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Dru Germanoski, professor and head of geology and environmental geosciences at Lafayette, has received grants from the U.S. Forest Service and National Science Foundation for research projects in Nevada and Bolivia, respectively.
The forest service has awarded a $25,821 grant for research on the effects of wildfire and controlled burns on drainage basins in central Nevada. NSF has contributed $53,897 for a project to assess the long-term effect of mining on river stability in Rio Pilcomayo Basin in southern Bolivia.
Germanoski will work on the three-year USFS project while on sabbatical leave this school year. He has conducted fieldwork in the Great Basin of Nevada with four Lafayette students and expects to accompany another there next summer.
Since settlement of the Great Basin about 130 years ago, increased growth of pinyon and juniper trees and the invasion of a highly flammable annual grass, cheatgrass, have resulted in dramatic increases in the frequency, severity, and size of fires in the woodlands, according to Germanoski. USFS uses controlled burns to deal with the issue. The goal of the project is to provide a demonstration watershed for illustrating both the feasibility and ecological effects of large-scale, controlled fires on ecosystems dominated by pinyon and juniper to managers, researchers, and the public.
In addition to providing a demonstration area, the project should result in guidelines for evaluating the effects of tree stand density on vegetation and soil response to controlled burns. Information will be gathered on the changes in fuel loads that occur as tree stand density increases. Also, much-needed information on the effects of watershed-scale burns on stream channels, sedimentation, and water quality will be gathered.
Germanoski is collaborating on the project with USFS, Rocky Mountain Research Station and Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest, and the Bureau of Land Management, Battle Mountain District.
In June, Germanoski traveled to Nevada with EXCEL Scholar Daniel Latham '04, a geology major from Islip Terrace, N.Y., to investigate the controlled burn in Underdown Canyon and collect data in Wall Canyon, a drainage basin burned by a lightning-generated wildfire in 2000. In Lafayette's EXCEL Scholars program, students assist faculty with research while earning a stipend.
“Professor Germanoski is a brilliant thinker,” says Latham, whose coauthored paper with Germanoski, “The Importance of Event Sequencing on the Geomorphic Impact of Wildfire in the Central Great Basin,” will be published in GSA Abstracts with Programs Vol. 34, No. 6, next month.
The student determined the percentage composition of pebbles, clays, and sands in soil samples. He and Germanoski spent three weeks in Nevada with a group of students and professors from around the country conducting academic research. Their headquarters was a house owned by the U.S. Forest Service in Austin, Nev.
To determine percent composition, Latham placed the samples in water to remove broken twigs and sediment, removed moisture by placing the samples in an oven, and then shook the remainder and weighed the material. Latham's results will be compared to samples taken next year.
Wildfire can lead to accelerated soil and channel erosion when destruction of vegetation produces more runoff from rain or snowmelt in the spring, notes Germanoski. Vegetation protects soil from erosion by intercepting precipitation and binding soil particles together. When fire destroys the vegetation, this armor effect is removed.
“No significant erosion occurred in Wall Canyon subsequent to the fire. I believe this is because the past two years have been average or below average with respect to precipitation,” says Germanoski. “However, if a large snow pack develops or if rainfall is heavy in the spring or summer, the drainage basin may still respond, so by measuring hill slope and channel cross sections, we will have a datum or reference point to measure future change.”
The Bolivia project deals with the effects of mining that has taken place continuously since the Spanish initiated it in 1545. Waste materials from the mines and mills have been released directly into head tributaries to Rio Pilcomayo. Germanoski and his colleagues in Bolivia, the United Kingdom, and the United States will document the magnitude of heavy metal contamination within deposits of Rio Pilcomayo and assess the importance of geomorphic processes in the downstream transport and storage of contaminated sediments.
The study will focus primarily on areas along the river where a number of native Quetchua communities are located. The communities produce a wide variety of vegetables, including corn, potatoes, onions, carrots, lettuce, beats, and beans, which have been grown in areas contaminated by heavy metals.
As described in his published research, Germanoski has developed a model of erosion and sedimentation for degrading channels in small watersheds that appears to apply to Rio Pilcomayo. The investigation will build on existing data from Rio Pilcomayo Basin to determine if lead isotopes can be effectively used in a large river system to document the downstream transport and storage of contaminated sediments from mining operations over periods of decades. Secondary objectives are to gain a more complete understanding of the spatial variations in erosional and depositional processes that have occurred along Rio Pilcomayo and to determine the factors responsible for the initiation of major geomorphic events.
A member of the faculty since 1987, Germanoski has been honored by Lafayette with the Marquis Distinguished Teaching Award, Jones Lecture Award for Distinguished Teaching and Research, and Student Government Superior Teaching Award (twice).
As evidenced by his research trips to Nevada, Germanoski's career also is characterized by close interaction with Lafayette students. Last year, his collaboration with Carrie Ryder '00 and J.R. Miller was published in Proceedings of the 7th Interagency Sedimentation Conference. He has supervised ten senior honors theses and won six grants that specifically funded research by Lafayette students, including awards from National Science Foundation and Wildlands Conservancy.
Along with David Brandes, assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering at Lafayette, Germanoski published “A Comprehensive Watershed Instrumentation Program for Multidisciplinary Undergraduate Education at Lafayette College” in Proceedings of the 2002 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference and Exposition. Germanoski contributed a 30-page article to Applying Geomorphology to Environmental Management last year. He also has published articles in other conference proceedings and journals such as Geomorphology, Southeastern Geology, Physical Geography, The Journal of Geology, and Regulated Rivers.
He is a member of Sigma Xi Scientific Research Society, American Geophysical Union, Geological Society of America, American Quaternary Association, Philadelphia Geological Society, and Friends of the Pleistocene-Southeast Cell.
Germanoski has evaluated manuscripts for American Journal of Science, Bulletin of the Geological Society of America, The Journal of Geology, Geomorphology, Recent Advances in Fluvial Sedimentology, and Journal of Sedimentary Research. He also has evaluated several book and textbook manuscripts for publishers and spent four years as a panelist for Environmental Protection Agency graduate student research fellowships. He has served as a consultant on numerous cases in Pennsylvania, as well as ones dealing with sites in Jamaica, Montana, Wyoming, South Dakota, and North Dakota.
Germanoski has chaired geomorphology sessions at annual meetings of Geological Society of America and a technical session for a geomorphology symposium at Colorado State University. He was a geology reader for The Wittenberg Review from 1989-96.
He served as visiting scientist at Quaternary Sciences Center of Desert Research Institute in Nevada from February through June 1992
Gemanoski has served on more than a dozen Lafayette committees, including a current term on the Committee on Promotions, Tenure, and Review.
Germanoski earned a Ph.D. in 1989 from Colorado State University, a master's in 1984 from Southern Illinois University, and a bachelor's degree in 1982 from Pennsylvania State University.
He is an assistant scoutmaster, den leader, and merit badge counselor for Boy Scouts of America.
A National Leader in Undergraduate Research. Daniel Latham ’04 coauthored an article on his joint research with Dru Germanoski, professor of geology and environmental geosciences, in The Geological Society of America Annual Meeting Abstracts.