Hydrological Impacts of Woody Plant Uptake of Water from Bedrock

Project description
A recent study (McCormick et al., 2021) quantified the extent to which woody plants use water from pores and fractures in bedrock. This process has important implications for local hydrology, as it may reduce surface runoff, alter evapotranspiration rates, and influence snowmelt dynamics. This can result in changes in flood peaks and discharge timing. These effects of the uptake of water by woody plants of water from bedrock still need to be quantified. Therefore, this masters project will aim to investigate the role of vegetation on bedrock is within the hydrological cycle. In order to achieve this, different areas with and without vegetation will need to be analyzed using hydrological parameters such as run-off, snow melt, floods and evaporation. The analysis will focus on sites in Norway, where large, publicly available environmental and hydrological datasets are accessible. The analyses will be conducted using Python and GIS software (QGIS/ArcGIS).

ReferenceMcCormick, E.L., Dralle, D.N., Hahm, W.J. et al. Widespread woody plant use of water stored in bedrock

Proposed course plan during the master's degree (60 ECTS)
GEOV212 Hydrogeology (10 ECTS, course is still to be formally registered) - Spring
GEO217 Hydrology, Ground Water and Geohazards (10 ECTS) - Fall
GEOV217 Geohazards (10 ECTS) - Fall
GEOV302 Data analysis in earth science (10 ECTS) – Spring
GEOV243 Environmental geochemistry (10 ECTS) - Fall
GEOV316 Practical Skills in Remote Sensing and Spatial analysis (10 ECTS) - Spring
Optional: GEOV300 Scientific writing and communication in Earth Science (5 ECTS) - Fall

NB: This project is not yet approved by the program board