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Department of Geology

Grants and Awards

Behzad Ghanbarian’s proposal among the EMSL awards

Soils, particularly near the earth surface, are composed of rich nutrients from organic plant materials and animal matter. It is believed that soils, especially agricultural soils, can adsorb carbon dioxide over a billion tons each year. The Figure below shows the US croplands with a 30m resolution derived from Landsat images. The US has 166 million hectares of net cropland area and is ranked second in the world after India. Therefore, soil-based carbon dioxide adsorption may be considered as a negative emission technology that naturally removes CO2 from the atmosphere. Dr. Behzad Ghanbarian’s proposal on soil-based CO2 sorption was selected as one of the EMSL large-scale research projects. Dr. Ghanbarian will be collaborating with scientists at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) on this project to fight climate change.

For further information visit: https://www.emsl.pnnl.gov/news/emsl-awards-funding-32-large-scale-research-projects

 

Dr. Claudia Adam receives a National Science Foundation grant

Claudia Adam was awarded an ~$177,000 National Science Foundation grant (Structure and dynamics of the subcontinental lithospheric mantle over the Central and Eastern North American continent, constrained by numerical modeling based on tomography models).

Seismicity is generally concentrated at the margins of tectonic plates and is created by the relative motion between these plates. But earthquakes also occur within tectonic plates. In a project recently funded by the National Science Foundation, Dr. Claudia Adam is investigating the origin of these intraplate earthquakes. She is conducting numerical modeling of mantle convection based on tomography models which provide a 3D view of mantle structure based on variations in seismic velocity.

 

Kansas Department of Transportation funds Dr. Behzad Ghanbarian’s project

Aggregates have broad practical applications, particularly for concretes, hot mix asphalts, aggregate base construction, cement treated and granular bases, backfill, cover materials, microsurfacing, subgrade modification or reconstruction, surfacing or resurfacing, shoulder construction, and riprap and ditch lining. Although understanding geomechanical and mineralogical properties of aggregates are essential for many projects, our knowledge on crushed samples are very limited due to lack of experiments. In a recent project funded by the Kansas Department of Transportation (KDOT), Dr. Behzad Ghanbarian will investigate geomechanical and mineralogical properties of limestone samples from Kansas. In this project, Geology will closely work with the Civil Engineering Department at K-State as well as Petroleum and Chemical Engineering Department at KU.

 

Ikon Science Donates RokDoc Licenses to Kansas State University (Dr. Raef)

Industry software and data donations are among the resources for supporting current learning, teaching, and research endeavors, leveraging our faculty and students’ interests in careers-oriented K-State experience. Several members of our alumni contributed seismic reflection data and geophysical well logs to support the research and teaching in the areas of applied geophysics and energy resources. More information about this donation can be found here.

 

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