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Hurricane Ivan’s soaking of the Lehigh Valley left many people with questions about how and why flooding of that magnitude occurs. Dru Germanoski, VanArtsdalen Professor of Geology and head of geology and environmental geosciences, will explain this phenomenon in a lecture entitled “Understanding Floods” 7 p.m. Saturday in the Bushkill Meeting Center at the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area.
Specializing in river behavior, or fluvial geomorphology, Germanoski sees the proximity of the Delaware River and Bushkill Creek to Lafayette’s campus as an incredible opportunity for his own research as well as research by Lafayette students. The flooding in 2004 and 2005 has opened up many possibilities.
Germanoski and civil engineering professors already have guided student research in a wide variety of projects ranging from water quality to physical hydrology. Germanoski hopes to begin a study of the history of flooding in the Delaware in the near future.
The Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area asked Germanoski to give the presentation after reading a newspaper article he had written about Hurricane Ivan. His lecture will focus on the normal hydrological functioning of a river and how flooding is a normal, expected hydrological event. He also plans to explain why multi-purpose dams are ineffective solutions to flood hazards, which result from human misperception of flood frequency and the role of the floodplain in the river system.
Germanoski has received 20 research grants from the National Science Foundation, U.S. Forest Service, and other agencies, many of which have funded collaborations with Lafayette students. He often mentors students in yearlong honors research projects and regularly shares his research in academic publications.
“Understanding Floods” is part of the lecture series “And Yet Another Flood.” Admission is free. For more information, visit the Delaware Water Gap’s web site.
Marquis Scholar Andrew Mott ’07 is trying to determine the factors which contribute to the degradation of wet meadow systems in the mountains of central Nevada with Dru Germanoski, VanArtsdalen Professor and head of geology and environmental geosciences.