Shaun Frape

Professor, Inorganic Geochemistry (Undergraduate Officer)

Shaun Frape. Shaun Frape studies groundwater flow, specializing in isotopic tracers used to follow contaminants being transported in natural systems. He studies both deep groundwater systems as well as interactions between groundwater, lakes and rivers on local and regional scales.

His projects have included research in Finland, Canada and Greenland, as well as locally within Waterloo Region and Southern Ontario.

Contact information
Office: EIT 5005
Phone: 519-888-4567, ext. 36382
Email: shaun@uwaterloo.ca

Expertise

Groundwater flow and chemistry
Interactions between groundwater and surface water (rivers and lakes)
Contaminant transport in groundwater and natural systems
Management of the quantity and quality of regional groundwater resources, including projects in Waterloo Region and Southern Ontario

Research

Prof. Frape is a hydrogeologist/geochemist who specializes in groundwater flow systems, isotopic tracers to delineate the transport of contaminants in natural systems and regional groundwater resource studies. He has extensive experience on ongoing studies in the following areas of geochemistry.

Hydrogeochemical Systems in Deep Crystalline (Granite) and Sedimentary Rocks

Ongoing research in Finland, Canada and Greenland associated with the safe disposal of radioactive and other wastes. An association over the past 30 years with projects around the world has resulted in an extensive knowledge base concerned with groundwater chemistry and movement in deep hydrogeologic systems.

Groundwater-Surface Water Interaction

Experience as a graduate student and then over the past 30 years with problems of contaminant migration, salination and surface water management as a result of groundwater migration into surface waters such as rivers and lakes. Projects have been concerned with the natural migration of petroleum rich deep groundwaters into the Great Lakes of Canada, contaminant migration into surface water bodies from landfill sites and migration of refinery wastes into local lakes and rivers in Australia.

Groundwater Resource Evaluation

Local projects concerned with groundwater chemistry, age and amount in the Waterloo region and southern Ontario; coupled to extensive groundwater management projects in South America and India has provided a solid knowledge base for assessing the quality and quantity of ground and surface water systems.

Teaching

Professor Frape's courses attract both geology/hydrogeology students and geological engineers.

Many of the environmental and hydrogeology courses he has set up have been so successful, they have continued to be offered as a permanent part of the Earth Sciences curriculum.

Courses taught from 1980 to present include

EARTH 221 Introductory Geochemistry (several times)
EARTH 231 (½) Mineralogy
EARTH 232 Introductory Petrology (2 times/year 1985-present)
EARTH 235 Stratigraphy (1981-1985)
EARTH 238 Introductory Structural Geology (2 times/year 1982-2000)
EARTH 281 Impacts of Geology on Health (2006)
EARTH 332 Metamorphic Petrology (1989)
EARTH 358 Environmental Geology (1990-1994, 2001-2002)
EARTH 459 Chemical Hydrogeology (1989-1993)
EARTH 490 Field Course (1981-1998)
EARTH 671 Field Methods in Hydrogeology (1981-present)
EARTH 691/692 Special Studies – Fluid in the Earth Crust (every second year since 1985)
EARTH 691/692 Special Studies – Heavy and Non-traditional Isotopes

Highlighted Publications

Recent publications include

Rebeix, R., Le Gal LaSalle, C., Jean-Baptiste, V., Lavastre, V., Fourre, E., Bensenouci, F., Matray, J.M., Landrein, P., Shouakar-Stash, O., Frape, S.K., Michelot, J.L. and Lancelot, J. (2014). Chlorine transport processes through a 2000 m aquifer/aquitard system. Marine and Petroleum Geology, 53: 102-116.

Hossain, M., Bhattacharya, P., Frape, S.K., Jacks, G., Islam, M.M., Rahman, M.M., von Bromssen, M., Hasan, M.A., and Ahmed, K.M. (2014). Sediment color tool for targeting arsenic-safe aquifers for the installation of shallow drinking water tube wells, Science of the Total Environment, 493: 615-625.

Stotler, R.L., Frape, S.K. and Labelle, L. (2014). Insights gained from geochemical studies in the Waterloo Moraine: Indications and implications for antropogenic loading, Canadian Water Resources Journal (CWRJ) Special Issue, 39: 136-148.

Hwang, H.T., Park, Y.J., Sudicky, E.A., Unger, A.J.A., Illman, W.A., Frape, S.K., & Shouakar-Stash, O. 2013. A multiphase flow and multispecies reactive transport model for DNAPL-involved Compound Specific Isotope Analysis. Advances in Water Resources. 59, 111-122.

Lojkasek-Lima, P., Aravena, R., Shouakar-Stash, O., Frape, S.K., Marchesi, M., Fiorenza, S., and Vogan, J. 2012. Evaluating TCE Abiotic and Biotic Degradation Pathways in a Permeable Reactive Barrier Using Compound Specific Isotope Analyses. Ground Water Monitoring and Remediation. 10p.

Awards and Distinctions

2015 Outstanding Performance Award
2013 Appointed as “A friend of Water/Reaction” of the IAGC Primary Working Group
2011 Fellow of the International Association of Geochemistry
2007 Awarded the O.E. Meinzer Prize in Hydrogeology from the Hydrogeology Division, Geological Society of America
2006 Elected Fellow of the Geological Society of America

University of Waterloo Affiliations

Undergraduate Officer, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences
Member, The Water Institute

Professional Associations and Service

2006 Elected Fellow of the Geological Society of America
2003 Peer Review Committees for Finnish Nuclear Waste Storage Program and the Canadian Nuclear Waste Storage Program.
2000-2004 Working member of the study group (PERMA) to assess the impact of Permafrost and Glaciation on a Nuclear Waste Repository. The group consists of Ontario Power Generation, NIREX (UK), SKB (Sweden), POSIVA and GTK (Finland).
2004-2011 Elected Councilor International Association of Geochemistry (IAGC)
2000 Workshop for POSIVA (Finnish Nuclear Power) on needs and priorities for future R & D on spent fuel disposal
2000-2005 Associate Editor, journal “Applied Geochemistry”
1998-1999 Review Panel of (STUK) for Finnish Nuclear Waste Storage Program.
1999 Working member of Swedish SKB “Matrix Block Experiment at Aspoo, Sweden”
1995-2003 Canadian Geochemist and Advisor to European Union Project concerning the hydrogeology and geochemistry of the Palmutto Natural Analogue Site, Finland
1997-1999 Associate Editor of the journal "Groundwater"
1996 Canadian delegate to Technical Workshop on Biodegradation/Bioaccumulation of Metals in the Environment. Held December 11-13, European Union, Brussels, Belgium.
1996 Co-chair hydrogeochemistry: Workshop on Glaciation and Hydrogeology. April 17-19, Stockholm, Sweden. Sponsored by SKB/SKI, Sweden.
1993-1994 Peer review for (STUK) Finnish Nuclear Safely Institute, Review of the Final Disposal of Radioactive Waste in the Finnish Shield.
1992-1995 Peer review and proposal review as part of the MITEC (Mineral Industry) committee to advise the mining companies of Canada on new exploration issues.
1992-1995 Associate Editor of the journal "Geology"
1990-1996 Peer review of Canadian Radioactive Waste Program as part of the Subsurface Advisory Team (SAT) for Environment Canada
1986-1987 Peer Review Committee, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, Illinois, Review of ONWI, Nuclear Waste Isolation in Salt Documents.
1980 to present: Reviewer of approximately 5 journal articles per year for major geochemical and hydrogeology journals.