Undergraduate Student
Department of Earth and Planetary Science

mgbyers@ucsc.edu

Research interests: Groundwater Discharge in Elkhorn Slough

Research
My research project focuses on identifying groundwater discharge throughout Elkhorn Slough using radon and radium as tracers. Radium and Radon are enriched in groundwater and have low concentrations in surface water hence they can serve to quantify the input of groundwater. I will conduct surface water surveys and collect groundwater samples to quantify these tracers and estimate groundwater discharge. Water quality parameters, such as nutrients and carbon, will also be measured. The data will be used to calculate fluxes of various constituents and the processes controlling these fluxes. Understanding groundwater contributions throughout Elkhorn Slough will be very important to hydrologic and water quality models and for carbon mass balance.