Dr. Laura Toran https://sites.temple.edu/geotoran Hydrogeology and urban hydrology research at Temple University Thu, 21 Dec 2023 15:44:52 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.3 New Postdoc Ryan Frederiks joins the lab https://sites.temple.edu/geotoran/2023/12/21/new-postdoc-ryan-frederiks-joins-the-lab/ https://sites.temple.edu/geotoran/2023/12/21/new-postdoc-ryan-frederiks-joins-the-lab/#respond Thu, 21 Dec 2023 15:44:52 +0000 https://sites.temple.edu/geotoran/?p=1399 Continue reading ]]> Dr. Ryan Frederiks joined the lab this month after completing his Ph.D. at the University of Delaware.  Ryan will be working on monitoring and modeling road salt in urban systems, among other urban hydrology projects.

We installed sensors near a parking lot rain garden in the Tookany Watershed, so we are already collecting data and ready for the road salt season.

 

 

]]>
https://sites.temple.edu/geotoran/2023/12/21/new-postdoc-ryan-frederiks-joins-the-lab/feed/ 0
Monitoring an infiltration chamber https://sites.temple.edu/geotoran/2023/09/29/monitoring-an-infiltration-chamber/ https://sites.temple.edu/geotoran/2023/09/29/monitoring-an-infiltration-chamber/#respond Fri, 29 Sep 2023 23:45:41 +0000 https://sites.temple.edu/geotoran/?p=1390 Continue reading ]]> I worked with Ryan Neuman of the TTF Watershed organization to install some water level loggers in a large infiltration chamber recently installed in Alverthorpe Park in Abington. (That’s Tookany-Tacony-Frankford watershed, a stream that changes names twice along its flowpath.)  We attached the logger to a stake and lowered it down the port.  Ryan is walking to the far end of the chamber in the second photo — this is a big storage chamber!  The township wondered how often the chamber overflows.

Gaging by the large rain event on Sept 10 (an inch and a half an hour at one point), this chamber is not going to overflow!  The orange and blue lines don’t rise above background for this monitoring period in August and September. The background is negative because the barometric correction is a little distance away.

]]>
https://sites.temple.edu/geotoran/2023/09/29/monitoring-an-infiltration-chamber/feed/ 0
Drone photo of new basin https://sites.temple.edu/geotoran/2023/09/29/drone-photo-of-new-basin/ https://sites.temple.edu/geotoran/2023/09/29/drone-photo-of-new-basin/#respond Fri, 29 Sep 2023 23:37:55 +0000 https://sites.temple.edu/geotoran/?p=1388 Continue reading ]]> Josh Caplan from Landscape Horticulture and I went out to a new basin along I-95 to take some drone photos.  These photos help us monitor plant health in the basin.  This basin will use meadow grasses for bioinfiltration.  It collects water from both sides of I-95 and some of the nearby streets.

]]>
https://sites.temple.edu/geotoran/2023/09/29/drone-photo-of-new-basin/feed/ 0
Sinkhole Interview https://sites.temple.edu/geotoran/2023/07/20/sinkhole-interview/ https://sites.temple.edu/geotoran/2023/07/20/sinkhole-interview/#respond Thu, 20 Jul 2023 13:49:57 +0000 https://sites.temple.edu/geotoran/?p=1354 Continue reading ]]> I was interviewed on KYW radio to talk about how sinkholes form.  Recent sinkholes in the King of Prussia area have closed Route 202.  This site is near my urban spring monitoring sites — springs and sinkholes often go together.

Listen to the interview here!

Then to follow up, City Cast Philly did a slightly longer interview on sinkholes posted as a podcast.

]]>
https://sites.temple.edu/geotoran/2023/07/20/sinkhole-interview/feed/ 0
Gordon Catchment Science conference https://sites.temple.edu/geotoran/2023/06/29/gordon-catchment-science-conference/ https://sites.temple.edu/geotoran/2023/06/29/gordon-catchment-science-conference/#respond Fri, 30 Jun 2023 00:58:22 +0000 https://sites.temple.edu/geotoran/?p=1351 Continue reading ]]> Ashleigh Kirker and I attended the 2023 Gordon Catchment Science conference in Andover, NH.  It was an amazing set of talks and posters with plenty of time to talk to other attendees.  Ashleigh presented a poster on her land use modeling showing how flow paths influence sources of overland runoff, and I presented one on nutrient uptake downstream of wastewater treatment plants in the Wissahickon.

]]>
https://sites.temple.edu/geotoran/2023/06/29/gordon-catchment-science-conference/feed/ 0
Soil sampling with Pitt students https://sites.temple.edu/geotoran/2023/06/29/soil-sampling-with-pitt-students/ https://sites.temple.edu/geotoran/2023/06/29/soil-sampling-with-pitt-students/#respond Fri, 30 Jun 2023 00:55:14 +0000 https://sites.temple.edu/geotoran/?p=1349 Continue reading ]]> Dan Bain of University of Pittsburgh and his students visited the Pennypack Urban CZ site to collect soil samples.  We had to work through the air coming down from the Canadian wildfires, but we got samples from all four geologic provinces in the watershed!

]]>
https://sites.temple.edu/geotoran/2023/06/29/soil-sampling-with-pitt-students/feed/ 0
New paper on modeling influence of impervious cover published https://sites.temple.edu/geotoran/2023/05/29/new-paper-on-modeling-influence-of-impervious-cover-published/ https://sites.temple.edu/geotoran/2023/05/29/new-paper-on-modeling-influence-of-impervious-cover-published/#respond Mon, 29 May 2023 18:21:30 +0000 https://sites.temple.edu/geotoran/?p=1341 Ashleigh Kirker and I recently published a paper on why percent impervious cover doesn’t predict runoff.  Check it out in the Journal of Hydrology.

]]>
https://sites.temple.edu/geotoran/2023/05/29/new-paper-on-modeling-influence-of-impervious-cover-published/feed/ 0
Two new PhD’s from our lab! https://sites.temple.edu/geotoran/2023/05/29/two-new-phd-students-from-our-lab/ https://sites.temple.edu/geotoran/2023/05/29/two-new-phd-students-from-our-lab/#respond Mon, 29 May 2023 18:20:12 +0000 https://sites.temple.edu/geotoran/?p=1339 Gina Pope (advisor Jon Nyquist) and Ashleigh Kirker (Toran lab) both successfully defended their PhD dissertations this spring.  Congratulations Dr. Pope and Dr. Kirker!

]]>
https://sites.temple.edu/geotoran/2023/05/29/two-new-phd-students-from-our-lab/feed/ 0
Arkansas karst field trip https://sites.temple.edu/geotoran/2023/05/29/arkansas-karst-field-trip/ https://sites.temple.edu/geotoran/2023/05/29/arkansas-karst-field-trip/#respond Mon, 29 May 2023 18:17:37 +0000 https://sites.temple.edu/geotoran/?p=1335 Continue reading ]]> The third Carbonate Critical Zone RCN conference was held in Fayetteville Arkansas.  Students and faculty visited the Savoy Research center and saw some amazing weathered karst surfaces.  My undergrad research assistant, Erin Spross, was among the students who attended the field course!

]]>
https://sites.temple.edu/geotoran/2023/05/29/arkansas-karst-field-trip/feed/ 0
Urban Critical zone site visits https://sites.temple.edu/geotoran/2023/05/29/urban-critical-zone-site-visits/ https://sites.temple.edu/geotoran/2023/05/29/urban-critical-zone-site-visits/#respond Mon, 29 May 2023 18:14:23 +0000 https://sites.temple.edu/geotoran/?p=1333 Our NSF critical zone hosted visitors from Toronto Metropolitan University, University of Delaware, and Lafayette College to tour Pennypack Creek (Philadelphia), Dead Run (Baltimore) and Northwest Branch (DC area).

]]>
https://sites.temple.edu/geotoran/2023/05/29/urban-critical-zone-site-visits/feed/ 0