis MS.

Martin Smith, 1995, (co-supervised), Hydrostratigraphic controls on ground-water flow and the distribution of chloride in the Upper Dakota aquifer of southwestern Ellis County, Kansas:  MS thesis, 229 pp.

Edwin Lindgren, 1996, Aqueous geochemistry of the Tonganoxie Sandstone aquifer, Leavenworth County, Kansas:  MS thesis, 135 pp.

David Streiler, The stratigraphic distribution of bromine in Upper Pennsylvanian cyclothems of the mid-continent.

Julie Grauer, 1998, non-thesis MS.

Jenney M. Hall, 1998, Nitrate in a confined, alluvial aquifer, Douglas County, Kansas,:  MS thesis, 110 pp.

Jessica Kidwell, 1999, Nitrate distribution and reduction in a semi-confined alluvial aquifer; Geohydrologic Experimental and Monitoring Site (GEMS), Douglas County, Kansas,:  MS thesis, 99 pp.

Liz McVay, 2000, Geomicrobial denitrifying and nitrifying characteristics of a nitrate-contaminated alluvial aquifer, northeastern Kansas:  MS thesis, 116 pp.

Marcia Schulmeister, 2000, Hydrology and geochemistry of an alluvial aquifer near a floodplain margin:  Ph. D. dissertation, 132 pp.

Kato Dee, 2001, Lead contamination and attenuation in a shallow monitoring well, Konza Prairie Long-Term Ecological Research site, Riley and Geary Counties, Kansas, 124 pp.

Heather Wood, 2001, Seasonality and rates of mineral weathering in karst aquifers at the Konza Prairie,:  MS thesis, 114 pp.

Gabby Cohen Blair, GRA for 137Cs soil sampling project, 2001-2004.

Kimberly Kissing Beisner, URA for Konza LTER water project, 2003-2006; Honors in Geology, 2006.

 

 

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