A hydrologist with the U.S. Geological Survey will be the first featured speaker for the spring 2017 UA Little Rock Department of Earth Sciences EARTHtalk! lecture series with a Feb. 15 talk on the importance of groundwater. 

The lecture, “Groundwater: Below Our Feet and in Our Minds,” will begin at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 15, in the auditorium of the George W. Donaghey College of Engineering and Information Technology. The event is free and open to the public. Light refreshments will be served before the talk begins.

As surface water resources are strained, people will become more dependent on groundwater  for drinking, cleaning, agriculture, and daily use, according to Dr. Kathy Knierim, a hydrologist with the U.S. Geological Survey Lower Mississippi-Gulf Water Science Center.

Her talk will cover the two aquifer systems used to extract groundwater in Arkansas.

Knierim received a bachelor’s degree in geology from Bowling Green State University and a master’s degree in geology and a Ph.D. in environmental dynamics from the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville.

In 2015, she joined the U.S. Geological Survey, where she researches groundwater availability and quality. Her recent projects include developing a water-use record for the Ozark Plateaus aquifer system and modeling water quality in zones of groundwater withdrawal from the Mississippi Embayment aquifer system.

For more information, contact Michael DeAngelis at 501.569.3542 or mtdeangelis@ualr.edu or visit the UA Little Rock Department of Earth Sciences EARTHtalk! website.